How Jelena Dokic has put herself on a collision course with Nick Kyrgios just weeks before the Australian Open

Former Aussie tennis star turned commentator Jelena Dokic isn’t on the same page as Nick Kyrgios when it comes to doping in the sport – and their stances could see them clash at next month’s Australian Open.

While Kyrgios recently labelled tennis ‘cooked’ after women’s world No 2 Iga Swiatek was handed a one-month ban for doping, Dokic has a different view.

Given Kyrgios has also been very vocal about men’s world number one Jannik Sinner escaping a ban in August despite failing two anti-doping tests, it should make for an interesting conversation when the Aussies cross paths at Melbourne Park in January. 

‘There’s been a lot of spotlight on players… but then no spotlight on actually why that happened and why there was contamination, why a company or whoever supplied and so on isn’t bearing responsibility,’ Dokic told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

‘I think it’s a very unclear process, it takes a toll, especially on the players, and definitely needs to be quicker. 

‘There are a lot more people out there that need to bear responsibility for certain things.’

Dokic also stated her belief that anti-doping in tennis is ‘going to be a massive conversation in the next couple of years.’

Those words stand in stark contrast to Kyrgios’s fury over the ban that was recently slapped on women’s world No.2 Iga Swiatek after she tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine in August. 

He responded to a post from fellow tennis professional Benjamin Lock, who tweeted: ‘1 month ban. It’s not even April fools day. Don’t play with us like that.’

Kyrgios responded to Lock’s post by saying, ‘our sport is cooked’.

He then doubled down with a second post attacking the sport’s anti-doping rules.

‘The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say “we didn’t know”,’ Kyrgios posted.

It also comes after Canberra-raised Kyrgios said in August it was ‘ridiculous’ Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner escaped a ban for failing two anti-doping tests.

‘Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned,’ Kyrgios posted on X.

The pair are a good chance of running into each other at the Australian Open as Dokic will be a big part of the commentary team and Kyrgios – who is making his long-awaited return from injury – will be one of the tournament’s biggest drawcards. 

Last month, Dokic, 41, revealed she feared for her life amid her father Damir’s harrowing abuse during her career on court.

She has documented the mental and physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her father in her tell-all feature film Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, which is currently in cinemas across the nation.

Dokic told Nova hosts Jason Hawkins and Lauren Phillips that Damir forced her to play for Yugoslavia in the 2001 Australian Open, trapping her between his rage and widespread public criticism from Aussie tennis fans.

She admitted she was afraid of being beaten by her father if she didn’t agree to change her national allegiance – and was scared for her life at one point.

‘When I had to switch from playing from Australia to Yugoslavia within 24 hours of walking on Rod Laver Arena to play Lindsay Davenport, I was literally between two fires,’ she said.

‘My father here, if I didn’t go and say it in a media conference that was called suddenly, when I came back to the hotel room, who knows, I probably wouldn’t have survived that beating.

‘Or here, I had the media, sponsors [and the] public who were going to hammer me – like they did – so what do you do?

‘So of course, I did that and 24 hours later you walk out and you’re on Rod Laver Arena, 15,000 people booing you, everyone writing that you’re a traitor.’

Dokic heartbreakingly added she would have suffered ‘100 years’ of abuse from her father if it had meant she could have kept playing for Australia.

‘This always makes me emotional, nothing else does,’ she tearfully said.

‘I’ve said recently and people find it shocking, I would take 100 years of abuse for him not to have taken that moment from me with my people, with Australia.

‘I came back a few years later, yes I was accepted, but it was never the same until my book came out, and until now.’