Tennis: Dokic looking good

Jelena Dokic took her first step on another Wimbledon glory run and declared she's far more interested in results than image.

The Yugoslav star with the Australian accent could even become a new Anna Kournikova - with ability.

So far her enormous talent has been overshadowed by infamous "dad from hell" Damir, but her impressive straight-sets defeat of Paraguayan Rossana de los Rios in the first round offered more evidence that she's ready to emerge as a major talent.

When she made her All England debut as an unknown qualifier in 1999, Dokic was a little girl from the backwoods, dominated by a bearded father whose anti-social behaviour has been the talk of the game.

Yet she insisted after her 7-5 6-1 victory: "I don't care too much for this image thing.

"I think it has gone a little bit beyond tennis and in this country there is a lot of fuss made about it - although it seems to be all over the world now.

"If you are just going out there worried about the way you look you would be better being a model.

"But there are still a lot of players who don't feel that way. People like Lindsay Davenport are great players who just want to do their job and win their matches.

"That's how I feel. The only thing with me is that I'm a little superstitious. I've decided to wear the same tennis outfit (a Bjorn Borg-type pin-stripe top) for every match and just keep washing it in between."

Dokic certainly got down to business on baking-hot Court Three and the bonus was that father Damir for once kept the peace. He has just completed a ban incurred for incidents at last year's US Open.

True, the man who once laid down drunk in the street during a tournament in Birmingham and then broke a television reporter's mobile phone in an argument at Wimbledon last year, was asked to extinguish a smelly pipe which he briefly lit at court-side.

Apart from that he was the epitome of social respectability as he sat in the front row of the press box tier alongside wife Lilliana and young son Savo.

And there were also plenty of cheers for Jelena from dozens of Down Under fans although her father's decision to break away from the Australian Tennis Federation which had taken her under its wing when the family fled from war-torn Yugoslavia eight years ago.

De los Rios, whose little daughter is being looked after by her former professional footballer husband at Wimbledon, could not live with Dokic despite briefly arresting her flying start with an unexpected break-of-serve to lead 5-4 in the opening set.

Dokic, who shot to fame with her shock first round defeat of world number one Martina Hingis two years ago, soon broke back again to take the first set and then made short work of the second as her powerful double-handed backhand found gear.

She said: "I was pretty pleased with my start although I know I can do better.

"I've got a good record here and it will take a lot to live up to it. So I'm just taking one match at a time like I did when I reached the semi-final last year."