Months after ending her 19-year-relationship with Tin Bikic, Jelena Dokic almost jumped off her 26th-floor balcony. As a result of immense suffering she’d been going through, the tennis star tried to commit suicide on April 28th in Melbourne. When she thinks about that day, everything seems blurry and dark.
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The former world No.4 has always been open about her depression, anxiety, stress and suicidal thoughts. The strict COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia only worsened her condition and breaking up with the person she had spent her entire adult life with left her traumatized and lost.
“I am going through a very tough period in my life right now and a huge change and I just need some time to recover, heal and process the pain and trauma that I am going through” Dokic said in January when she revealed the breakup.
On Monday, June 13th, Dokic posted a selfie where we can see she’s been constantly crying and gave details about her attempt to take her own life:
The last six months have been tough. It’s been constant crying everywhere. From hiding in the bathroom when at work to wipe away my tears so that nobody sees it to the unstoppable crying at home within my four walls has been unbearable. Constant feelings of sadness and pain are just not going away and my life has been shattered. I blame myself, I don’t think I am worthy of loving and I am scared.
I also know that I still have so many things to be grateful for and then I start to hate myself because by feeling this way I feel like I am not grateful because I mustn’t be since I want to end it all.
Such a vicious cycle in my head.
The result: almost jumping off my 26th floor balcony on April 28th.
Will never forget the day, I just wanted the pain and the suffering to stop. I pulled myself of the edge, don’t even know how I managed to do it. Getting professional help saved my life.
Even though the 39-year-old Dokic is, naturally, still not feeling good, she feels that the process of her recovery has started. “I believe I can go through this,” the 39-year-old stated towards the end of her confession.
Less than a month ago, another Australian WTA player talked about suicide attempt —Destanee Aiava didn’t want to make it to her 22nd birthday and revealed that she wanted to throw herself off a bridge on the night of Easter Sunday, but people that drove by dragged her off the rails.
This is a really difficult situation. This guy met her when she was quite young and still recovering from her ghastly family, and that would have set up a certain dynamic which may no longer have worked. My understanding is that he has been a big support for her for a very long time, and you can see how someone might eventually get sick of that. It is such a shame that she doesn’t seem able to feel confident about herself. On TV she comes across so well as a commentator, I would say she is one of the best I’ve seen. She is clearly smart and lively and attractive, and really has so much going for her. Curse her horrible father and the trauma he inflicted on her when she was too young to defend herself.
What a bad situation. I understand she felt terribly and luckily survived to live. That is the story of many sportspeople and the story of many tennis players. Recently we saw Naomi Osaka, Azarenka and etc. They are under constant pressure and to survive it, should be very strong.
Happy to read that all went well.