jenny
23-11-06, 09:48 AM
Jelena kidnapped, claims Damir
By Peter Kogoy
November 23, 2006 12:00
Article from: The Australian
TENNIS star Jelena Dokic has gone missing, sparking reports in Serbia that she has been kidnapped.
Dokic's father, Damir, claimed yesterday she had been snatched in Croatia by a former boyfriend.
Dokic had been training in Germany with former Croatian tennis star Nikola Pilic before making the trip to Zagreb, Croatia.
The Serbian newspaper Kurir reported that the 23-year-old had phoned her mother on Monday claiming that she would not be returning to Germany to train with Pilic.
But a day earlier she had told her mother that she was only in Zagreb to pick up winter clothes.
Speaking through an interpreter from his new home in Vdrnik, Serbia, last night, a concerned Damir Dokic claimed that his daughter's former coach Borna Biknic, and his brother Tino, a former boyfriend, were behind her disappearance.
"The taking of my daughter against her wishes could also be payback for my role in the war," Dokic, an ethnic Serb, told The Australian.
"Both my wife and I are frantic. Despite repeated attempts to contact her at her last known address in (the Croatian capital) Zagreb, she hasn't returned our calls. I believe she has either been kidnapped or is being held against her will by the Biknic brothers."
Mr Dokic said he had filed a missing persons report with Serbian police in Belgrade, who had sought the assistance of police in Croatia.
A spokeswoman for Zagreb police last night declined to comment.
Mr Dokic, a highly controversial figure in the past, with his unruly behaviour at events, says he has reconciled his differences with his daughter.
"She has been in regular contact with her mother, and I speak to her once a month," Mr Dokic said.
"People back in Australia may think what they like, but I am a changed man," he added, referring to the tag of the "mad dad" of tennis.
"The fact she has not rung her mother as she promised is so totally out of character for Jelena."
Dokic, who has earned prizemoney of $3.7 million in a troubled career, has seen her fortunes plunge since reaching No 4 in the WTA rankings on August 19, 2002.
She is ranked 617 and turned to Pilic's academy to rescue her career.
She was last in Australia about a year ago.
After winning a wildcard play-off in December and reuniting briefly with her former coach Lesley Bowrey, she lost tearfully in the first round in Auckland.
Dokic withdrew injured from the Canberra International, for which she had been given a wildcard, and was then eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open by France's Virginia Razzano.
Since failing to qualify for Wimbledon in June, Dokic's tournament play has been limited to one satellite event, at Darmstadt, Germany, in late July. She was knocked out in the quarter finals.
By Peter Kogoy
November 23, 2006 12:00
Article from: The Australian
TENNIS star Jelena Dokic has gone missing, sparking reports in Serbia that she has been kidnapped.
Dokic's father, Damir, claimed yesterday she had been snatched in Croatia by a former boyfriend.
Dokic had been training in Germany with former Croatian tennis star Nikola Pilic before making the trip to Zagreb, Croatia.
The Serbian newspaper Kurir reported that the 23-year-old had phoned her mother on Monday claiming that she would not be returning to Germany to train with Pilic.
But a day earlier she had told her mother that she was only in Zagreb to pick up winter clothes.
Speaking through an interpreter from his new home in Vdrnik, Serbia, last night, a concerned Damir Dokic claimed that his daughter's former coach Borna Biknic, and his brother Tino, a former boyfriend, were behind her disappearance.
"The taking of my daughter against her wishes could also be payback for my role in the war," Dokic, an ethnic Serb, told The Australian.
"Both my wife and I are frantic. Despite repeated attempts to contact her at her last known address in (the Croatian capital) Zagreb, she hasn't returned our calls. I believe she has either been kidnapped or is being held against her will by the Biknic brothers."
Mr Dokic said he had filed a missing persons report with Serbian police in Belgrade, who had sought the assistance of police in Croatia.
A spokeswoman for Zagreb police last night declined to comment.
Mr Dokic, a highly controversial figure in the past, with his unruly behaviour at events, says he has reconciled his differences with his daughter.
"She has been in regular contact with her mother, and I speak to her once a month," Mr Dokic said.
"People back in Australia may think what they like, but I am a changed man," he added, referring to the tag of the "mad dad" of tennis.
"The fact she has not rung her mother as she promised is so totally out of character for Jelena."
Dokic, who has earned prizemoney of $3.7 million in a troubled career, has seen her fortunes plunge since reaching No 4 in the WTA rankings on August 19, 2002.
She is ranked 617 and turned to Pilic's academy to rescue her career.
She was last in Australia about a year ago.
After winning a wildcard play-off in December and reuniting briefly with her former coach Lesley Bowrey, she lost tearfully in the first round in Auckland.
Dokic withdrew injured from the Canberra International, for which she had been given a wildcard, and was then eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open by France's Virginia Razzano.
Since failing to qualify for Wimbledon in June, Dokic's tournament play has been limited to one satellite event, at Darmstadt, Germany, in late July. She was knocked out in the quarter finals.