Meet Novak Djokovic’s Wife, Jelena Djokovic, Who’s Always Rooting for Him in the Stands
Meet Novak Djokovic’s Wife, Jelena Djokovic, Who’s Always Rooting for Him in the Stands
Giovana GelhorenSun, August 30, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC
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Jelena and Novak DjokovicCredit: Getty ImagesTHE GIST -
Novak Djokovic is a living legend in the world of tennis, but off the court he’s a husband and dad to two kids.
He married his wife, Jelena Djokovic, in 2014 after proposing in 2013.
They’ve since welcomed son Stefan and daughter Tara, who are often seen cheering him on in the stands alongside their mom.
In the world of tennis, Novak Djokovic is a living legend. Winning a total of 101 career singles titles, including a men’s record 24 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic is a tennis record-breaker. But while plenty of his success is based on his hard work and talent alone, he attributes much of it to his wife, Jelena Djokovic.
‘Whether I’m winning or losing, she’s always there,” Novak said after winning his third All England Club title in 2015, per Elle. “Family’s always there. When I go back home, I’m not a tennis player anymore. I’m a father and a husband.”
Novak and Jelena, who first met at high school in Serbia, have been happily married since 2014. They welcomed their son, Stefan, later that year, while their daughter, Tara, arrived in September 2017.
“She’s been my girlfriend, fiancée and my wife for more than 20 years, and I’m eternally grateful for her love, her support,” Novak gushed in a new interview with People.
Below, find out everything there is to know about Novak Djokovic’s wife, Jelena Djokovic.
Jelena was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia.
Jelena DjokovicCredit: Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Jelena was born on June 17, 1986, to parents Miomir and Vera Ristic in Belgrade, Serbia. She and her sister, Marija, also grew up visiting Ljig, Serbia, where their grandparents live. “When I was little, I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents’ in a village named Ljig,” she shared on Instagram. “My favorite 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 the whole box in a second and ask for more!”
From an early age, Jelena had her eyes set on attending university abroad. “That entailed me being the very best student in elementary and high school, in order to win scholarships,” she said, per Hello! “My parents were in no position financially to fund [my] education in a foreign country.” Jelena went on to live her dream at 18 when she enrolled in the prestigious Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. There, she studied luxury brand management.
She met Novak in high school.
Jelena and Novak DjokovicCredit: @jelenadjokovicndf
Jelena and Novak’s love story began when they attended the same high school in Belgrade, Serbia, in the late 1990s. By 2005, they started dating, while Jelena was a student and Novak was a tennis protégé. On Instagram, Jelena shared a throwback picture. “And believe it or not, in this photo, these two babies were celebrating 2 years of dating with 1001 roses just after Davis Cup victory 😍,” she wrote in the caption.
“Us getting together was like science fiction almost,” she described of their first years, per 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. We contrived and devised these plans how to meet, how to make our relationship work.”
After graduating from Bocconi, Jelena also pursued a master’s degree at the International University of Monaco. After that, she landed a job in an oil company in Monte Carlo. “At a certain point, Novak told me: ‘Darling, we cannot go on like this,’” Jelena once recalled. “I was confined to the office almost at all times. It wouldn’t have been possible for our relationship to thrive if I had stayed there.”
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They tied the knot on July 10, 2014.
Jelena Djokovic and Novak DjokovicCredit: Marc Piasecki/WireImage
Novak proposed to Jelena in September 2013, and the couple married on July 10, 2014, on the grounds of Aman Sveti Stefan Resort, a five-star hotel resort on a small islet off of Montenegro. At the time, Jelena was pregnant with their first child.
For the occasion, Jelena wore a custom dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. “Seeing her for the first time in her wedding dress, smiling and walking towards me… She looked like an angel,” Novak told Hello!“It really was a perfect moment.”
Jelena was also emotional on their big day. “I was seeing him through tears and immediately started crying when I saw him,” she told the outlet. “I was just so happy and probably being pregnant makes it quite difficult to control the emotions.”
Luckily, their wedding was everything they had hoped. “Our family and closest friends united in a beautiful setting in celebration of our love,” she said. “It was truly emotional and unforgettable for us.”
Their nuptials came just days after Novak’s second Wimbledon win, after defeating Roger Federer. It was his seventh Grand Slam trophy. “I am marrying the woman I love and there is no better feeling than that,” Novak said at the time. “To win Wimbledon and to now be preparing for fatherhood – I couldn’t ask for more!”
They share two kids.
Novak Djokovic, Jelena Djokovic and their children at the 2023 French OpenCredit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Speaking of fatherhood, Jelena and Novak welcomed their first child, a son named Stefan, in October 2014. Their daughter, Tara, was born three years later in September 2017. Over the years, Stefan and Tara have been seen cheering for their dad in Novak’s VIP box, as well as taking pictures with him after a major win.
She runs his philanthropic non-profit, the Novak Djokovic Foundation.
Jelena Djokovic at the 2025 Australian OpenCredit: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
After finishing up her studies, Jelena began a career in business, consulting and media. Per Elle, she first worked as a Human Resources Coordinator at the European energy company, Tamoil SAM, before launching a Monaco-based Jelena Ristic Consulting in 2011, offering brand strategy and digital marketing services. She then founded Original Magazin in 2015, a digital platform dedicated to personal growth, entrepreneurship and values-led living.
Currently, she is the Co-Founder and Global CEO of her husband’s philanthropic foundation, the Novak Djokovic Foundation. “A mother of two with an incredible passion to help, she is someone who lives and breathes Early Childhood Education,” the organization’s website says.
In a 2016 interview with CNN, Jelena and Novak spoke about the work the Foundation had done, including building and renovating kindergartens in Serbia. “We as a foundation have lots of work to do, and it’s not something we’re going to stop in the next few years,” Jelena told the outlet. “Right now Novak has the power and the voice to raise awareness and raise the funds for investment in the preschool education programs, and in the future we might not have this power.”
Jelena is especially passionate about providing education to all Serbian children. “I’m, as a mom, very passionate about this,” she said. “[As] somebody who has been alongside our team at the foundation, I’m breathing and feeling all the pain that all the families are feeling.”
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
