Father Figures in Dokic Mystery

One of the sadder sights of the summer hard-court campaign in Southern California was seen on a chilly Saturday night at Manhattan Beach, the eve of the final between Chanda Rubin and Lindsay Davenport.

It had nothing to do with forehands landing long and wide, or double faults. This unfolded off the court, in the weight room at Manhattan Country Club a few hours after Jelena Dokic had turned in a sorry performance in the semifinals, losing to Rubin, 6-0, 6-2, in 41 minutes.

Why had Dokic, currently the No. 4-ranked women’s player, slipped into “semi-tank mode,” as Rubin put it?

Dokic only heightened the intrigue when she sent word through the WTA public relations staff that she had been ill against Rubin ... then went out later that evening to play doubles with Kim Clijsters. And they won.

Afterward, Dokic still had a mandatory media requirement, which she fulfilled in the weight room, talking to two reporters. She talked about feeling poorly against Rubin because of a stomach virus, saying it had hurt her feelings to hear some booing from the crowd. Dokic smiled ruefully when reminded that the doubles victory meant another match, in the final on Sunday.

“Lucky me,” she said.

What really happened that Saturday?

ESPN commentators Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernandez said Dokic had been seen crying shortly before her match against Rubin. A courtside spectator, Mike Reuben of Anaheim Hills, said in an interview that he’d seen Dokic talking on a mobile phone just before the semifinal, near the weight room, visibly upset. He said she handed the phone to tournament officials, telling them to have her mother call her father.

Apparently, it all comes back to Dokic’s controversial father and coach, Damir, who had been, it seemed, safely off the scene, staying at home in Belgrade.

This answers some questions, but raises others. Did this have something to do with Damir’s recently hatched plan to move from Belgrade to England? Or with speculation that Damir is unhappy about Jelena’s new relationship with Brazilian race driver Enrique Bernoldi? Or, had Damir taken ill?

We may never find out what happened. Dokic has always publicly supported her father, dating back to his outlandish drunken behavior in Birmingham, England, in 1999 and Wimbledon in 2000.

But the Manhattan Beach episode was different. Dokic usually keeps her head when all is chaos, sometimes playing her best tennis when the crisis is most severe.

This time, she simply couldn’t do that. It was unsettling to see the talented 19-year-old unable to function on the court, usually her safe harbor.

But it should be known--particularly by paying fans--that there is more to her story than forehands and backhands. There is some reason Dokic plays more matches than most other top female players--she is 45-17 in 2002, and has been playing nonstop since Palo Alto last month.

If Dokic plays this week, as scheduled, at New Haven, Conn., it will be her fifth consecutive tournament. These should be the best days for Dokic, who reached a career-high No. 4 ranking Monday.

But clearly, something isn’t right. And so, the unhappiest fourth-ranked player you’ll ever see keeps on going week after week, retiring from about a fifth of her tournaments and finishing others under dubious circumstances.

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Charisma Calling

The latest blow to the men’s tour landed last week when former two-time U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter of Australia put down the rumors that he was pondering a comeback this fall.

Rafter, a new father, is enjoying his new role.

As often happens, though, there was an upbeat note in the charisma department by the weekend. About a year ago, Rafter won a match at Cincinnati and gave some words of encouragement to an American youngster at the net.

That youngster was James Blake.

Blake won his first ATP tournament title on Sunday in Washington, D.C., defeating Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand in three sets. He is the first African American to have won at Washington since Arthur Ashe in 1973 and became the fourth to have won a singles title in the Open era, joining Ashe (33), Mal Washington (4) and Bryan Shelton (2).

“Anytime I’m put in the sentence with Arthur Ashe is very significant for me, it’s just incredible,” Blake said. “From my childhood, I was proud to say he was my role model and now the more and more I keep hearing, ‘You’re the first one to do this since Arthur Ashe,’ is mind-boggling.

“I can’t comprehend beating Andre Agassi [in the semifinals], winning my first title and being the first African American to win here since Arthur Ashe.”

Blake’s victory celebration was exuberant but his title will have a lasting legacy. Because of long-held bets, now that Blake has won, his father, Thomas, will have to shave his beard and his coach, Brian Barker, and agent, Carlos Fleming, have to go on another adventure with him--skydiving. Barker does have the option of shaving his head.

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Taking Stock

Pete Sampras came close to breaking his tournament drought at the ATP stop on Long Island last year, losing to Tommy Haas in three sets in the final. A year later, he remains without a title in his last 32 events, dating to Wimbledon 2000.

Still, Sampras, who turned 31 last week, isn’t viewing this year as a career decision-making one.

“At the end of next year, I’ll see where it’s all at and then make a decision,” Sampras said to reporters at Commack, N.Y. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop or continue. I deserve to make my own decision as to when I leave the sport.”

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THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

*--* THE TIMES’ RANKINGS LISA DILLMAN’S TENNIS RANKINGS AND COMMENTS WOMEN 1 VENUS WILLIAMS Ven us ris ing on the Wil lia ms fam ily tee ter -to tte r in Aug ust 2 SERENA WILLIAMS Wen t to Mon tre al loo kin g for ano the r tit le and dep art ed wit h an inj ure d kne e 3 AMELIE MAURESMO Wen t to Mon tre al to get a few mat che s and dep art ed wit h a tit le 4 JENNIFER CAPRIATI Up: Ave nge d los ses to Ai Sug iya ma, Dok ic. Dow n: No tit les sin ce Aus tra lia n Ope n 5 CHANDA RUBIN Can you say pos t-M anh att an Bea ch let dow n? Suf fer ed ear ly los s in Mon tre al 6 LINDSAY DAVENPORT New Hav en las t pit sto p bef ore Ope n to wor k on clo sin g out mat che s 7 JELENA DOKIC Two wor ds of adv ice : Sto p pla yin g. At lea st for one tou rna men t 8 KIM CLIJSTERS Fou r con sec uti ve tou rna men ts; sch edu le sta rti ng to loo k lik e Dok ic’ s 9 MARTINA HINGIS Did n’t -yo u-u sed -to -be com eba ck tou r rol ls int o New Hav en 10 JUSTINE HENIN Try ing to rec apt ure her mom ent um in tim e for New Yor k MEN 1 CARLOS MOYA Rec ipe for suc ces s as No. 1: You can ‘t los e if you don ‘t pla y for a wee k 2 LLEYTON HEWITT Cou nte rpu nch ing aga ins t his No. 1 opp one nt of the mom ent --t he ATP 3 ANDRE AGASSI Cou ldn ‘t sur viv e the 1-2 com bin ati on of Enq vis t and Bla ke 4 GREG RUSEDSKI For got ten man bea t Hew itt , Haa s & Man til la for fir st tit le sin ce Jan uar y 5 GUILLERMO CANAS Has not gon e pas t the sec ond rou nd at the U.S . Ope n in thr ee tri ps 6 FERNANDO GONZALEZ Has eno ugh fir epo wer to tak e dow n alm ost any one any whe re 7 JUAN CARLOS FERRERO Fou rth rou nd in 200 0 was bes t U.S . Ope n sho win g 8 TOMMY HAAS Inj uri es con tri but ed to up- and -do wn res ult s at Ind ian apo lis 9 JAMES BLAKE Fir st Afr ica n Ame ric an to win Was hin gto n tit le sin ce Art hur Ash e in 197 3 10 UNITED STATES Sum mer tim e hon or rol l win ner s-- Aga ssi , Den t and Bla ke

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