Tennis father held over bomb threat

Damir Dokic and Jelena Dokic

Damir Dokic, the volatile tennis father who built then almost destroyed daughter Jelena's career, is in a Serbian jail after threatening to bomb the Australian Embassy in Belgrade.

Police reported they had found undisclosed explosive devices in his home, and the Australian Foreign Affairs Department increased security and said the threat was being taken seriously.

Dokic, Jelena's coach during her early career, has a history of outrageous behaviour and has talked of killing an Australian in revenge for his daughter's decision to abandon him and return to her adopted homeland.

The Dokic family had fled the Balkan war, arriving in Australia in 1994.

Damir Dokic's outburst followed an interview Jelena, 26, gave to the Australian magazine Sport&Style, in which she claimed to have been physically abused by Dokic during her meteoric rise to fame. "I've been through a lot worse than anybody on the tour," she said. "I can say that with confidence."

In Belgrade, Dokic reacted furiously, phoning the embassy and threatening to fire a bazooka (rocket propelled grenade) at the ambassador's car.

"I've had it with the lies they are telling about me from that country," he told the Serbian newspaper Blic, news.com.au reported yesterday. "Because of those lies, it has destroyed my family."

Dokic told the newspaper that his threat was serious, and that he had the means to carry it out, including an "arsenal" of weapons at his house.

Police seized two explosive devices, seven rifles and a handgun - which Dokic had permission to own - and a quantity of ammunition.

Under Serbian law Dokic can be held for 48 hours without charge before appearing before an investigating judge.

Jelena Dokic's claims about her father followed long speculation and his increasingly bizarre behaviour following the young player's explosion on the international tennis circuit in 1998, when she ended the season as the world's number one junior.

In 2000 he was thrown out of the US Open after obscenely abusing catering staff over the price of a sandwich, smashed a photographer's camera at Wimbledon, and the following year was banned from the Australian Open after accusing officials of fixing the draw against Jelena.

The family moved to the United States in 2001, but two years later Jelena sacked her father, replacing him with Croatian Borna Bikic.

Jelena said during this year's comeback at the Australian Open that, at the age of 19 she had slipped into deep depression, largely because of her father.

"I pretty much lost my family," she said. "I don't talk to my father. I haven't for years. I talk to my mum. We're mending that relationship."

Dokic continued to attack Jelena through the media and after an attempt at reconciliation with the family in Serbia she returned to Australia.

Dokic told the Serbian newspaper that he wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on Australia and had thought of killing an Australian in revenge for the country "conspiring" to take her back.

He also said he planned to kidnap Jelena and had sought help from Serbian politicians, including an alleged war criminal.

"Australia is a spoiled nation," AAP reported Dokic as saying. "They can expect my revenge."

This year's Australian Open re-opened the wounds. Although both father and daughter apologised to Australia, Dokic was furious at reported comments by Jelena, including her claim not to have spoken to him for years and that there was no possibility of reconciliation.

Dokic accused Jelena of lying, and said she was being drugged and controlled by her coach and his brother, boyfriend Tin Bikic.