Stand by your dad? Jelena Dokic thinks she should. Australian officials are hoping to talk the women's tennis star out of playing for Yugoslavia after Dokic said from Belgrade earlier this week that she planned to dump her adopted country and get a Yugoslav passport.

"I've come to get a Yugoslav passport," Dokic told the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti after arriving in the city with her mother Ljiljana on Tuesday.

The 17-year-old Wimbledon semi-finalist, who famously beat world number one Martina Hingis in the first round two years ago, was reported to be furious after a leading Australian tennis writer said her father Damir needed psychiatric help for his temper.

The article's author, Alan Trengove, said on Thursday he stuck by his opinion saying Dokic would be "foolish" to leave Australia.

"I'd be amazed if she did because of that comment," Trengove said, adding that it was obvious Dokic could not control her father's behaviour and believed it would be "silly" to forfeit her Australian passport for a Yugoslav one. Dokic had to be talked into playing in the Olympics and after winning a bronze medal, she said she would never play for Australia again because of unfair media treatment of her father.

Daddy Dokic was removed from Wimbledon this year for being abusive and was banned from the US Open. He was also arrested at a tournament in Birmingham a few years ago for being drunk and disorderly.