Former WTA World No.4 Jelena Dokic is currently working as a presenter at the Australian Open – Judy Murray came to her defence.
Former Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has been subjected to online trolling and abuse amidst her stint as a presenter at the Australian Open. The former World No.4 has been fat-shamed and called a ‘whale’ by online trolls. Dokic has hit back at her trolls and also found support from others in the tennis fraternity including Judy Murray.
Social activist and professional Tennis coach, Judy Murray took to Twitter to take a firm stance in support of Dokic. “Jelena Dokic was one of the worlds best tennis players and is an outstanding and entertaining pundit/presenter. Why are women judged so much on how they look instead of how good they are at their jobs? U don’t see this type of criticism aimed at male presenters“, an angry Murray wrote. Dokic was certainly one of the top players during her time and she is doing pretty well as a television presenter and commentator.
Let us take a look at some of the reactions from fans on Twitter.
“Its the same for Ostapenko..its reaching a cringe level of shaming..her clothes her body its her choice..needs to stop really”, wrote a fan.
“Yes we do see it. Male presenters get trolled constantly its just looked at as banter because society accepts that men should (and generally do) take it on the chin. There’s a whole movie out about obesity literally called “the whale”, tweeted a fan with a different take.
“Personally, as somebody weighing 49kg, I thought she looked fantastic, really stylish and confident. It was a pleasure to listen to her interview with Djokovic: witty, well informed and managed to bring out the human side in him which is often missing”, read a tweet.
“Not forgetting one of the most incredible journeys and story – the fact she did as well as she did is nothing short of miraculous”, tweeted another fan.
Another fan wrote: “As long as she’s happy, why does anything else matter? She’s been through enough.”
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