Novak Djokovic Addresses Rumor That He Stole Wife Jelena From Tennis Rival, Says We ‘Remain Mates’

Novak Djokovic is setting the record straight on the rumor that he stole his wife Jelena from a close friend.

“He’s good. He moved on. He has his family. We actually never spoke about it,” Novak, 38, told Piers Morgan on the Tuesday, November 11 episode of “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”

Novak denied doing anything nefarious to “steal” Jelena and that he and the friend in question “still remain mates, so it’s good.”

He first met his Jelena in the early 2000s and the two bonded by playing tennis together before they began dating “four or five years later,” he told Morgan, 60.

He first learned about Jelena, 39, when his friend proudly professed his love for her after a tennis match.

“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 for the regional tennis league and we won an important match, he took off his jersey and underneath the jersey he had the white shirt written, ‘Jelena, I love you. This is for you,’” Novak said. “And we were like, ‘Oh my God, this is so lame. Why would you do that?’ And then who is this Jelena? And it was her.”

By the time they started dating, Jelena was studying in Italy and Novak lived in Monte Carlo. He told Morgan that she is the “only serious relationship” he has ever had and that she is “the true love of my life.”

As Jelena recalled in a 2023 interview with Hello! Magazine, the two were “barely getting by” when they first got together.

“Us getting together was like science fiction almost,” she said. “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.”

The former World No. 1 proposed in 2013 and the two tied the knot a year later in a private ceremony in Montenegro. They share son Stefan, 11, and daughter Tara, 8.

When they finally got married, Novak had just won his second Wimbledon title, knocking off arch-rival Rafael Nadal for his seventh major title.

“I was trying to be present in that moment and memorize it,” he told Hello! of his wedding at the time. “I was focused on her and her smile, and our baby. It really was a perfect moment.”

More than a decade later, Novak and Jelena are still going strong.

“Ten years of joy, ten years of dreams, ten years as islands, ten years as streams,” Novak wrote via Instagram in 2024 to commemorate their anniversary. “Ten years as parents, ten years as one, ten years of dancing, ten years of fun. Ten years of yoga, ten years we stretch, ten years of dogs, ten years go fetch. Ten years of tennis, ten years of balls, ten years of triumph, ten years of falls. Ten years as teammates, ten years together, ten years Jelena, I love you forever. I love you.”