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I'd back up that it's at least reasonable to question what Dokic says EXCEPT in such a circumstance as talking about physical abuse. That makes me nervous. And I can't get into conjecture over how bad it was at all. None of us were there, obviously. And physical abuse is just wrong, every time, regardless of anyone's determination of the degree of physical abuse. I for one have no doubt that Dokic was the victim growing up of physical abuse. I also have to throw out here that, sure, Dokic has been less than credible at times....WITH the huge caveat that it looks to me that she was under the thumb of a horrible father while also being VERY young during a lot of times when she was less than credible.

NOW, having said all of this- truly, it also can come as narcisstic to me for her to also say that "I’ve been through a lot worse than anybody on the tour," and "I can say that with confidence.” Mind you, if indeed the dad really did beat the crap out of her and/or, God forbid, there was, say, sexual abuse- then I all the more understand her sentiments. I also understand that abuse under any circumstances can make one feel very alone. But- we truly do not know what others have gone through. Daddy Dokic is clearly not the only tennis parent nut out there. Some players clearly have come from horrible poverty. Etc., etc. It just always feels off to me to get into comparing your situation against others.

I'm still all for allowing some lee-way here for Jelena. She's still very young. It's pretty normal when coming from abuse to have to go through periods of blaming, "woe is me" times, and all. (Albeit, not all of us get the chance to do so in international publications.) Still, NOW comes the REAL tough part for Jelena. At some point- you really just have to be ready to deal with your own sh**. At some point, and it's harsh, but you just have to find a way to stop focusing on what THEY did, and focus on what you need to do with your own life. If all you do is obsess and focus on what your parents did that was wrong- you then can practically doom yourself to live a life of your own version of making their same mistakes. Hope that she can get beyond this.