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Aussie fans frown on Dokic's dad Reuters SYDNEY, Australia -- Tennis-mad Australians are eager for home-grown glory at the Olympics but angry over the antics of Damir Dokic, the father of women's hopeful Jelena Dokic. Tennis enthusiasts at the North Sydney tennis club "Love'n Deuce" were quick with their opinions on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, praising the prospects of Lleyton Hewitt, but bashing the boorish behavior of Dokic's father. "An Australian would walk over hot coals to win the medal here," said club owner Paul Francis, who considers the current crop of players the best Australia has produced since the days of John Newcombe, Tony Roche and Rod Laver. "I'm definitely looking for Australian gold," 20-year-old Tim Snelling said. Two-time U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter and 1998 Open runner-up Mark Philippoussis are strong contenders for the Australian squad. Hewitt, who won on the Olympic Park courts earlier this year when he took the Sydney International title, was the top choice among those polled at Love'n Deuce. "Hewitt will probably go far here," Liz Gowen, 17, said. "He puts in a lot of effort and gets the crowd involved." Club coach Jon Kemp said, "The Australians will be very highly motivated for their country. Lleyton Hewitt has a very good chance of winning. "I had money the last time on (1996 Olympic champion Andre) Agassi winning in Atlanta. I like Hewitt. He will chase down everything. He'll bleed himself on court." Jelena Dokic leads the locals' campaign for women's hardware at the Games. But while fans were in full support of her, they were united in their disgust over her father. In the latest of a series of embarrassing blow-ups, Dokic's father was escorted off the grounds and banned from the U.S. Open after an obscenity-laced tirade in the players' dining room over the price and portion of a salmon platter. "When she's not focused on her father, she's a pretty good tennis player," Gowen said of Dokic. Snelling added, "She's maturing a lot in her game, but her dad takes a little away from her." "Dokic herself is a nice player, a lovely kid. The problem is her father," Kemp said. "And she's not old enough yet to take control of her destiny and life." Dokic hassled a TV cameraman at this year's Australian Open and smashed a reporter's cellular phone at Wimbledon. An Olympic eruption would leave Dokic's father only a French Open incident away from a dubious Golden Slam of shame. Dokic impressed many tennis observers by how she handled herself after her father's tantrum in New York. Despite not having his help from the second round on, she advanced to the fourth round before falling to 1999 champion Serena Williams. "Her father put her under a lot of pressure, and she takes it very well, and she plays her game like normal," said 9-year-old Harry Nemeth. "It shows she's very strong in the mind." Francis added: "I think she's coming out looking like a strong character dealing with that situation. To do as well as she did at the U.S. Open under those circumstances was sensational." Keighley Quist, picking up his 12-year-old daughter Sophie, was optimistic about the prospects of the 17-year-old Dokic. "I think she's great," Quist said. "She just has to learn to come to the net more." |  | ALSO SEE Rafter offers olive branch to Philippoussis U.S. women eye medal sweep in Olympic tennis ITF Olympic invitees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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