Jelena Djokovic Is Her Husband Novak's Biggest Fan
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Novak Djokovic's biggest fan is his wife, Jelena Djokovic.
"Whether I'm winning or losing, she's always there. Family's always there. When I go back home, I'm not a tennis player anymore. I'm a father and a husband," he said years ago. "That's a kind of balance that I think allows me to play this well. Ever since I got married and became a father, I haven't lost many matches, I won many tournaments. I suggest that to every player, 'Get married, have kids, let's enjoy this.'"
As Novak sets out to capture his record 24th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 2023, get to know his wife Jelena Djokovic (née Ristic):
Jelena was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia.
Jelena was born in 1986 to parents Miomir and Vera Ristic. She has an older sister, Marija, who she calls her best friend on her blog. Her grandparents are from Ljig, Serbia. "When I was little, I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents at a village named Ljig," she shared on Instagram. "My favourite memories are from there. When my grandma would bake doughnuts and bring them to us at the public swimming pool where we used to spend our days. We were so hungry that we would eat whole box in a second and ask for more!"
When she was 18, she went to college in Italy at Bocconi University in Milan. There, she studied luxury brand management
She met Novak in high school.
The two attended the same Serbian high school that had a sports academy. They started dating in the early 2000s. Their first date, Jelena recalls, was at a sports bar in Monte Carlo and super awkward.
"Us getting together was like science fiction almost. I was a student barely getting by, and he was a very young tennis player who also had no money to spare on expensive trips," she said. "Airplanes were, at the time, something utterly out of our reach. We contrived and devised these plans how to meet, how to make our relationship work."
When she graduated, they moved in together in Monte Carlo, where she attended the International University of Monaco for her master's degree.
After dating for many years, they married in 2014 at Aman Sveti Stefan Resort in Montenegro, when Jelena was pregnant with their first child. "Seeing her for the first time in her wedding dress, smiling and walking towards me… She looked like an angel," Novak said. "I was trying to be present in that moment and memorize it. I was focused on her, and her smile, and our baby. It really was a perfect moment."
Jelena felt similarly, saying of their wedding, "I was very nervous and everything seemed a blur. I was seeing him through tears and immediately started crying when I saw him. “I was just so happy and probably being pregnant makes it quite difficult to control the emotions. I am so blessed to have him in my life. I couldn't ask for a better partner than him."
Jelena and Novak have two children: Stefan and Tara.
Their son, Stefan, was born in October 2014, and their daughter, Tara Djokovic, was born in September 2017. Jelena can often be spotted in Novak's player's box at his matches with their children.
She runs their family charity, the Novak Djokovic Foundation.
The two founded the charity in 2007. According to her bio on foundation's website, "Jelena is an open-minded apprentice of life with never-satiating hunger for knowledge who would like to be remembered as a curious soul who loves life and lifelong learning. A mother of two with an incredible passion to help, she is someone who lives and breathes Early Childhood Education. She lives by values of gratitude, honesty, respect, kindness, forgiveness, and love and tries to practice them through everything she does. About hobbies, she doesn’t really read books, who would have thought? She devours them."
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