‘I’m extremely lucky to be here’: Jelena Dokic on childhood dreams and talking tennis
Australia’s former world No 4 player and now respected pundit speaks about highs and lows in her life, and the importance of family on successAll sports stars know that dealing with highs and lows comes with the territory, as part of the job.But few have been through such extremes as Jelena Dokic, who spent her whole career, and much of her life, navigating painful moments.Abused, physically and psychologically, by her father, Dokic suffered from depression, an eating disorder and, at the very lowest moments, contemplated suicide.But Dokic never gave up, showing rare resilience, built from her experience growing up in a war-torn country and being a refugee, twice.(Dokic was born in Croatia – part of the former Yugoslavia – and moved to Serbia, before settling in Australia).
Somehow, even in the worst moments off the court, she was able to produce incredible moments on it.In 1999, aged 16, she crushed Martina Hingis, the defending champion, in the first round at Wimbledon.The following year she reached the semi-finals at the same grand slam and narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.This May marks 25 years since the biggest title of Dokic’s career, her victory in the Italian Open in Rome.Still only 18, she beat Amelie Mauresmo in the final and seemed on her way to the very top.
She won two more titles that year, three more the following season, and in August 2002 she was ranked No 4,Eventually, the well-documented behaviour of her father, Damir, who died last year, brought her down, but remarkably, a quarter of a century on, she retains her love for tennis,“It’s a tough sport, travelling 10 months a year,” Dokic says, sitting inside the media centre during the Australian Open earlier this year,“You start playing at four, five, six years of age,But just like any sport, those are the hours you put in if you love something that you do.
“I love my role now completely, doing what I do in talking tennis, it’s a big passion of mine.I will always love tennis and always have.Even in my worst moments, absolutely.And if anyone ever asked me, ‘what about my kid playing professionally, or even to play for fun’, I always say ‘do it’.It’s a great sport.
”Looking back on her Rome triumph, Dokic is proud that she was able to show her tennis ability despite everything that was happening to her, abuse she detailed openly and heartbreakingly in two books and most recently in a documentary, Unbreakable, released in 2024.Dokic doesn’t blame anyone for her plight; instead, she says she was fortunate, a victim who survived and emerged stronger, able to help others.“I’m extremely lucky to be here,” she says.“Many are not, and many you will never hear about … have never maybe been able to fulfil their dream and their talent.If you look at all the champions, grand slam champions, No 1s in the world in any sport, they have had incredible [family] support.
You can’t go without that, and you can’t even get close to the top if you don’t have that,“I wanted to show parents, to show coaches, and to show the world in general, there was this narrative for a very long time that if you’re really, really tough on your kid, and actually if you abuse them, then that creates champions,But it is such a wrong narrative,”After a lifetime of struggle, Dokic has found her calling,A respected on-court tennis interviewer and pundit for Australian TV, she is also a campaigner for victims of domestic abuse.
Content in her own skin, she has never been happier.“I found so much strength in actually speaking up, in being an advocate, in not being ashamed of your life and what you go through,” she says.“I think owning your story and being authentic about it, yeah, it’s brought happiness to me.It’s actually saved my life.“I say the day that my book came out was the best day of my life by far, and that’s a big statement, because yes, I’ve had the lows, but I’ve also had incredible highs in my life, personally and professionally.
But nothing will ever compare to that, the freedom that comes with being open about your story, about who you are, about what you’ve gone through.It’s life-saving.”Dokic, 43, has a new partner and though they don’t plan to start a family, children could yet be in her future.“I still am open to adoption in a couple of years, potentially, absolutely,” she says.“It’s always been kind of on my mind.
I think I can give so much love to a kid that will potentially go through a tough time, be an orphan, maybe not have that love and support.I’ve always felt like I can give a lot of that, and I love kids, so I’m still open to that idea, absolutely.” In Australia, domestic and family violence counselling is available from Full Stop Australia on 1800 385 578.In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid.In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
US tech firms successfully lobbied EU to keep datacentre emissions secret
Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their datacentres, an investigation has found, with demands to block a database of green metrics from public view written almost word for word into EU rules.The secrecy provision, which the European Commission added to its proposal almost verbatim after industry lobbying in 2024, hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit. It leaves researchers with just national-level summaries of their energy footprints.The rise of AI chatbots has spurred a boom in the construction of chip-filled warehouses with a hunger for power that is being met, in part, by burning fossil gas. Legal scholars warn the blanket confidentiality clause may fall foul of EU transparency rules and the Aarhus convention on public access to environmental information
Liz Kendall urges UK public to embrace AI as government makes first £500m fund investment
The UK technology secretary has urged the country to “make AI work for Britain”, brushing off fears about its impact on jobs and cybersecurity as the government announced its first investment under a £500m sovereign AI fund. Liz Kendall said the UK had to “seize” the opportunity offered by AI despite concerns underlined this month when US startup Anthropic revealed it had developed an AI model that posed a potentially significant cyber threat. Asked how the government makes the case for embracing a technology that could disrupt jobs and now cybersecurity, Kendall said: “We have to seize this to make it work, for Britain, for our jobs, for solving the biggest challenges we face as a world.”Speaking on Thursday as the government unveiled its first investment in a UK company as part of a £500m sovereign AI fund, Kendall acknowledged “people are worried about the risks and what it means for their jobs”, but AI entrepreneurs also believed they can “make it work … they can create jobs”.In January Kendall admitted “some jobs will go” as AI automates certain tasks and roles, but it would also create new employment opportunities
‘How do I end a call?’: the elderly Japanese people determined to master smartphones
It’s not only young people whose gaze is fixed on tiny screens. But for these users in Tokyo, clicking and scrolling is anything but second nature.“I can’t deal with all of the apps that jump out at me,” says one. “How do I know if I’ve definitely ended a call?” asks another.They are common concerns among the four women and one man attending a beginner’s smartphone class at a public facility for older residents in Nerima in the Japanese capital’s north-west suburbs
Labour and Lib Dem MPs demand ‘shameful’ Palantir NHS contract be scrapped
MPs have queued up to demand the government scraps its £330m NHS contract with the spy-tech company Palantir, calling it “dreadful” and “shameful” in a debate on Thursday, after which the government said it was “no fan” of the US company’s politics.Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs led the calls for Palantir, which also works for Donald Trump’s ICE immigration crackdown and the Israeli military, to be removed as a supplier to the NHS federated data platform (FDP), with one Labour backbencher, Samantha Niblett, questioning whether it could be “trusted as a custodian of the intimate health records of tens of millions of British citizens”.The Lib Dem MP Luke Taylor, who called the deal “shameful”, said: “Palantir and Peter Thiel must have their hands ripped off of our NHS before it is too late.”Thiel, a Trump-supporting tech billionaire, founded the company and has previously said that democracy and freedom are incompatible.In response to the MPs who spoke in a Westminster Hall debate, the government confirmed it would consider whether to continue with the deal when a break clause is due in spring 2027, although £210m of the £330m has already been spent
Man used AI to make false statements to shut down London nightclub, police say
A businessman has pleaded guilty to making false statements in order to shut down a nightclub, which police believe were generated using AI.A Metropolitan police source said the use of AI to generate letters by complainants who do not exist is a growing issue.Aldo d’Aponte, 47, the CEO of Arbitrage Group Properties, pleaded guilty to writing two letters, supposedly by his neighbours, objecting to the reopening of Heaven nightclub, which temporarily closed after a rape allegation against one of its security guards.D’Aponte was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £26 victim surcharge.Heaven, an LGBTQ nightclub in central London had its licence suspended in November 2024 after a 19-year-old woman accused a bouncer of rape
NAACP lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of polluting Black neighborhoods near Memphis
A new lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company of illegally spewing toxic pollutants into residential neighborhoods on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi.The suit, filed on Tuesday in Mississippi federal court, alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act due to emissions from its makeshift power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, which powers its datacenter there. The NAACP, represented by the environmental groups Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, says xAI has been polluting areas with homes, schools and churches, including in historically Black communities, by using dozens of methane gas generators without permits.The organization is seeking to force the company to stop operating its unpermitted turbines in Southaven.“A data center should not be a potential death sentence for a community’s health,” Abre’ Conner, the director of environmental and climate justice for the NAACP, said in a statement
‘It’s a twilight zone’: Iran war casts deep shadows over IMF gathering in Washington
Monday’s Mandelson showdown could be Starmer’s last stand | John Crace
Starmer was left in dark about Mandelson’s vetting by two other top civil servants
Peter Mandelson’s vetting and where the blame lies | Letter
What happens during security vetting and why did Peter Mandelson fail his?
Olly Robbins and Mandelson’s vetting: what did he do, why – and who knew?