Jelena Dokic has revealed she feared for her life amid horrific abuse from her father Damir during his professional sporting career.

The Australian tennis champion, 41, documented the abuse she suffered for years at the hands of Damir in her tell-all feature Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story.

She appeared on Jase and Lauren from Nova to discuss the documentary and recalled her life-or-death terror when she was just 17 years old.

Jelena recounted how her father forced her to play for Yugoslavia at the 2001 Australian Open, trapping her between Damir’s anger and widespread public criticism.

She admitted that she was afraid of being beaten by her father if she did not agree to change the country she played for and that she was afraid for her life at one point.

“When I had to go from Australia to Yugoslavia within 24 hours of walking onto Rod Laver Arena to face Lindsay Davenport, I was literally in the crossfire,” she told hosts Jason Hawkins and Lauren Phillips.

Jelena Dokic has revealed she feared for her life following horrific abuse from her father Damir during her professional sporting career.

“My father here, if I hadn’t gone and said it at a suddenly called press conference when I got back to the hotel room, who knows, I probably wouldn’t have survived this beating.

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

“So of course I did it and 24 hours later you come out and you’re at Rod Laver Arena, 15,000 people booing you, everyone writing that you’re a traitor.”

Jelena heartbreakingly said she would have suffered “100 years” of abuse from Damir if it had meant she could have continued playing for Australia.

“It always makes me emotional, nothing else does,” she said through tears.

“I said it recently and people find it shocking, it would take 100 years of abuse for me not to take away this moment 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.”

Jelena admitted that this wasn’t the only time she feared for her life and was once left unconscious by her father’s beating as she discussed fleeing his influence at 19.

Speaking on Nova’s Jase & Lauren, Jelena recalled how she feared for her life when she was just 17 because of Damir’s abuse (she is pictured with her parents Damir and Ljiljana)

“I had to leave at 19 because I didn’t know if I was going to survive the next beating,” she detailed.

“There was one when I was 17 where I was knocked unconscious, kicked and punched in the head so hard I lost consciousness.

“That’s what happens, the next one, you don’t know if you’re going to survive. I knew it, I knew he was getting more and more violent.

Jelena was born in Yugoslavia and her family moved to Australia when she was 11, where she began playing tennis.

She reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 1999 and the semi-finals in 2000, followed by the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2002, but at the same time suffered shocking abuse from her father.

In her documentary, Jelena recalled how she felt pressure to win because Damir regularly inflicted blows on her.

“I knew that if I lost, the consequences would be catastrophic,” she said while watching footage of herself playing tennis.

“One day after my defeat, I knew what was going to happen… I started to feel really broken inside.

Jelena (pictured in 2011) told how her father forced her to play for Yugoslavia at the 2001 Australian Open and said she would now face “100 years” of abuse for not doing so. that.

“There wasn’t an inch of skin that wasn’t bruised. I am 17 years old and thanks to his actions, (I) became the most hated person.

Jelena also revealed that she didn’t “hate” her father for the abuse she suffered, although she couldn’t forgive him for his actions.

“I don’t blame anyone. I don’t blame anyone. I definitely don’t hate anyone, I never would,” Jelena told Daily Telegraph.

“I’m not bitter about it. Even towards my father, which surprises people. But I don’t hate him. I don’t necessarily forgive him, but I don’t hate him.