When tennis stars Jelena Dokic, Steffi Graff were abused by their fathers

Recently, former tennis star Jelena Dokic said that her father and coach Damir Dokic physically abused her from a young age. Here are four other tennis dads who crossed the line with their daughters and piled on the pressure.

Jim Pierce, father of Mary Pierce


The father-daughter duo reconciled years later. (Image: tennis.life)

Mary won the 1995 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open. Her father had a big role in her development into a world-class player. However, he was overbearing and verbally abusive. Jim famously shouted ‘Mary, kill the b***h’ while Mary was playing a match and also got into physical brawls at the French Open tournament. Eventually, Mary cut all ties from him and he was banned from attending matches. The father and daughter reconciled years later.

Marinko Lucic, father of Mirjana Lucic



Mirjana won the Australian Open doubles title at the age of 16 but had to soon leave her home country Croatia and move to the United States to escape her father’s abuse. “Beatings... there have been more of them than anyone can imagine,” she said in an interview.

“Sometimes it was because of the lost game, in other cases for the lost set. I don’t want to even say what happened after the matches I lost.” The tennis player took a hiatus from the game in 2003 and only played a few tournaments between 2004-2006, before making a comeback in 2007.

Peter Graf, father of Steffi Graf


Although, Steffi Graf always maintained that her father was good to her. (Image: tennis.life)

Peter Graf was nicknamed ‘Papa Merciless’ by the media for the gruelling discipline he expected from Steffi. He verbally abused officials, got into a fistfight at a game and manipulated Steffi’s schedule to preserve her ranking. He would also constantly push her physically by making her practice before and after long flights. He also was at the centre of a financial scandal and had a paternity suit filed against him. However, the tennis great never accused him of abuse and maintained that he was good to her.

Stefano Capriati, father of Jennifer Capriati


Stefano Capriati was said to be the real reason behind her break in 1994. (jennifercapriati.com)

Stefano, father of the former world number one Jennifer Capriati, was a former stuntman. He has been accused of using Jennifer as a meal ticket and for signing on a number of sponsors even before she became successful. He was projected to be the chief reason behind the Olympic medal-winning player’s break from tennis at the peak of her form in 1994.