Jelena Dokic defeated teenager Brittany Sheed 6-2 6-2 in Friday’s quarterfinals of the Australian Open wildcard play-off.
It took the former world No.4 just 53 minutes to cruise to victory. She broke serve in the first game, and was in control throughout the match, apart from the one occasion of dropping serve in the second set.
We’ll be following Dokic’s progress, I’m very interested in whether she’ll make it. (source: The Sydney Morning Herald, photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Jelena Dokic’s hopes of competing at the 2009 Australian Open are still alive. The former world four eased past Marija Mirkovic 6-4 6-2 which confirmed the former world number four’s place in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Jelena Dokic lost to 16-year-old Monika Wejnert in her second round-robin match on Tuesday, and had to overcome her next opponent, Marija Mirkovic, if she wanted to advance to the Australian Open wildcard play-off quarterfinals. (source: Australian Open, photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Former world number four Jelena Dokic, who is working hard on her comeback, got upset on the second day of the round-robin Australian Open wildcard play-off.
The 25-year-old Dokic, who previously defeated Gold Coast teenager Sophie Letcher 6-3 6-0, fell to an emerging Australian talent Monica Wejnert 4-6 6-3 6-4 on day two, and so Dokic’s hopes of obtaining a wildcard into Australian Open 2009 took a step back.
The field is divided into four groups, with the top two in each group progressing to the quarterfinals on Friday. Dokic’s next opponent is Marija Mirkovic. (via Tennis Australia, photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Former world No.4 Jelena Dokic is back in her adopted country of Australia and feels well on her way to bring back the form and results she deserves.
“I feel good,” says the 25-year-old Dokic. “I’ve been training a lot and I’ve been training hard, and I give myself just as much of a chance as anyone else.”
“I have some confidence now, and [I have played] some matches and the [Australian Open] Play-off will be a really really good test for me.”
“I’m in the best shape I’ve probably been in the last four years, so I think I’ve made a couple of steps forward and I need to just continue for the next six months,” the world No.179 Dokic added.
“I need to have a consistent year in 2009, but I think I’m on the way.”
The Australian Open Play-off is on at Melbourne Park from 15 to 21 December.
Watch this 2-minute video to hear Dokic herself talk about her current form, next tournaments she plans to play, and more. (source: Tennis Australia, photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Jelena Dokic will return to Melbourne next week to prepare for the Australian circuit, training with the Richmond Football Club’s elite performance manager Matt Hornsby.
The 25-year-old Dokic is expected to perform much better than was the case 11 months ago when she had played just one satellite-level match. From being an unranked player, Dokic returned to the top 180 in the world and Australia’s best four during the 2008 season, and will not have to rely on a discretionary invitation into the Australian Open wildcard play-off at Melbourne Park from December 15-21.
“It’s more just consulting and helping her with her overall program in the lead-in to the summer, and then doing maybe two or three individual sessions a week, as well,” Hornsby said. “Jelena wasn’t someone that I had to push to train, it was always easy to train her, and so I’m happy to help her out — she was very professional the way she went about it.”
I can’t wait to see how Dokic will perform next season. The 2008 one was a successful warm-up, with the former world No.4 winning three ITF tournaments: Florence, Caserta and Darmstadt. (source: The Age, photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Jelena Dokic was once ranked fourth in the world, reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2000, and was a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist. The traumatic experience of having to leave her family led to Dokic’s career collapse, but the 25-year-old is now steadily working on her return to the top.
“I was on my own, and I was learning for two or three years what to do, where to go and who I could rely on,” Dokic told Reuters in an interview.
“Once you feel that you’ve lost your family you’ve pretty much lost everything. You can lose a match, you can lose a friend, but your family always stays with you. It took a long time to deal with and to realise exactly what I have, which was just myself.”
Dokic is slowly getting back on track, playing low-level tournaments, and her results have been quite satisfying. She has won three such events this year (Florence, Caserta and Darmstadt) , and climbed from zero to 187 in the rankings.
“I feel like I am starting from zero,” she said. “You lose everything that you had before. The only thing you have to go on is experience…I’m slowly getting into that rhythm again and I think next year should be big for me.”
“I’ve practised with a couple of girls from the top 10, top 20. There’s work to do but it’s encouraging, and I feel I have the type of game that’s very aggressive and that can be in the top 20 again. I think that’s a realistic goal.”
Dokic was given a wildcard for qualifications for the ongoing tournament in Linz, but didn’t manage to qualify falling to fifth seed Jill Craybas in the second round.
Former world number four Jelena Dokic has been given a wildcard to enter the Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Austria.
The organizers of the Generali Ladies Linz decided to hand Dokic a wildcard because they wanted to give their share in returning the Serbian-born Australian player to the major tennis scene.
The 25-year-old Dokic played in the final of the Tier II tournament in Linz in 2001 when she lost to American Lindsay Davenport.
Dokic played only one match in 2007, but managed to climb to No.181 in the rankings. This season Dokic won three ITF titles: Florence, Caserta and Darmstadt.
The $600,000 Generali Ladies Linz starts October 20th. (source in Serbian: Mondo)
Jelena Dokic is slowly but surely reviving her career. The former world No.4 has won her second title in two weeks.
The 25-year-old Dokic, who is now ranked 431st, won the $25,000 Caserta in Italy, and last weekend she won a challenger in Florence. In the Caserta final, Dokic defeated Austria’s Patricia Mayr 6-3 6-1.
After this victory, the Australian born in Belgrade, Serbia, heads to a $175,000 claycourt event in Strasbourg, France, for which she received a wild card.
Former world No.4 Jelena Dokic, now unranked after missing two years with injuries, on Tuesday made her first WTA Tour main draw appearance since January and lost in straight sets in the first round.
Dokic had to go through qualifying to reach the main draw of the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, but she didn’t go further than the first round when she lost 6-4 6-2 to Hungary’s Greta Arn. Dokic had won both her previous meetings with Arn, the last six years ago. On Tuesday, she double-faulted 11 times and converted only one of four break chances.
Before this Tier IV event, Dokic played only once this year in the main draw of a WTA tournament, when she qualified at Hobart, Australia (her first main draw in two years).
Dokic has won five WTA Tour titles in her career, and was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2000.
Former world number four Jelena Dokic failed to qualify for the 2008 Australian Open, and now she’s angry at Tennis Australia (TA) for not giving her a wildcard.
Besides criticizing them for not supporting her in times of crisis, she also questioned the wildcard selection policy.
“The issue is who they (TA) gave it to. They didn’t even wait to see how I would play in Hobart. The wildcards were announced after the first day of qualifying in Hobart, so I was disappointed they didn’t even take me into consideration,” said the 24-year-old Dokic, who was hoping to revive her career through the Australian Open.
“I definitely think I deserved a wildcard into the main draw, I think I’ve done more in one week and had more big wins in one week than some of those girls have in their whole careers.”
Dokic also said that some selectors were bias and unfair because they gave the wildcards to their trainees. (source: DNA)
