Chemist Warehouse Catalogue - 13/01-25/01/2023 (Page 4)

wellbeing out the other side she's an aussie tennis great who has survived domestic is embracing her new life and fearlessly speaking out words siobhan duck elena dokic is describing how she gets goosebumps when she walks through melbourne summer evenings in january "the sunset is coming over the city and you've got matches going on at the australian open arena is getting ready for the night crazy in a good way." despite all she has endured - on the court and off it - jelena's passion for the sport that thrust her into the spotlight as a vulnerable young child has never left her forced to retire from her professional tennis career in channelled her love of the game into a commentary career and found gentler ways to exercise benefit her mindset as much as her body the former world no.4 and wimbledon semi-finalist has become a mentor to young players offering them the sort of nurturing encouragement that was so sorely enthralled by the newcomers on the show courts as the grand slam legends in a nail-biting final "i have so much love and passion that might come across in my absolutely love every single part of inspire the people listening." jelena was born in croatia to as refugees and settled in sydney when jelena was 11 "the game of tennis will always and so will australia - that's my home; that's my heart." says jelena who also played for yugoslavia being forced to abandon the prompted the star to experience something of an identity crisis "it was scary," she acknowledges "i didn't know what my identity was going to be because i've always reinvent myself and reinvent herself she has as a motivational speaker and insightful commentator she has also found time for new hobbies - she has become good at pottery and is eager to take up for a marathon i'm really looking to do things that i enjoy and that make me when you're a professional athlete you don't get to do that as much." retirement also came with another brave "step into the in the unflinchingly honest horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and coach - damir dokic what was going to happen and what i was kind of getting myself into," she says do it for that reason either." in sport and tennis." jelena is proud that sharing her story has resulted in organisational change within tennis australia to better protect the next generation she's also spearheading been on the receiving end of intense scrutiny as a player while suffering terrible trauma at home has influenced the way she approaches her commentary and post-match interviews "i didn't know what my identity was going to be because i've always been a tennis player." she says the motivation for opening up about her ordeal was to help others "we don't talk about a lot of these she truly empathises with the pressure elite sportspeople are under it's why you won't hear her joining the chorus of critics of she became overwhelmed with emotion when ash barty won her joy at seeing a fellow aussie sense of wistful admiration for the loving home barty comes from in my career weren't covered were focusing on the wrong things," she says "there was a lot of talk when my book came out about that with the media saying that they focused on the wrong things and even apologising and saying they should to use my profile in the media to make sure we cover things that are very important issues." that's why jelena quickly called for action when video surfaced of by her father last november jelena says there needs to be stronger and more unified policies in place around the world to protect young players "you've got to listen to survivor probably going to be really hard but we cannot even start to fix anything or change anything if we don't talk about it." jelena is now lending her voice to more issues close to her heart she has written a follow-up people who are struggling with health issues it's a source of frustration for her there is still so much emphasis placed on female athletes appearances "we're under a lot of pressure outside of it," she says "once i stopped playing tennis honest about my journey - it was almost committing suicide "i think people sometimes don't understand that also affects what our body goes through and not just our mind." jelena hopes speaking out will make people think twice before commenting on anyone's appearance "i get really emotional talking but because of concern for other i've gone out there and i've talked about people commenting on my "i think that was really important to do because so many women have come up to me or sent me for doing that because i feel the same." to go behind the scenes at jelena's shoot scan here