While we know pretty much everything there is to know about tennis legend Novak Djokovic, we don’t know much about his longtime partner and wife, Jelena, who has been there for every step of his career as he’s won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
As Djokovic tries to win an eighth Wimbledon title in 2025 — he last won in 2022 — here’s 5 fast facts about Jelena Djokovic, who was known as Jelena Ristic before the couple were married in July 2014.
Novak and Jelena Were High School Sweethearts
The couple met when they were still just teenagers in Serbia and began dating in 2005, when Djokovic was just 18 years old, and both were attending school at a tennis academy.
Just 3 years later, Djokovic would win his first Grand Slam singles title when he defeated Jo Wilfried Tsonga 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7-6 (7-2) in the 2008 Australian Open Final. Djokovic was just 20 years old at the time.
Top Notch Student Attended College in Milan
Jelena was a high achiever in high school in order to earn a scholarship at Bocconi University in Milan – an opportunity that wouldn’t have come without her own dedication and the help of her parents.
“From the youngest age I contemplated going to university abroad,” Jelena told Hello! Magazine in 2023. “That entailed me being the very best student in elementary and high school, in order to win scholarships. My parents were in no position financially to fund (my) education in a foreign country”.
After university, Jelena and Novak moved in together in Monte Carlo, where he was training, and became engaged in 2013.
Wimbledon Win Followed By Wedding In 2014
Novak and Jelena were married at a seaside resort on beautiful Sveti Stefan Island in Montenegro in July 2014 — right on the Adriatic Sea. The wedding came just days after he won the second of 8 Wimbledon singles titles with a 5-set victory over Roger Federer.
“Four days after winning Wimbledon and three days after reclaiming the No. 1 ranking, Novak Djokovic continued the greatest week of his life by marrying his longtime girlfriend Jelena Ristic at a seaside resort on the Adriatic,” USA Today’s Chris Chase wrote in 2014. “There was reportedly a tight lockdown around the upscale resort in Montenegro, which had been closed in the days leading up to the nuptials. Local media reports said employees, waiters and staff had to sign confidentiality agreements.”
The couple have 2 children together — a boy born in 2014 and a daughter born in 2017.
Jelena Runs Family’s Charity Foundation
Not long after Novak’s career took off, Jelena left her job working at an oil company to run the Novak Djokovic Foundation, which is dedicated to helping disadvantaged children and communities around the world.
Part of the foundation’s efforts have focused on early childhood education and, since teaming with the World Bank in 2015, has built over 50 schools that have served over 20,000 children and their families.
After the 2014 Balkans Floods, Djokovic donated his winnings from the Rome Masters to flood victims in Serbia — about $600,000 — and his foundation raised another $600,000 as well.
In March 2020, Djokovic and his wife, Jelena, donated $1 million to buy ventilators and other medical equipment for hospitals in Serbia.
Relationship Hasn’t Been Without Scandal
Cheating rumors have swirled around Djokovic for the last decade, and most notably with famous Serbian DJ Lady Lee and Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone.
In 2016, Padukone and Djokovic were spotted leaving a Los Angeles nightclub together in a chauffeured car, one year after Jelena and Padukone sat together during one of his matches at Wimbledon.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Jelena Ristić, Novak Djokovic’s Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know appeared first on Heavy Sports.