Dokic seeks Yugoslav passport

Frustrated by reports focusing on her father's temper, Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has arrived in Belgrade to seek a Yugoslav passport, media reported in Belgrade today.

Frustrated by reports focusing on her father's temper, Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has arrived in Belgrade to seek a Yugoslav passport, media reported in Belgrade today.

At the Olympics in Sydney, Dokic vowed never to play for Australia again following an article in the Australian Tennis magazine that suggested her father, Damir Dokic, needed psychological help to control his volatile temper.

"I came here for the Yugoslav passport," Dokic was quoted as saying by the Belgrade Vecernje Novosti newspaper. "I want to get residence in Belgrade so I can come here while playing in Europe. Australia is far."

"I'm grateful to Australia, it helped me a lot," Dokic said, after arriving with her father. "But I always wanted to come back."

The Dokics have been traveling on an Australian passport for four years. They left their native Yugoslavia six years ago.

Dokic's father has been banned from women's tennis, both as a coach and as a spectator. He also was denied Olympic accreditation.

The sanctions came after he was thrown out of both the Wimbledon and the U.S. Open tournaments this year following confrontations with authorities.

The tennis player's father had said that he planned to visit the Yugoslav Consulate in Australia to organize passports for the entire family, saying it was too dangerous for him to live there any more.

At the Olympic's, the 17-year-old player lost 6-1, 6-4 in the bronze-medal match to another former Yugoslav, Monica Seles of the United States.