Article written by Todd Spiker

JELENA-DOKIC.com - Jan. 2003/WEEKS 2-3

 

   Everyone's heading to Oz this week. Everyone but "Dorothy" Dokic, that is.
She's... well, I guess we're not quite sure where she is at the moment.  But we DO know where she ISN'T... for the second straight year.
   Reasons and excuses abound, of course.  Some legitimate, some not.  What isn't arguable, though, is that Dorothy's skipping out again on what might be her best chance to win a slam title, voluntarily removing one more opportunity in a tennis career where such moments are a finite commodity.

 

   The Sisters will be in Melbourne.  As will Wonder Girl and the Grand Dame of Yugoslavian Tennis.  Present, as well, will be the Waffles & Russians (and their little dogs, too!).  Even The Petulant One will return to attempt to win her third straight Aussie title despite having not experienced anything resembling such acclaim since she tried to win her second straight a year ago.
   At this point, can anything or anyone persuade Dorothy to "surrender?"  Yes, of course.  But its name might just be "time."
   Time to get farther away from the Oz Incident of 2001... farther away from the notion that it's better to avoid possible bad press/fan reaction in favor of bad judgment that will appear less and less intelligent as the years go by.  At 19, just a few seasons into a successful pro career, the Australian Avoidance can be explained in an acceptable fashion, and the fear of reprisal for past events is at least somewhat understandable.

 

   In January 2004, though, Dorothy will have left her teen years behind some nine months earlier.  At that point, barring unforeseen circumstances, the decision to say "home" will cease to be able to be looked upon quite as kindly.
   As of Monday, Dorothy will have been held hostage for 729 days.  Hopefully, as Day 1092 approaches a year from now, Jelena will see fit to release this portion of her career from this odd form of self-imprisonment... and remind everyone Down Under that they should wish she'd never left, that they should have fought harder to convince her to stay.
   Maybe then, and only then, will she ever have a chance to earn back the cheers that she (rightly) fears have transformed into boos in her long absence.  And, then and only then, will she put herself on the full-circle path to what could be the crowning glory of a career that will never really be complete until she allows herself to find a way to write a more suitable end to the Australian chapter of her life... one whose setting can only be where so much of her story began.
   Who knows, that end could turn out to be the beginning of something greater than Jelena/Dorothy could have ever anticipated, nor surely imagined.  But for that to become a reality she'll have to decide to show up.  Some day.


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