'It's an end of a chapter and life as I know it': Jelena Dokic announces death of father on social media

Former Australian tennis player Jelena Dokic has announced the death of her father. The 42-year-old has remained very open regarding her poor relationship with her father, Damir. She spoke at length about he abused her during her playing which affected her mental health as well.

Dokic, in a post on her official account on the social media platform Instagram, announced the death of her father. She also explained her feelings about the passing of Damir where she highlighted the pain of losing a parent despite all that happened in the past.

"As you know, my relationship with my father has been difficult and painful with a lot of history,” she wrote. “Despite everything, and no matter how hard, difficult and, in the last 10 years, even non-existent our relationship and communication was, it is never easy losing a parent and a father, even one you are estranged from. The loss of an estranged parent comes with a difficult and complicated grief. It's an end of a chapter and life as I know it. There are lots of conflicting and complex emotions and feelings for me.

She continued by writing: "It's an end of a chapter and life as I know it. There are lots of conflicting and complex emotions and feelings for me. For the end of this chapter, I choose to focus on a good memory like this picture. And as always and especially important to who I am as a person and what I want to stand for which is respect, grace, kindness, dignity and empathy, I will and want to be that person in this situation too. For now, I will leave it there. Please respect mine and the rest of my family’s privacy at this time. Thank you to so many of you for checking in on me over the last few days and for being here for me while I navigate this difficult and complicated situation."

Dokic had an interesting career in which she represented as many as three different countries. Her best performance in a Grand Slam came in 2000, when she played in the semifinal at Wimbledon but lost to former world number one America’s Lindsay Davenport in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-2. She also played in the quarterfinal at Wimbledon in 1999, where she lost to America’s Alexandra Stevenson with a score of 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.