THE RUNDOWNJelena and Novak Djokovic began dating as teenagers and have been together for more than two decades.The couple married in 2014 and share two children, Stefan and Tara.Jelena serves as co-founder and global CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation.Novak Djokovic and his wife, Jelena Djokovic, have grown up together in more ways than one.The couple began dating when they were teenagers, years before Novak became one of the most decorated tennis players in history. More than two decades later, they are married, share two children, Stefan and Tara, and work together through the Novak Djokovic Foundation.Novak has also made clear just how much of his career Jelena has experienced alongside him. In an August 2026 interview with People where he promoted his Prime Video documentary, Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter, he reflected on everything they have navigated together.“She’s the only serious relationship I ever had. We have grown together, really,” he said. “She was my high school love. Our paths crossed again abroad because she was studying in Italy, and I was training in Monte Carlo. We would see each other and then eventually started living together. She was always very supportive of my journey and tennis life. As with any other relationship, it takes sacrifice and a lot of compromise.”Here, everything to know about Jelena and her longtime relationship with Novak.Jump to:She and Novak began dating as teenagers.Making their relationship work wasn’t always easy financially.She and Novak married in 2014.They have two children, Stefan and Tara.She leads the Novak Djokovic Foundation.Novak calls Jelena his “rock.”They’ve learned to work through challenges together.Jelena has her own way of describing Novak.She still supports Novak from the stands.She and Novak began dating as teenagers.Novak and Jelena moved in the same social circles when they were young, but their relationship didn’t begin right away.In fact, Novak revealed a funny detail about their earliest connection during a November 2025 interview with Piers Morgan: Jelena once dated one of his friends.“She used to play tennis, but we never met through tennis while she was playing it, but she dated a tennis player that is a friend of mine from early days,” he said. “It was funny because the first time I heard about her was when that friend, who was in the same tennis club as me, played a match and won an important match, and took out his jersey and underneath the jersey had the white shirt written, ‘Jelena, I love you, this is for you.’”Novak and his friends had a memorable reaction: “And we were like, ‘That is so lame. Why would you do that, and who is this Jelena?’ And it was her.”Through mutual friends, Novak and Jelena continued seeing each other socially for several years before they eventually started dating. Novak emphasized that Jelena’s previous relationship had ended by then.He told Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast in August 2025 that he was 18 and Jelena was 19 when they got together. “We dated. We went through different stages in different phases, and basically, she’s the only very serious relationship that I’ve ever had,” he said.Making their relationship work wasn’t always easy financially.Their early relationship coincided with two demanding periods in their lives: Novak was trying to establish his professional tennis career, while Jelena pursued her education abroad.Jelena previously told Hello! that she wanted to attend college outside Serbia but needed scholarships to make that possible. She ultimately studied at Bocconi University in Milan.With neither of them having much money to travel at the time, seeing each other required some creativity.“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.”After Jelena graduated, she and Novak eventually moved in together in Monte Carlo. She later continued her education at the International University of Monaco.She and Novak married in 2014.After years together, Novak proposed in 2013, and the couple married on July 10, 2014, in Montenegro, just days after he won Wimbledon.Jelena was pregnant with their first child at the time. Novak later recalled the moment he saw her at their wedding.“Seeing her for the first time in her wedding dress, smiling and walking towards me… She looked like an angel,” he 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 remembered feeling just as emotional.“I was very nervous, and everything seemed a blur. I was seeing him through tears and immediately started crying when I saw him,” she said. “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.”In July 2024, Novak marked their 10th wedding anniversary on Instagram, writing, “Ten years of joy. Ten years of dreams. Ten years as one. Ten years of fun...Ten years of you. The best part of me...I love you forever.”View full post on InstagramThey have two children, Stefan and Tara.Jelena and Novak welcomed their son, Stefan, in October 2014, a few months after their wedding. Their daughter, Tara, followed in September 2017.Their children have also changed the way Novak approaches both tennis and his time away from it.“I arguably had the most successful 18 months of my life after my son was born [in October 2014]. A similar thing happened after my daughter was born [in September 2017],” he told People in August 2026. “I owe a lot to my children. They teach me on a daily basis how to forgive, how to stay present, how to enjoy the moment, how to be playful with life.”He also credited Jelena with taking on much of the responsibility at home while his career required him to travel.“I was still playing a full schedule, and without the support of my wife, that would be very hard for me to do,” he said. “She was my rock. She was nurturing our children and helping them overcome the absence of their father, which is something that hurts me the most, even these days. But you do your work, and you try to do the best that you can. When you come back home, you try to be as present as you possibly can.”She leads the Novak Djokovic Foundation.Jelena has built a career centered largely on education and philanthropy. She serves as co-founder and global CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation, which focuses on early childhood development and education in Serbia.In a 2022 interview with Leaders Magazine, Jelena explained that she and Novak’s own childhood experiences helped shape their work.“Novak and I grew up in a war-torn country in difficult circumstances. However, we were fortunate to grow up in families that nurtured education and understood the value of early childhood development,” she said. “For us, it was only natural that we do the same through the work of our foundation. To do that, we gathered a team of truly passionate people who believe that every child should have a chance to grow up in a nurturing and loving environment where he or she will thrive and flourish.”The organization began in 2007 with a broader goal of helping children before shifting its focus to early childhood education in 2012.“Novak and I find this topic very personal because, above everything else, we believe in prevention through investing in early years programs rather than later rehabilitation of these children,” she added.Novak calls Jelena his “rock.”Novak has spoken repeatedly about how much Jelena’s support has made his tennis career possible.During a July 2026 interview with CBS Mornings, he explained that his priorities have shifted as he tries to spend more time with his family.“Family union is the foundation of life, really. The foundation of every human being, and I try to live by that,” he said. “That’s how I’ve been brought up by my family and my parents…my wife has been a rock. She has been so supportive. It would be very difficult for me to do what I do, still be able to do what I do, without her support—and her keeping the whole household, also emotionally dealing with our children after I leave them and the absence of missing out on some important dates and events in their life—it’s hard, you know?”He continued, “I try to do what I do in the best way, and she continues to support me to live my dream, but I also want to balance it out now. That’s why I don’t play as much as I used to, because I want to be the best husband, father, brother, son, that I can possibly be.”They’ve learned to work through challenges together.Neither Novak nor Jelena presents their decades-long relationship as effortless.In his August 2025 On Purpose interview, Novak reflected on how much he and Jelena have been through together.“Yeah, 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.”“We have challenges, as I guess every couple has,” he continued, “but I think we have an amazing base and foundation, and we always—when we have challenging times in relationship, we revert to that, and we address why we are together, who we are as people and how we’ve grown and the future that we see is the future that we see together.”He offered a similar answer to People in August 2026 when asked how they have maintained their marriage.“We try to always communicate and remind ourselves of the love and the foundation that we created together,” he said. “We have our trials and tribulations like any couple, but we do try to always communicate what bothers us, and not only when something bothers us, but also when we feel love and affection.”Jelena has her own way of describing Novak.In August 2026, Jelena offered a rare glimpse into how she sees her husband away from his public persona.On Instagram, she compared Novak to four fictional characters: Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, Edward Cullen from Twilight, Alexander Barrington from The Bronze Horseman, and Rowan Whitethorn from Throne of Glass.“Different men, different worlds, different stories…and yet something in each of them reminds me of him,” she wrote. “The strength. The complexity. The stubbornness (oh, definitely the stubbornness ). The loyalty. The intensity. The way they love.”View full post on InstagramShe then drew a distinction between the Novak the public knows and the person she knows after more than 20 years together.“That’s one of the advantages and beauties about knowing someone intimately. The world gets to have its version of him…. And I get to have mine. ❤️”She still supports Novak from the stands.Jelena remains a regular presence at Novak’s tournaments and has shared her support for him publicly.Quality Sport Images//Getty ImagesDuring Wimbledon in July 2026, she posted photos from the tournament on Instagram, writing, “Wimbledon so far 殺 Let’s go semis!!! @djokernole ❤️❤️ super proud of you!”Earlier in the year, ahead of the Australian Open final, she reflected on what life with Novak has brought her.“This man…is so much more. ❤️ He has brought me love, passion, joy and the intensity of sharing life with someone who never stops pushing his limits,” she wrote. “Tonight may be sleepless. Tomorrow, he steps into another final. 凉 Idemoooooo ❤️ Australian Open 2026.”View full post on InstagramAnd Novak continues returning the affection publicly. For Jelena’s birthday in June 2026, he kept his Instagram tribute simple: “40 love.”