Jelena Dokic, taken to their hearts by the Australian sporting public, has dramatically renounced her adopted country and will play in today's showpiece Australian Open women's match against Lindsay Davenport under the Yugoslav banner after a last-minute demand by her notorious father Damir.

It followed what Dokic claimed was a "fixed" draw against his 17-year-old daughter, one that paired her with the defending champion and number two seed here and which amounted to her being "betrayed" by the Australian tennis authorities.

In retaliation, Dokic insisted the Belgrade-born Jelena would now play as a representative of Yugoslavia.

The request was granted. A brief statement yesterday read: "Jelena Dokic has officially requested her listing on the Sanex WTA rankings, and subsequently the Australian Open 2001 Draw, be updated with her country reading Yugoslavia." Geoff Pollard, president of Tennis Australia, confirmed: "We've received this advice from the WTA Tour. We will accept this and amend the Australian Open 2001 Draw accordingly."

So, four months after representing Australia in the Sydney Olympics, the troubled young life of Dokic, who sprang to prominence at Wimbledon in 1999 by beating the world number one Martina Hingis in the first round, has taken another awkward lurch.

Dokic, ranked world number 24, was bitterly disappointed when hearing she would meet Davenport in the first round of the Australian Open, fuelling her father's unfounded belief that draws are rigged in the women's game.

Dokic also reacted to the Melbourne draw by insisting that he would move the family to Florida immediately after the Australian Open.

"If anybody had been attacked the way I am in the media they would feel the same way," said Jelena, who reached the Wimbedon semi-finals last year, losing in straight sets to Davenport.

Last November she flew to Belgrade with her mother, Ljiljana, and was photographed showing off her new Yugoslav passport, although the family denied she would stop representing Australia. "Jelena was crying for the first time about tennis in her life after the draw," said her father, who was banned from all WTA events until March after his outburst in New York. "She could not believe that she had that kind of draw in Australia. She feels betrayed and that no one likes her. We were forced to do this and now she will always play for Yugoslavia. We don't have anything left here."

Dokic already owns a four-bedroom home in Florida and in the past has said it is easier to travel to tournaments from the United States rather than Sydney.