Novak Djokovic’s wife Jelena has stood by her husband’s side for many years, with the couple having met in school before starting their relationship in 2005. They eventually tied the knot in 2014, just days after Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in that year’s Wimbledon final to win his second title at SW19.
Jelena often attends Djokovic’s tennis matches and is regularly seen watching on in the stands, while they also share two children together. Their son Stefan and daughter Tara have watched their dad play at various tournaments alongside Jelena, who spends much of her spare time living with Djokovic in their vast array of mansions across the world.
The duo share a property empire worth over £22million, including two luxury New York apartments and a nine-bedroom Marbella mansion, which the family moved into during the Covid pandemic after buying for around £8.5m, according to The Sun. They also own a house in the Serbian capital of Belgrade as well as an expensive property in Monaco, the notorious tax haven enjoyed by the rich and famous.
Jelena’s charitable ventures have taken centre stage over the last few years, with the 37-year-old winning a philanthropic award thanks to her work for the Novak Djokovic Foundation in 2014. She remains a director of the organisation to this day and also runs her own business, a digital marketing firm she founded after earning a Masters degree in luxury brand management from the University of Morocco.
Her time in the spotlight has not been without controversy, though, as she once shared a contentious video on social media which suggested the pandemic was caused by 5G. The clip, which was uploaded in April 2020 and has since been viewed over 100,000 times, even forced Instagram to put a ‘false information’ disclaimer alongside it.
An online backlash quickly ensued, prompting Jelena to issue a statement published by Essentially Sport in order to explain her position on the matter. She wrote: “I shared the video a few days ago for one reason only, it mentions the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, which is relevant to my area of interest and business, and hence my interest in this video was larger than the sea of other content I get.
“Specifically, Steiner schools and kindergartens are located in 76 countries (Waldorf schools) and for some time I have been meeting with their work and studying the curriculum. Steiner’s philosophy and work on biodynamic agriculture have encouraged me to learn more, which I have devoted myself to in recent months.
“So, it makes sense to me. I’m not claiming to be true or not, but I’m certainly interested in learning and getting informed about it.”
Jelena has also been known to defend her husband in the face of criticism regarding his vaccination stance and was involved in a furious Twitter spat with journalist Ben Rothenberg last year. The reporter branded Djokovic an ‘anti-vax poster boy’ while discussing his hopes of playing at the US Open, which he ultimately missed after ruling out the possibility of being jabbed against Covid.
Rothenberg’s comments drew a fiery response from Jelena, who replied: “Excuse me. Just making sure that it is noted that YOU tagged him as anti-vax poster boy for whatever reason you have. He simply responded what HIS body choice is.”
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