Jelena Dokic to make another comeback No stranger to a challenge, Jelena Dokic will make yet another tennis comeback next week, desperately hoping to re-establish herself as a grand slam force.
Dokic has once again fallen outside the world's top 100 after battling an arm injury that has sidelined her since a first-round loss at Indian Wells in March.
The former Wimbledon semi-finalist and one-time world No.4 will contest a Challenger event in Prague hoping to find some form and confidence ahead of the French Open commencing on May 23.
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Despite her plummeting ranking, the 27-year-old has gained direct entry to the main draw for both Paris and Wimbledon because the cut-off - of around No.105 - is made six weeks before the start of grand slam tournaments.
But Dokic faces a torrid time resurrecting her tumultuous career, having won just one WTA Tour-level match since last year's French Open, where her latest problems began.
Dokic was leading former Roland Garros runner-up Elena Dementieva by a set and a service break in the second round when forced to retire in tears with a back injury.
Her demise in Paris started a demoralising decline.
The following month Dokic's volatile father Damir was jailed in Belgrade after being found guilty of threatening Australia's ambassador to Serbia and possessing illegal weapons.
First-round losses at Wimbledon and the US Open ensued and Dokic was also bed-ridden for two months suffering mononucleosis.
Not for the first time, Australia's former world junior champion went back to the drawing board and finished 2009 strongly, reaching a series of Challenger finals in Europe - and collecting titles in Greece and France - to end the season ranked 59th.
But she was unable to repeat her fairytale run to the 2009 Australian Open quarter-finals, bombing out in the first round, and then declaring herself unavailable for Australia's Fed Cup playoff with Spain in February. Dokic spiralled outside the world's top 600 back in 2006 as she fought depression and Australian Fed Cup captain David Taylor on Friday wasn't prepared to write the talented baseliner's career off just yet.
"Obviously Jelena needs to start playing consistently. Only then will she be able to have greater expectation of having good results," Taylor told AAP from Europe.
"There is no doubt she is very capable of being competitive amongst the top players, but she needs to take one step at a time and, as I said, most importantly she needs to play more tournaments.
"I think it's a good idea to start at the Challenger level to gain some confidence before playing WTA Tour-level matches.
"If she can do well in Prague, this would greatly increase her chance of competing well in Paris.
"Unfortunately due to the lack of match play, it is hard for Jelena to expect a lot of herself in Paris this year.
"But she always poses a threat to any opponent due to her ability to play at a high level."
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