Jelena Dokic will re-apply for Australian citizenship when she visits Melbourne next month to prepare for the Australian Open.

The tennis star's high-profile father Damir Dokic has confirmed his estranged daughter will go back on her decision to play under the Serbian flag and return to the Australian fold.

She is expected to apply for Australian citizenship in time for the Australian Open in January - an event she has not played since 2001.

"Jelena phoned her mother and told her she plans to travel to Melbourne in December to prepare for the Australian Open," Damir Dokic told Kurir, a Serbian newspaper.

"She wants to take Australian citizenship when she is there and to play at the Australian Open as an Australian citizen."

Dokic has been a tennis recluse for the past two years, with her world ranking dropping into the 300s after being estranged from her controversial father, who caused infamous incidents at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Her parents said they had not heard from her since a tournament in Italy in August and were considering calling police before she telephoned her mother.

"She phoned my wife from Croatia saying she was OK," Damir Dokic said.

"I thought she had been kidnapped or something.

"She did not call for three months and I was about to ring the police."

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