“I’m 16 years old and I’m playing against world number 1 Martina Hingis. I knew that if I lost, the consequences would be catastrophic. The decor and tone are set. In the trailer for “Unbreakable,” a film that was adapted from her 2017 book, Jelena Dokic recounts the abuse of all forms she suffered at the hands of her father – and coach – when she was a child and then throughout his career.
A great talent in world tennis in the early 2000s, Jelena Dokic left the Serbian part of Yugoslavia for Australia in 1994. She was then 11 years old and five years later, she revealed herself to the world by eliminating Martina Hingis (6-2 6-0) in the 1st round of Wimbledon. The following season, she only lost in the semi-final against Lindsay Davenport – which would remain her career best result. But then she goes through one of the worst times of her life, forced by her father to sleep on the street before finding refuge in the athletes’ lounge in Church Road.
In her autobiography, Jelena Dokic gave very precise details about the violence she suffered at home, sometimes in front of her mother and her little brother. Her back was beaten with a thick brown leather belt, she was also hit with the soles of shoes and was kicked in the shins, among other things. “The better I played, the worse it was,” she wrote. Needless to say, why the young woman has never been higher than 4th place in the world in 2002…
During his daughter’s career, Damir Dokic pushed her to play for Yugoslavia, Serbia and multiplied the escapades. He was notably banned from the circuit for a few months for uttering insults at the US Open because his plate of salmon was not large enough for his taste. Two months earlier, at Wimbledon, he had blown up a journalist’s phone. In 2009, he was jailed for a year for threatening to blow up the Australian embassy in Belgrade. “Maybe we should have investigated deeper to shed light on what was going on,” acknowledges famous tennis journalist Christopher Clarey in the trailer for “Unbreakable,” which also brings together testimonies from former players Pam Shriver and Lindsay Davenport.
Jelena Dokic retired in 2014 and is now 41 years old. She has become a public figure in Australia and is committed to the fight against domestic violence. His film will be available in cinemas on November 7, in Australia, and in 2025 in streaming.
