Pygmalion complex of the tennis parents who can never be satisfied

There was nothing I could ever, ever do to satisfy him, whether it's on the court, off the court." This admission came from Jelena Dokic after suffering years of abusive treatment from her father, Damir Dokic, who put her under constant pressure, criticism, and threats to become an international tennis champion.

By the age of 20, Jelena ranked fourth in the world. Three years later, in 2006, her ranking had slipped to 621. Discouraged and brow-beaten, Jelena had stopped trying. It was only when she was able to separate from her father that she began to recover both her drive and her ranking.

Nevertheless, her father's abusive treatment of her has left its scars. Just this month she had to withdraw from a match in Paris due to a bad back and we are left wondering about what internal pressures may still be crippling her.

Mary Pierce’s dad shouted at his daughter during a match, ‘Mary, kill the bitch!’

There are countless stories of pushy tennis parents and, with Wimbledon upon us, there will doubtless be more in the coming days. Damir Dokic is the most dramatic figure. He has recently been on trial in Belgrade for his threat to bomb the Australian ambassador, following Jelena's claim in an Australian magazine that he abused her as a child. Despite his protests that it was all a joke, incendiary devices and rifles were found in his home.

The Williams sisters' father, Richard Williams, is also well known for his aggressive behaviour during matches, especially aimed at his daughters' opponents. He expressed support for Jim Pierce, father of Mary, grand slam champion, who notoriously screamed at his daughter during a match, "Mary, kill the bitch!" It is perhaps no coincidence that the culprits are largely fathers - fathers who have made their child's tennis career into their own.

Most of us assume these parents are pushing their children because of unfulfilled desires and consequent frustrations of their own. While this undoubtedly plays a part in their behaviour, the story is more complex.

Some of these parents - in extreme cases - may be likened to Pygmalion. Ovid's story of Pygmalion depicts him as a sculptor who has carved a beautiful woman in ivory. Disillusioned and repelled by the sight of women prostituting themselves, Pygmalion falls in love with his perfect creation and prays to Aphrodite to bring her to life. His wish is granted, they marry and Pygmalion's creation remains his sole possession. Although she has come to life, she is perfect partly because she is without a will and desire of her own. She is flawless and she is his.

From this myth, we can see the seeds of what in psychology is called the Pygmalion Effect, in which children perform better when their parents place high expectations on them as compared with children whose parents do not have such high expectations or have low expectations.

The parents' expectations are internalised by the child and they become