After years of abuse at her father's hands, this was the moment that broke Jelena Dokic: 'I only realise now how bad it was'

A 17-year-old girl steps onto the court at Rod Laver Arena and is hit by the sound of almost 15,000 people booing. The moment drags out, tears are welling in her eyes.

It was the 2001 Australian Open and Jelena Dokic had just announced she was switching allegiances from Australia to Yugoslavia.

Watching the footage of that day back for the first time in years while filming her documentary Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, 41-year-old Jelena can barely speak.

READ MORE: The harrowing secret Bindi Irwin hid from the world for 10 years 

"I only realise now just how bad the experience was," she tells 9honey.

"I don't know how, to be honest with you, I walked out on court and how I was able to still play a great match against the world No. 1 when 15,000 people were booing."

READ MORE: For years, Jess Fox 'hated' her most iconic feature

By 2001, Jelena had been a refugee twice and subjected to more than a decade of physical and verbal abuse at the hands of her father Damir Dokic.

It was Damir's decision that Jelena would change allegiances but she was the one who had to face the backlash. Disobeying him wasn't an option.

"I knew that if I didn't do things he demanded of me, who knows if I would survive the next beating," she says.

But that didn't make the reaction as she walked out onto the court any easier to bear. In fact, it was that day at Rod Laver Arena that really broke Jelena.

"I felt like the most hated person," she says. "I would take 100 years of abuse if it meant that that moment never happened. That's how much of an impact it had."

Back then, she didn't have a voice.

Trapped in a cage of her father's making, reinforced by years of beatings and name-calling, 17-year-old Jelena couldn't speak up to tell Australia the truth. Now, she can.

Based on her 2017 book of the same name, Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story has given Jelena the rare opportunity to not just tell the world what really happened but show it with hours of archival footage from the earliest days of her tennis career.

WATCH: Jelena Dokic opens up about her moving documentary

The documentary highlights the red flags in many of Jelena's public appearances with her father as a young player.

In it, she can be seen deferring to him at press conferences, shrinking into herself when doing interviews with him, glancing fearfully in his direction when Damir was sitting courtside at her matches.

READ MORE: Seconds after this photo was taken, Rhiannan plummeted 27m

Watching those moments, many of which Jelena had never seen before, was a confronting experience.

"I couldn't speak up in that moment because I was so afraid of not surviving the next beating, so it was tough to watch," she admits. But that's the point.

Jelena wants to show the confronting moments, wants to highlight the warning signs that were missed when she was suffering so that others subjected to family violence aren't overlooked or missed like she was.

It took Jelena decades to escape her father's abuse, fleeing in the middle of the night with nothing but some clothes and her racquets in 2002, just over a year after the incident at Rod Laver Arena.

It took her another decade to get the professional help she needed to start healing and address the depression, anxiety, PTSD and eating disorder the abuse left her with.

"I hit rock bottom with my mental health, almost took my own life a few times," she says.

"If I didn't find my voice and find power in vulnerability, to be honest with you, I don't think I would be talking to you today."

For the first time in her life, Jelena had access to the support she desperately needed to start building towards a better, happier future.

In 2017, she told her story for the first time in her book Unbreakable but her healing journey didn't end there.

"It wasn't just I told my story, released my books and documentary, and that's it - I'm healed. No, it was just the beginning of finding my voice," she says.

"Up until even a year or two ago, there was still trauma there ... but I can say today that I am the happiest and the most healed I've ever been."

READ MORE: Ariarne Titmus admits she's finally 'at ease' after years 

A former World No. 4, a bestselling author, a motivational speaker, tennis commentator, and an inspiration for women across the country, Jelena couldn't be more proud of what she's achieved and wants to use her story to empower others.

Whether it's through her documentary, her writing, public speaking or an Instagram DM, the 41-year-old is determined to be the light in the darkness that she needed as a child.

"That's what I think I stand for today: that you can go from victim to survivor, and not even just to surviving but thriving."

Watch Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story on Wednesday January 29 at 9pm AEDT on Channel 9 or 9Now.

If you or someone you know needs help, contact the National Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732). For support with eating disorders, call Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or chat online or email. In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000).

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.