Former tennis star injured by debris from Fernando Alonso’s car at Australian Grand Prix
Attending a Formula 1 race can come with a few risks to your health, as former world No 4 tennis star Jelena Dokic will confirm.
Croatian-born Dokic, who was a Wimbledon semi-finalist back in 2000 has been Australian-based for many years and she was in attendance for the qualifying sessions ahead of this year’s Formula 1 extravaganza in Melbourne.
Dokic was unfortunate to be caught in the firing line as former world champion Fernando Alonso slipped into the gravel trap and threw up a barrage of debris that left Dokic with an eye injury.
“When you go to the Formula One weekend at the Australian Grand Prix and a car going off track happens right in front of you, literally and all the rock debris flies right into your eye,” said Dokic on her Instagram account.
“Fernando Alonso ran off the track and the rock debris that you see flying off the back wheels went straight into my right eye.
“Had to get treated for it but all good. Just a bloodshot and scratched eye. I will survive.
“Amazing and quick work by the paramedic at Mercedes-AMG Lounge. Thank you all that took care of me. I am all good. Ready to watch some more F1.”
Dokic posted a video showing her receiving treatment for the injury, which thankfully doesn’t appear to be too serious.
Dokic has embarked on a second career as a broadcaster since her days on court came to an end, with her appearance on TV screens leading to some unpleasant abuse on social media platforms.
“The most common comment is ‘what happened to her, she is so big’?” Dokic wrote. “I will tell you what happened, I am finding a way and surviving and fighting. And it really doesn’t matter what I am doing and what happened because size shouldn’t matter.
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“I am here, fighting for all those out there being abused, fat shamed,” she added.
“I can’t change the world but I am going to continue speaking up, calling this behaviour out, using my platform for something good and to support other people out there and to give others a voice and try to make others feel less alone and scared.”
In her 2018 biography Unbreakable, Dokic detailed the physical, verbal, and mental abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and coach Damar.
In a column for The Age, Dokic called out the trolls who make life a living hell for others.
She wrote: “When we wake up in the morning, most of us check our phones. Try as we might to detox the day as much as possible, “smart” phones now make modern life possible, particularly when we’re working.
“I’ve been working at the Australian Open for the past two weeks, and waking up to the kind of abuse that, no matter how often I’m subjected to it, never gets easier to read.
“No matter how hard I try to work on my commentary, my interviews, my reporting on the tennis, for many trolls my weight disqualifies me from having an opinion – I should simply stop eating and be a free target for their dark and evil abuse.
“Not a chance. That’s not who I am. I’m stronger than all of that. I’m a survivor.
“My father abused me mentally, emotionally and physically from the age of six. For almost two decades I was bullied by the person supposed to care for me. I played tennis. I suffered PTSD. Depression. Anxiety. In 2006 it all got so big I contemplated taking my own life.
“Such things are hard enough to cope with for any poor soul, but when you’re in the public eye – whether you want to be or not – it makes it almost impossible to be honest about what you are facing.”
Dokic went on to affirm her commitment to standing up to online abuse as she added: “The online world is very different from writing a book. The trolls come for you.
“They make the battle so much harder to fight. No matter how often you read their abuse it makes you sad. Even when you have as thick a skin as I do, when someone tells you that you should kill yourself, you wonder how humanity can conceive of such thoughts and how society allows platforms where such thoughts can be shared, unpoliced and unpatrolled.”