No Special Favors: Jelena Dokic Ready to Work for Australian Open Berth
Article by Aaress Lawless on Dec 21, 2007 | Print |
Tennis Australia’s prodigal daughter Jelena Dokic does not want any special favors given to her for entrance in next month’s Australian Open.
Dokic, who has had a rocky relationship with the tennis organization over the last several years, has said that she would rather play the Australian Open qualifying tournament than enter the Grand Slam because of a discretionary wild card.
Dokic entered this week’s Australian Open wild card playoff event, but retired in the quarterfinals because of a thigh injury. Despite her early loss, Dokic could still benefit from a discretionary wild card bestowed by Tennis Australia.
Although Dokic has not said that she would turn down a wild card if she is given one of the four remaining entries, she believes the extra effort of playing qualifying events will help her game in the long run.
“I would rather play qualifying. That would suit me better overall for my game,” said Dokic according to Fox Sports.
“The harder I’m made to work early on, the easier later on it will be to get up the rankings.”
The former world number four is currently unranked on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
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