If it wasn’t for Novak Djokovic‘s wife Jelena, the 24-time Grand Slam winner may have called it a career and sailed off into the sunset by now.
As the former world No. 1 looks to capture an elusive 25th Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows, where he won his 24th slam in 2023, Djokovic spoke about the overwhelmingly positive impact his wife has had on his career.
During an appearance on the Jay Shetty Podcast, Djokovic reflected on how his high school sweetheart, whom he started dating at 18, has helped keep his career going:
“Basically, she’s the only very serious relationship that I’ve ever had. She’s my rock. She’s someone that has seen the worst and the best sides of me. She has seen my evolution. She has challenged me on every level. We have grown together, and we have two beautiful children, and we still keep on growing and evolving.”
He then continued:
“She has been an incredible partner in this whole journey, professionally, privately, emotionally, romantically, as a parent as well. So I still play at this level because also of the support that she’s giving to our family back home. And I remind myself of that a lot.”
You can see his comments in the video below beginning at the 1:49:16 mark.
How Novak Djokovic’s Wife Convinced Him to Keep Playing Tennis
Back in 2017, amid nagging elbow problems, Djokovic announced that he was taking the rest of the year off following a quarterfinal exit at Wimbledon.
The following year, when Djokovic returned to action after elbow surgery early in the season, he struggled to get back to his previous form, suffering early defeats in both Indian Wells and Miami.
As Djokovic’s wife Jelena recalled in a 2020 interview with Graham Bensinger, after losing in Miami, Djokovic told her, and the rest of his team, that he was done. For how long? He wasn’t certain, however, he wanted his team to inform sponsors that there was no guarantee he would ever return to the court.
Jelena, however, was able to change his mind:
“He didn’t want to play tennis and he didn’t even want to see a ball pass in front of him. He didn’t want to know anything about it. But I love tennis and I take the kids to the court every day. On the third day Novak arrived. He saw that we were having fun and that it wasn’t a workout like what he had been used to for years. Novak asked me if he could play and get a racket, but I refused.
“I started teasing him and told him that he had given up. That it was our turn to play tennis. In the end he served and said that he felt good, then he came back every day to finally call his coach Marian Vajda and ask him to resume training.”
Since then, Djokovic has won 12 Grand Slams, double the amount he had before considering retirement.
Looking Ahead at Novak Djokovic’s Upcoming Match at the US Open
After a first-round win on Sunday, Novak Djokovic’s US Open run will continue on Wednesday when he collides with world No. 145 Zachary Svajda, who went 3-0 during the US Open qualifiers without dropping a set.
Wednesday’s match will mark the first meeting between these two as Djokovic looks to continue the pursuit of his 25th Slam, and Svajda looks to keep the momentum going.
The two will kick off action on Arthur Ashe tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. local time (8:30 a.m. PT)
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