NEED TO KNOW
- Novak and Jelena Djokovic were high school sweethearts and married in 2014
- They now share two children: Stefan and Tara
- Jelena is the co-founder and global CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation
Novak Djokovic isn’t just a legend on the tennis court — he’s also been winning at love with his wife, Jelena Djokovic, since they got married more than a decade ago.
The high school sweethearts tied the knot on July 10, 2014, shortly after Novak won his second Wimbledon championship. Novak and Jelena now share two kids: Stefan, born in 2014, and Tara, who arrived in 2017.
Jelena juggles her role as the co-founder and global CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation with her other favorite job — being her husband’s No. 1 fan and loudest cheerleader. In 2024, she watched Novak reach a career milestone when he won his first-ever gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m still in shock. I put my heart, my soul, my body, my family, my everything on the line to win Olympic gold,” Novak said during a post-match interview. “At age 37, I finally did it.”
Now, he’s hoping to redeem himself at the 2025 US Open after playing what he called his “worst tennis ever” at the Grand Slam tournament the year prior.
So who is Novak Djokovic’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Jelena Djokovic and her longtime relationship with the tennis star.
She and Novak met in high school
Jelena and Novak were together for several years before getting married in 2014. In fact, the two have known each other since they were young — they attended the same high school in their home country of Serbia.
The pair first started dating while attending and playing tennis at school, and were together for eight years before getting engaged in 2013 in Monte Carlo, where Novak was living at the time.
She went to college in Milan
Jelena and Novak were dating as Novak’s tennis career was taking off, but Jelena had her own studies to focus on. She once told Hello! that she had always wanted to go to university abroad, adding that since her parents weren’t able to fund that kind of education, it “entailed me being the very best student in elementary and high school, in order to win scholarships.”
Her work paid off, and she ended up going to Bocconi University in Milan, where she studied luxury brand management.
Despite the long distance and their busy schedules, the pair found a way to make their romance work.
“Us getting together was like science fiction, almost,” Jelena told Hello!. “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.”
“Airplanes were, at the time, something utterly out of our reach,” she continued. “We contrived and devised these plans on how to meet, how to make our relationship work.”
When Jelena graduated from college, the two moved in together in Monte Carlo, where she got a temporary job at an oil company.
She’s a humanitarian
Not long after moving to Monte Carlo with Novak, Jelena ended up leaving her job at the oil company, telling Hello! she was at the office for so long that it was negatively affecting her relationship with Novak.
“At certain point, Novak told me, ‘Darling, we cannot go on like this,’ ” she said.
Jelena is now the co-founder and global CEO of the couple’s charity organization, the Novak Djokovic Foundation. As she explained to HuffPost, Novak and his family created the organization in 2007 to assist disadvantaged children in Serbia by giving them access to early childhood education.
They got married right after Novak won Wimbledon
Jelena and Novak wed on July 10, 2014, a little less than a week after Novak won his second Wimbledon championship. The ceremony took place in Sveti Stefan, a small coastal town in Montenegro.
PEOPLE reported at the time that the nuptials took place outdoors. The couple said their vows in a gazebo surrounded by pine trees while 100 guests looked on.
In July 2024, Jelena and Novak celebrated 10 years of marriage. “Ten years of joy. Ten years of dreams. Ten years as one. Ten years of fun,” the tennis star wrote on Instagram. “Ten years of you. The best part of me. I love you forever.”
She’s a mom of two
Jelena was pregnant with the couple’s first child when they tied the knot. On Oct. 22, 2014, she gave birth to their son, Stefan Djokovic.
Nearly three years later, Jelena gave birth to their daughter, Tara Djokovic, in September 2017.
“Very happy and proud to welcome our little girl Tara to our home,” Novak wrote on Instagram. “Jelena and I have been hand in hand on their journey and as a man, I have to send my love and admiration to every single women out there for going through so much pain and effort to create life, to bring life and raise a human being … what a blessing to have an opportunity to be a parent!”
He added, “Jelena and Tara are my angels, and Stefan is a proud big brother who wants to take part in baby chores.”
She’s supportive of her husband
As one of the biggest male tennis stars in the world, Novak lives an extremely busy lifestyle — and Jelena is there for him every step of the way. She once told the Daily Mail that although she gets “passionate” while watching Novak play, she has to be cautious about showing too much emotion.
“I have to be careful as I don’t want to get too emotional and distract Novak,” she said. “We don’t want them to see us get emotional. When I’m at home watching him on the TV, I get even more passionate because I know the cameras aren’t on me.”
Jelena has watched Novak win at Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open, among many other major tournaments.
In March 2021, Novak broke the record for most weeks as the world’s No. 1 tennis player.
“Celebrating Novak’s tennis LOVE AFFAIR that has been going on for quite some time…. And everyone knows about it (and wife doesn’t mind at all lol),” Jelena joked on Instagram at the time.
Novak now holds 24 Grand Slam singles titles and is a gold medalist. He achieved his longtime goal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August 2024.
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