I was OUT of CONTROL
THE FORMER WORLD NO. 4 REVEALS THE TOLL RETIRING FROM TENNIS TOOK ON HER HEALTH
Croatia-born Jelena Dokic stunned the world in 1999 when, at just 16 years old, she defeated world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the opening round of Wimbledon. Representing Australia after migrating here five years earlier, Dokic quickly climbed the ranks to become world No. 4 by the time she was 19.
Forced to walk away from her professional tennis career in 2014 due to an injury, the now 36-year-old struggled to adjust to normal life. Over the next four years, Dokic’s weight slowly crept up until she’d put on more than 50kg. “I was a professional athlete, so for me to then tip the scales at over 120kg was extremely hard and extremely difficult.”
Speaking to WHO, the blonde beauty reveals how she managed to overhaul her lifestyle and bring her weight back into a healthy range after she hit rock bottom following her battle with depression – the result of suffering abuse at the hands of her former coach and father, Damir. “I got to a stage where I couldn’t do things that
I want and things that I enjoy – I couldn’t really exercise or run,” Dokic tells WHO. “I felt really uncomfortable even to be around people.”
Then, in 2018, the former tennis pro finally decided: “Enough is enough.”
“I just couldn’t enjoy life and that was when I realised I needed to take control of the situation, because it felt like I was out of control,” she explains.
After losing around 20kg, Dokic enlisted the help of weight-loss company Jenny Craig to help her shed the remaining kilos.
“I think we’re all capable of losing a little bit of weight, but it’s about staying with it, and I knew that a quick fix was not going to last,” Dokic says. “I wanted more of a program and a lifestyle change. So the 32 kilos that I lost on Jenny Craig, that was the hardest and I think the most important part.”
After eating to fuel her body for so many years as a professional athlete, Dokic had to re-learn how to enjoy balanced meals. “For me, it was portion control – that’s where I got out of control after I stopped playing,” she explains. “That transition was really difficult, of not having to exercise six, seven hours a day. It’s a big adjustment on how much you need to eat when you train as much as I used to.”
In addition to overhauling her diet, Dokic also exercises regularly and even hits the tennis court from time to time. “When I started [losing weight], I couldn’t run, I couldn’t play tennis, I couldn’t really do anything extreme so I walked a lot, which I found really enjoyable,” she says. “Now, I try to go to different classes, from Reformer Pilates to spin classes.”
As well as her impressive 53kg weight loss, getting her health back on track has had major mental benefits for the sports star. “Battling depression is something that I’ve talked about in the past, so for me mental health through it all has been really important,” Dokic reveals. “That’s where exercise has also been key for me, because if it’s something that I can do a little bit of, almost every day, I feel a lot better.”