Dokic pulls out of Australian Open

Jelena Dokic on Wednesday confirmed she would not play in the Australian Open which starts next week.

As had been widely expected Dokic, who used to represent Australia but now plays under the flag of Serbia and Montenegro, said she was not travelling to Melbourne because she was under-prepared.

"I'm really disappointed not to be able to make the trip down to Melbourne for the Australian Open. I was really looking forward to playing there for the first time in three years," she said in a statement issued by the organisers of women's tennis, the WTA.

Dokic joins a host of big-name absentees from the women's draw. Holder Serena Williams and former champions Jennifer Capriati and Monica Seles have also pulled out, and Belgium's Kim Clijsters is a major injury doubt.

Dokic, 20, has refused to play at the Australian Open since she was knocked out in the first round by former world number one Lindsay Davenport at Melbourne Park in 2001.

Her father Damir claimed at the time the draw had been rigged against his daughter after she was drawn to play Davenport.

Dokic and family then left Australia, who she had represented at both the Sydney Olympics and in the Fed Cup, for Belgrade later that year.

She now trains with former French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in Barcelona.

MOST DISAPPOINTED

World number 15 Dokic continued: "Above all I'm most disappointed for the fans as it was one of my main goals the last couple of months to play there and try and get my ranking back into the top 10.

"I've been training really hard the last couple of weeks, and although I've had a setback or two, I was hoping it wouldn't prevent me from making the trip.

"Unfortunately my game is not where it needs to be to compete at the highest level and I feel I definitely would not be able to do myself justice in such a major event, but I can assure you that I will do my best to be there next year."

Tournament director Paul McNamee said: "It is disappointing that Jelena will not be competing this year but we certainly look forward seeing her back here in the future."

The Australian Open takes place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to February 1 and boasts a prize pool of A$19 million split equally between the men and women.

It had been widely anticipated that Dokic would not travel to Melbourne after Damir told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper last week that he had spoken to his daughter "10 or 15 days ago" and she had told him she would not play.

"How could she go back?" Damir Dokic was quoted as saying from his home in Serbia and Montenegro.