Image Source: USA Today
In a personal and emotional Instagram post on Monday, former Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic revealed she “nearly leaped out my 26th storey balcony and ended my own life.”
Dokic said beside a close-up shot of herself, where she is red-faced and teary-eyed as if she had been crying, that she came close to taking her own life on April 28.
“That was a day I’ll never forget. Everything is a haze. Everything is in the dark, “she penned.
“There’s no tone, no picture, no sense… just tears, misery, depression, anxiety, and anguish.”
On Instagram, the 39-year-old also revealed that she had been having “continuous feelings of grief and pain” and that seeking professional care had saved her life.
Dokic, who has worked as an Australian television presenter since retiring in 2014, won six WTA Tour titles and peaked at fourth in the world rankings.
In 2000, she reached the Wimbledon semifinals, while in 2002 and 2009, she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and the Australian Open, respectively.
She stated on Instagram that she is “on the road to recovery.”
In her autobiography ” Unbreakable, ” she documented charges of physical, psychological, and mental abuse she said her father inflicted on her during her tennis career in her autobiography “Unbreakable.” According to the New York Times, he disputed at least one claim of physical abuse against his teenage daughter.
Dokic, who was born in Croatia before fleeing to Serbia and then Australia as the Balkans descended into civil conflict, told CNN that she had shared her story in the hopes of “raising awareness of abuse, domestic violence, in sport and outside of sport.”
Damir Dokic, Dokic’s father, did not respond to a CNN request for comment at the time. “There is no youngster whose parents have not beaten,” he told Serbian daily Blic in 2009.
The tennis community, among others, expressed their support in the comments area of Dokic’s post.
Dokic concluded her article by encouraging suffering people to seek treatment and not feel ashamed.
She told people that it’s okay to be unhappy, but they must fight back.
“Love to all of you, and here’s to battling and surviving to see another day. I’ll come back, and I’ll be better than ever.”
