How Jelena Dokic has put herself on a collision course with Nick Kyrgios just weeks before the Australian Open

Former Aussie tennis star and commentator Jelena Dokic is not on the same page as Nick Kyrgios when it comes to doping in the sport – and their views could see them clash at next month’s Australian Open.

While Kyrgios recently labeled tennis ‘boiled’ after women’s world number 2 Iga Swiatek was handed a one-month ban for doping, Dokic has a different view.

Considering Kyrgios has also been very vocal about men’s world number one Jannik Sinner, who escaped a ban in August despite failing two anti-doping tests, it should make for an interesting conversation when the Aussies cross paths at Melbourne Park in January .

“There’s been a lot of focus on players… but no attention has been paid to why that happened and why there was contamination, why a company or whoever supplied and so on doesn’t bear any responsibility,” he said. Dokic at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

‘I think it is a very unclear process, it takes its toll, especially on the players, and it definitely needs to be faster.

‘There are many more people who have to take responsibility for certain things.’

While Kyrgios (pictured, with actor Matthew McConaughey) recently branded tennis as ‘boiled’ after women’s world number 2 Iga Swiatek was handed a one-month ban for doping, Dokic has a different view.

Dokic also said she is convinced that anti-doping in tennis “will become a major conversation in the coming years.”

These words are in stark contrast to Kyrgios’ anger over the ban recently imposed on women’s world number 2 Iga Swiatek after she tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine in August.

He was responding to a message from fellow tennis professional Benjamin Lock, who tweeted: ‘1 month ban. It’s not even April Fool’s Day. Don’t play with us like that.’

Kyrgios responded to Lock’s post by saying: ‘our sport is done’.

He then doubled down with a second post, attacking the sport’s anti-doping rules.

‘The excuse we can all use is that we didn’t know. Just didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sports can now simply say “we didn’t know that,” said Kyrgios.

It also comes after Canberra-raised Kyrgios said in August it was “ridiculous” that Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner escaped a ban after failing two anti-doping tests.

“Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned,” Kyrgios wrote on X.

The two have a good chance of meeting at the Australian Open, as Dokic will be a big part of the commentary team and Kyrgios – who is making his long-awaited return from injury – will be one of the tournament’s biggest draws.

Last month, Dokic, 41, revealed she feared for her life amid harrowing abuse from her father Damir during her court career.

She has documented the mental and physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her father in her tell-all feature film Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Storywhich is currently playing in cinemas across the country.

Jelena Dokic recently revealed she feared for her life amid her father Damir’s harrowing abuse during her professional sports career

Dokic said on Nova FM that at the age of 17 she feared for her life because of Damir’s abuse.

Dokic told Nova presenters Jason Hawkins and Lauren Phillips that Damir forced her to play for Yugoslavia at the 2001 Australian Open, leaving her caught between his anger and widespread public criticism from Australian tennis fans.

She admitted that she feared being beaten by her father if she did not agree to change her national allegiance – and at one point was afraid for her life.

“When I had to transfer from Australia to Yugoslavia to play Lindsay Davenport within 24 hours of walking into Rod Laver Arena, I was literally caught between two fires,” she said.

“My father here, if I hadn’t started saying it at a media conference that was suddenly called, when I got back to the hotel room, who knows, I probably wouldn’t have survived that beating.

Dokic (pictured, at Wimbledon in 2011) recalled how her father forced her to play for Yugoslavia at the 2001 Australian Open, and it remains one of her biggest regrets

‘Or here I had the media, sponsors [and the] crowd that was going to hammer me – like they did – so what do you do?

“So of course I did and 24 hours later you walk out and you’re in Rod Laver Arena with 15,000 people booing you and everyone writing that you’re a traitor.”

Dokic heartbreakingly added that she would have suffered “100 years” of abuse from her father if it had meant she could have continued playing for Australia.

“This always makes me emotional, nothing else does,” she said through tears.

“I said recently, and people find it shocking, that I would take a hundred years of abuse if he hadn’t taken that moment away from me with my people, with Australia.

“A few years later I came back, yes I was accepted, but it was never the same until my book came out, and until now.”