Dokic boosts Australian women's game
By John Brock
SYDNEY, Jan 13 - She is Yugoslav-born, lists Monica
Seles as her idol and is the best Australian women's tennis prospect in
years.
Jelena Dokic, the top-ranked junior in the world and U.S. Open girls
champion, moved to Australia from Belgrade with her family in 1994.
Now, at 15, she is being compared to Evonne Goolagong Cawley and
will make her entrance to the big time at the Australian Open.
Dokic is a much-needed boost for women's tennis in Australia which
also has high hopes for teenager Alicia Molik, winner over
world number 16 Natasha Zvereva in the Sydney International.
The pony-tailed Dokic has underlined her potential over the past week
with wins over French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and
world number 14 Sandrine Testud as Australia won the Hopman Cup
mixed team event in Perth.
Gushing tributes and front-page headlines have followed.
"There are still things Jelena can develop and she will, but she's
definitely going to be great," said world number one Lindsay
Davenport who welcomes the Australian comeback.
"I think the talk about them is justified, Dokic played so well last week
and Alicia had a good win here over Natasha.
"Australia hasn't had any women's tennis players that have been great
in a long time, so it's right that everyone is excited about them."
Margaret Court, winner of 24 Grand Slam singles titles and Mark
Philippoussis are both admirers.
"I think she's very talented, the brightest prospect since Evonne
Goolagong," said Court, who was on hand at the Hopman Cup. "She
hits the ball beautifully and takes it very early."
Paul McNamee, the Australian Open director, said: "She's
sensational. I've never seen any Aussie as good at 15."
Lesley Bowrey, Australia's Fed Cup captain and a two-time French
Open winner, is Dokic's personal coach. He says she has the "fire in
her belly" necessary to make it in the senior ranks.
"She's got something special about her; she's very determined and
loves to compete ... she never gives in," Bowrey said.
Dokic's age means she is restricted in the number of tournaments she
can play under WTA Tour rules designed to protect talented young
players.
But like Russian Anna Kournikova before her, she is impatient to play
on the tour full-time.
"Definitely, I want to go on the tour. It's going to be tough waiting until
I'm old enough," said the teenager, who was ranked 341 in the world
before the Hopman Cup, after being around 580 mid-year.
Dokic, who turns 16 in April, was noticed by Australian tennis
authorities soon after she arrived.
She whipped her rivals in an under-18 tournament when still only 11
and was added to the New South Wales state junior squad.
U.S. Open junior champion, she was runner-up at last year's French
juniors and was a junior semifinalist at the Australian Open and
Wimbledon.
She also notched wins in her two singles matches when making her
Fed Cup debut in Australia's 5-0 win over Argentina in August.
Dokic has a powerful baseline game with strong groundstrokes,
especially off the forehand side, although her net game needs
improving, says Bowrey.
But perhaps her greatest asset, says the coach, is her drive to
succeed. She is known for being the first to practice and the last to
leave.
Dokic started playing tennis in Belgrade at the age of six when given a
racquet by her father, Damir, a truck driver. A year later she was
beating him and went on to win Yugoslavia's under-12 championship.
Dokic, who remembers life in Belgrade as being "a bit hard", has
always pushed herself to succeed.
"I've done a lot of work to get here and you've got to go out there and
fight for every point," Dokic said in an interview last year, soundly
remarkably like the teenage Seles who left Yugoslavia to find fame in
the U.S..
Bowrey believes Dokic's background has fuelled her desire.
"Her parents came here with very little money and have had to fight,"
Bowrey said. "She knows what it is to fight for something."
Amid all the hype, a cautionary note was sounded by Philippoussis, no
stranger to the spotlight himself.
"All I can say is leave her alone," he said last week after partnering her
in the Hopman Cup. "Let her do what she is doing. She's enjoying
herself out there.
"She's 15 and loves playing the game. She is definitely going to
become a top player - we should just give her space."
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