Melbourne, AUSTRALIA, April 17 (Reuters) - Yugoslav-born Jelena Dokic blamed Tennis Australia and the Australian media for her decision to leave the country and live in the United States, according to an article in an Australian magazine.
This week's edition of New Idea quoted Dokic, 18, as saying
Australians were hypocritical to attack her for leaving her adopted
country while they embraced Russian-born pole-vaulter Tatiana
Grigorieva, who won an Olympic silver medal for Australia at the
Sydney Games last year.
"I was pushed out of Australia by the media and Tennis Australia,"
Dokic was quoted as saying.
"I felt they really wanted me out ... It got to the point where it was unbearable."
Dokic stunned the Australian tennis community when she announced on
the eve of this year's Australian Open in January that she wanted to play under the Yugoslav flag.
She told New Idea: "I know now that I made the right decision (to move to Florida). It's a relaxing environment here. Nobody bothers me. I know everybody, I'm not getting hassled and nobody cares what I do."
Dokic said media reports of her father Damir's antics had strongly
influenced her decision to leave Australia.
The former boxer and truck driver has had several run-ins with
authorities and was suspended from the women's tour in August last
year after being forcibly removed from the U.S. Open for verbally abusing staff in the players' lounge.
"People only believe what they read. They have no idea what a good man he is," she said.
Dokic turned down a plea from Tennis Australia officials in March to
play for her adopted country in the Fed Cup first-round tie against
Austria on April 28-29.
She said she would not represent Australia or Yugoslavia in Fed Cup
matches, but would nominate Yugoslavia as her country when she
entered tournaments.
The Herald Sun newspaper said of Dokic's reported comments:
"Australians never had a problem with the extravagantly talented
teen-ager."
In an editorial published Tuesday, the newspaper added: "It was her overbearing father they objected to, and if the price of dispatching Damir was the loss of her daughter, so be it."
Dokic was born in Yugoslavia but moved to Australia with her family in
1994. She received a Yugoslav passport in Belgrade last November.
