Former tennis player-turned-consultant Jelena Dokic on Monday criticized comments about her physique that were targeted on social media during her coverage of the Australian Open. The Australian, 39, conducts television interviews on Melbourne courts with the players after their matches. “The body shaming and fat shaming the past 24 hours has been insane,” Dokic wrote on Instagram.
According to the former world number 4, born in Croatia and whose father is Serbian, the insulting comments about her weight come from all over the world, but particularly from Serbia. “And yes, many of these people are women. So much for ‘women supporting women’,” she added, referring to the “harmful and repugnant” comments.
“What matters is the intimidation and humiliation of fat people”
Dokic, who said she was stalked and beaten by her father Damir for years, has previously spoken publicly about her mental health, revealing that she was close to suicide last year. “The most frequent comment is ‘What happened to her, why is she so fat?’ I’ll tell you what happened, I find a way to survive and fight. And it really doesn’t matter what I do and what happened because size shouldn’t matter,” the consultant wrote on Instagram.
“What matters is the online abuse, bullying and humiliation of fat people. That’s what matters, because those of you who do are just bad, mean, ignorant people,” she lamented.
Dokic, who won six titles in his career and reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2000, rose to prominence at the age of 16 in 1999 by beating world number 1 Martina Hingis in the first round of Wimbledon.