HOBART, Tasmania, 3 December 2003 — There are no hard feeling between Jelena Dokic and her one-time adopted homeland of Australia.
That was the judgment from Australian Open tournament boss Paul McNamee yesterday as the former women’s hope of the tennis-proud nation adjusts here 2004 tournament schedule by returning Down Under to play for the first time in three years.
Dokic, no longer dominated by her overbearing father Damir and living a new life in Monte Carlo, will be returning to Australia for the first time since the 2001 Open, starting her season under the colors of her birth nation, Serbia and Montenegro.
The 20-year-old represented Australia at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but quit the country a year later after a feud with Tennis Australia, sparked mainly by her father-coach, with whom she has split.
Dokic is due to play the Australian Open, which she and her father accused of “rigging” the draw in 2001. The first Grand Slam of the season starts Jan. 19.
McNamee, who also runs the Hopman Cup teams event in Perth which kicks off the season Jan. 3, said that Dokic, with her Australian passport, would always be welcome.
He said that her second passport matters little. “She still has an Australian passport, so we will always keep the door open.”
Dokic has expressed interest in representing Australia at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, a goal which would require a delicate bureaucratic balancing act as she has not played Fed Cup for the country, one of the requirements for Olympic selection.
According to McNamee, the former teenage Wimbledon semifinalist may still qualify as an Olympic hopeful. “Any player with a passport has the right (to play for Australia) at any time, but that is 100 percent a matter for her.” Dokic is set to mark her return to Australia at the adidas event in Sydney in just over a month.
