well, well, well...


9995 places and counting: Jelana Dokic Courts a Comeback

(from the Sydney Morning Herald)

Sometimes the answer to the question "whatever happened to ....?" is even sadder than the question. That picture speaks a thousand words, all of them sad.

long shot??? i would say so. technically, she didn't have a solid game, that's where she usually broke down. she had youth on her side in the hey days. now??? don't see it happening for her, but good luck...everybody loves comeback!

It's hard not to be at least a little fascinated by Jelena Dokic. Her game may well have had its share of technical issues, but her rise was not a single, "hand of God" match, tournament or even season. She was not merely a blip on the radar, playing superbly for one Slam (Clarissa Fernandez, Mirjana Lucic, Alexandra Stevenson, Severine Bremond...) and then popping back into the void. She justified her radar blip by backing it up for long enough to be part of the bigger picture of the game, which makes her mostly unfathomed slide into nothingness more of a curiosity. I can't think of many players of her calibre who have turned downward so quickly without a single, career-aborting injury.

However fascinating, I must admit that I never did care much for Dokic... her attitude always got to me a little bit. Despite that, it would be such an intriguing story... I reckon I will be rooting for her, despite the apparent impossibility of her task.

B

Hey, speaking of Clarissa, I know it's completely out of line for me to ask, but given the trouble other Argentinians have had with doping, was there ever any suspicion that her remarkable run back whenever it was might have been ... aided?

No idea, Jake... I don't recall any suspicion cropping up at the time, though. I think if she had been taking something so potent that it made a big difference (although the vast majority of "doping" compounds are of rather minimal benefit) then she'd have kept taking it and reaped similar success elsewhere. I think it is just a case of a player really zoning and taking advantage of everything that came her way to pull off an amazing run.

B

I would tend to agree with that. She came from nowhere, and left just as quickly as she came.

A Dokic comeback would be intersting, and is not as unrealistic as some may think. For me, the question is has she dealt sufficently with all the craziness in her life. She seems to live in a space of drama, and if she has not distanced herself from that, than there's no chance. If she has, then a comeback is not out of the question. Whether she can be top 5 again is debatable, but she can be competative. I don't doubt that.

I still think she has a little crazy on her face though, so I don't have a lot of confidence.

I would think Dokic is young enough to make a return to the top 20, but looks like she really needs to get in shape! She was pretty good especially on the fast surfaces, but I think her main problem was jealousy of other players, and her wacky father.

I doubt anyone will be surprised but Dokic says that her dad physically abused her. Gotta feel for this girl.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/tenn...r.ap/index.html

Not in the least surprised. Given her father's past behaviour, I think we all assumed he was a physical abuser. The only thing I don't assume outright at this moment is sexual abuse.

This si the same situation that happened to Mary Pierce, Mirjana Lucic, and many others