Jelena Dokic underwent a massive weight gain after her retirement. She gained half her weight and became double her size. She weighed 120 kgs at her heaviest. The lack of routine and the condition of hyperthyroidism she developed largely contributed to that. For a long time, she suffered from anxiety and lost her confidence because of the body shaming she received. However, Jelena Dokic decided to take control of her life and got started to reverse her weight gain.
Jelena Dokic is an Australian tennis coach, commentator, writer, and former professional tennis player. She achieved one of the biggest upsets in tennis history at the very young age of 16 in the 1999 Wimbledon Championships when she beat Martina Hingis 6–2, 6–0. Never had it happened before in women’s tennis that the world No. 1 lost to a qualifier. She went on to reach the quarterfinals of that competition which was only her second Grand Slam championship.
She is easily one of the greatest players in the history of tennis. She won WTA Tour events on all surfaces during her career. However, she was never ranked one. In August 2002, she achieved her highest ranking as a tennis player when she became world No. 4. She rapidly ascended through the world rankings after her Wimbledon breakthrough but her rise was beset by off-court struggles with her father.
Jelena Dokic even made a serious return to tennis in 2008 and finished 2009 back in the world top 100. But after that, she struggled badly with form and in 2014, she had to cease and retire from playing professionally on account of the injuries. She recently made an appearance on the Australian Open coverage, where she talked about the body shaming she had been subjected to over the years and slammed the trolls who were guilty of doing that.
Her physical appearance and her talking about body shaming made people interested to know about her weight gain. After retirement, her weight fluctuated a lot. She had gained a lot and she had lost a lot. And people had given her hell for it. For many years, body shaming had affected her mental health but now, she’s slowly starting to fight back. Let’s learn more about Jelena Dokic’s weight gain and how she’s dealing with it now!
Also, check out the weight gain stories of Froomes and Jelena Ostapenko.
Jelena Dokic’s Weight Gain: She Developed Hyperthyroidism After Her Retirement Which Caused Her to Gain Weight!
Jelena Dokic (@dokic_jelena) had a significant weight gain and weighed 120 kilograms at her heaviest. She had a very hard life and she could never play to her fullest strength and capacity even though in the time she played, she showed how much of a talent she is. Her off-court struggles hampered her tennis career a lot and a few years after she made her return, she had to retire because of her right wrist injury. Her retirement did not come on her own terms, she was forced to on account of her injuries.
So, her life changed drastically after her retirement. One of the most dramatic changes was her weight. Jelena Dokic underwent a substantial weight gain and in such a short time that it shocked her fans to see her shortly when she started coaching to see just how bigger she had become. She later said that she had gained half of her weight and weighed 120 kilograms.
This significant weight gain came about because Jelena Dokic couldn’t handle the change well. She admitted that going from such a high-profile and very regimented life to then stepping away from it all was a hard adjustment for her. Because tennis was all she knew and she had to step away before she was 30 because of the injury, it had been very difficult for her. And not to mention those off-court struggles with her abusive father.
Jelena Dokic said that she lost her way and struggled with what she was going to do and her confidence and what was next for her. She couldn’t stay in form after all the mental and emotional baggage she was carrying. At one stage, she couldn’t even do the things that she was so used to doing and that she loved doing like running and even playing tennis just for herself. Because of the lack of routine, she had a massive weight gain.
Though the former tennis star tried to take control of herself, weight gain had already shaken off her confidence and made her anxious. A lot of times, she turned down work to avoid going out of the house because she felt very conscious about her appearance. She suffered from anxiety because of the body-shaming comments that followed her everywhere she went. She could not shut herself from it.
Plus, whatever efforts she made to lose weight and become fit and in the form again didn’t work because as it turned out, Jelena Dokic developed hyperthyroidism after she retired. It’s a condition that not only drastically increases weight but also increases fatigue and weakness. So, the massive weight gain was not just the lack of routine and anxiety but also hyperthyroidism which hindered all her efforts to get fitter. She just stayed ballooned up for a lot of time.
However, Jelena Dokic changed that in face of all the odds brilliantly. She took control of her life and got started to reverse her weight gain and become fit and she became successful. She lost 53 kgs in 2020 and is yet to reach her goal weight but she’s working on it and is in a much better condition. She’s been working with Jenny Craig to get her weight back on track and it’s working. This weight loss journey not only improved her form and was not just about fitness for her but it was also about feeling great mentally. She’s continuing with the odds stacked against her and she’s going to reach her goal weight in time.
Since I started committing to weight loss last year it has been more a mental battle losing weight because I am also used to working very hard with tennis but I couldn’t do a lot of physical work because of my thyroid condition. That condition made it incredibly difficult to lose the weight. You may think in your head you want to lose 10, 15kg in a month but it doesn’t go like that. For me I have had to learn patience. At times you might lose four or five kilograms very quickly but then you might not. You only drop one or two kilograms.
Jelena Dokic recently called out trolls for their body-shaming when she made an appearance at the Australian Open 2023. Her confidence is no longer shaken up by weight gain.
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