I don't want to play for Australia: Dokic

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Sydney: Australian teenage tennis star Jelena Dokic was quoted on Friday as saying she never wanted to play for Australia again and was considering a permanent move overseas.

Dokic, beaten in the Olympic bronze medal play-off by American Monica Seles, made clear in comments carried by the 'Daily Telegraph' newspaper that she was upset with continued media criticism of her controversial father and coach Damir.

"I am going to speak to my Fed Cup captain Lesley Bowrey before leaving tomorrow and tell her I don't want to play for Australia again," said Dokic, who is due to play in Japan after the Olympics.

"I don't care what people say and do to my "Poppa' -- the bond between us, my mother and (brother) Savo, no one can break," said the 17-year-old, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon this year.

Dokic's brief but promising career has been plagued by controversy around her father, who was barred from the National Tennis Centre in New York during the recent US Open after verbally abusing staff in the players' dining room.

Earlier, at Wimbledon, Damir Dokic had shouted at spectators and smashed a journalist's cell phone. At a tournament in Birmingham, England, last year he was tossed out for verbally abusive behaviour in the stands.

Australian Olympic officials refused to issue Damir an official coach's accreditation for Sydney 2000, although they said he could attend the Games privately. He has also been banned for six months from the Women's Tennis Association tour.

Damir, a former Belgrade truck driver, was quoted by the 'Daily Telegraph' as saying he would visit the Yugoslav embassy next week and ask for passports for the entire family.

Asked where he intended to go, he said, "First I get passports for family and then we talk about the future.

"For the next two months I relax, while wife (Lilliana) and Jelena go on tennis circuit, and make a big decision about Australia."



(c) Reuters Limited.