Dokic grief at dad's death 'difficult and complicated'

Jelena Dokic says her grief is "difficult and complicated" after announcing the death of her estranged father and former coach, Damir.

Former world number four Dokic, who retired in 2014, revealed in 2017 she had suffered years of mental and physical abuse from her father.

Damir was banned from all WTA Tour events for six months in 2000 after he became abusive in the players' lounge during the US Open.

He was also jailed in 2009 for threatening the Australian ambassador in Serbia with a hand grenade

Dokic, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals as a 17-year-old in 2000, had been estranged from her father for 10 years.

Underneath an Instagram post of her father and herself as a small child, Australia's Dokic wrote: "As you know my relationship with my father has been difficult and painful with a lot of history.

"Despite everything and no matter how hard, difficult and in the last 10 years even non-existent our relationship and communication was, it is never easy losing a parent and a father, even one you are estranged from.

"The loss of an estranged parent comes with a difficult and complicated grief."

Dokic, 42, won six WTA singles titles in her career.

In her 2017 autobiography, Unbreakable, Dokic said she left home in the middle of the night with just a suitcase and her racquet bag a couple of months after signing all her earnings over to her father.

On Wednesday, Dokic added: "It's an end of a chapter and life as I know it. There are lots of conflicting and complex emotions and feelings for me.

"For the end of this chapter, I choose to focus on a good memory like this picture.

"And as always and especially important to who I am as a person and what I want to stand for, which is respect, grace, kindness, dignity and empathy.

"For now, I will leave it there."