WHEN Pam Whytcross walked into the women's locker rooms at Melbourne Park a few days before the Australian Open started, she met someone she'd not seen in more than two years: Jelena Dokic.
The pair was teamed together in 1998 under the WTA's mentor program, where former players help the up-and-comers deal with both the grind and the glory of the professional tour. Both being Australian, it was considered a good match.
"I was there for her if she needed it. We saw each other at tournaments and we had regular chats," Whytcross said.
Whytcross, a former tour player in the mid-to-late 1970s, did not need a second opinion to see how happy and relieved Dokic looked in 2009 compared with the Dokic of 10 years ago.
"Absolutely. You can see it in her face," Whytcross said.
"The first day I came here and saw her in the locker room, we hadn't seen each other for the last couple of years. It was lovely.
"She was so happy, had a big smile, and we had a hug and kiss 'hello'."
As far as her father Damir Dokic's talk of coming to Australia to watch her if she made the final, Tennis Australia confirmed that he would not be given the accreditation necessary to sit in the players' box.
The WTA clarified there was no life ban on Damir Dokic but that he was "a person of interest" and his appearance at any tournament in the players' areas would depend on his daughter's wishes.
Whytcross was appointed tennis competition manager for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympics so she had to leave the WTA's mentor program. She came back to women's tennis in 2001 to take up a job as tour supervisor, which has her "on the road" regularly with tournaments in the US, Europe and Asia.
But she is one of the few with some inside knowledge of Dokic. Whytcross witnessed first-hand the torment the teenager was going through as she began to assert herself on the tennis scene in Australia and then the world.
She now rejoices with the nation at Dokic's rebirth as a professional player and a person.
"Everyone is so proud of her and feels 'what an amazing girl' and how mentally tough she still is," Whytcross said.
"How mentally tough she was back then, having to deal with the issues she had and now after years in the wilderness, she still has that burning desire.
"Now that she's free, you can see the metamorphosis. It's fantastic. It grabs you in the heart."
Dokic returned to Melbourne Park yesterday after her drama-packed fourth-round win, where the Australian rolled her left ankle late in the third set before clinching victory.
A practice session with coach Borna Bikic was cancelled late yesterday afternoon, but tournament officials said it was a long-standing booking to have a court available at 5pm daily for her.
Dokic came to the courts yesterday to have WTA medical staff treat her ankle but she did not need any scans and is expected to have full movement for tonight's quarter-final against third seed Dinara Safina, according to Bikic.
"Jelena got physiotherapy treatment on her ankle last night and again today," Bikic said. "The treatment is progressing well. It was always intended she would not practise today and use this as a recovery day."
Bikic and his brother Tin, Dokic's boyfriend of nearly six years, should be given some of the credit for bringing the Australian back to her sport, according to Whytcross.
"We've known Borna and Tin for several years. They've been under a lot of pressure too," Whytcross said.
Bikic first linked with Dokic in 2003 but reunited with her in 2005 when her former coach, Heinz Gunthardt, could not commit to travelling.
"Some, at the time, thought they were not necessarily good for her. But how can anyone know or judge those things when so much was going on behind closed doors," Whytcross said.
"She had to make her own decisions and she's made them. And now they're proving to be right. They're a happy unit and the three of them are totally there for each other.
"I know the boys have gone through some tough times from lots of sources and they're now able to show everyone 'Hey, we had a belief and the hard work is paying off'."
The Dokic story is having a ripple effect among the players in Melbourne as well.
World No.2 Serena Williams, who won the 2007 Australian Open when ranked No.81 in the world, hoped Dokic might draw some inspiration from her fight two years ago.
"I'm really rooting for her to go far," Williams said.
"Obviously, if I make it, I don't want her to win. But I really am rooting for her to go as far as she can in this tournament because I think she has a chance to do extremely well.
"Hopefully she can be motivated by what I did when I was ranked in the 80s. I think it's just an amazing story. I'm so happy for her. She has nothing to lose.
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