The day of dreams has finally arrived for Novak Djokovic. After spending more than 20 years as a professional, the Serb broke several records and won titles but couldn’t lay his hands on an Olympic gold. Despite being off track throughout the season, the Djoker is finally back, looking forward to taking down Carlos Alcaraz in the finals. But all of this could’ve washed away in 2018 if it wasn’t for his wife Jelena.

There was a time in 2018 when Djokovic almost made up his mind to quit tennis. The 12-time Grand Slam winner was struggling on court due to elbow problems and a series of defeats. Mark Hodgkinson, author of “Searching for Novak,” shared that Djokovic told his support team, “I’m done. My career is over.” Novak informed his agents, sponsors, and team that he was quitting.

To clear his mind, Djokovic went on holiday with his wife Jelena, and their son Stefan. During the holiday, Jelena decided to relive the days she played the sport and hit a few shots with an old ball machine. “I think the first couple of days he wasn’t interested. And then on day three or day four, he suddenly appeared. He wasn’t wearing his tennis clothes. He was just wearing shorts, maybe flip flops and a t-shirt. And then suddenly he actually thought, ‘this is fun‘, you know, and got back into it,” Hodgkinson told Tennis Majors.

By the end of this miraculous vacation, the Serb decided to roll back his decision of giving up and therefore turned up with proper tennis gear to play seriously again. As a surprise, he won Wimbledon that same year. The Centre Court crowd as well as the whole tennis community understood what he had been through just a few months earlier, a fact that made his victory even more memorable.

Jelena also confirmed the story in an interview, saying, “He said to me that he’s quitting and that’s the truth! He lost in Miami and then he gathered all of that and said ‘guys I’m done’. We went on a holiday together and I was playing. He decided he doesn’t wanna play tennis, doesn’t wanna see tennis, doesn’t wanna have anything to do with tennis and then he showed up on the third or fourth day!”

This journey from almost quitting to winning Wimbledon adds a remarkable chapter to Djokovic’s illustrious career. However, this wasn’t the only moment when Jelena stood for her husband’s aid.

Novak Djokovic’s wife backs him throughout the Olympic dream

Djokovic didn’t back down from admitting that he had been “waiting for this for almost 20 years.” The Serb made 4 prior attempts to attain this feat but was taken down by either Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal during this course. Despite the knee injury concerns, the Serb was highly determined to make it this time and therefore Jelena made sure to not leave his side throughout the journey.

During the quarter-final showdown against Alexander Zverev, Jelena was seen waiving the Serbian flag high. While Nole struggled with immense pain in his knee, nervousness was clearly seen in his wife’s eyes. After his victory over Lorenzo Musetti in the semi-finals, Jelena dropped a lighthearted response to the comments of the evident nervousness in her eyes. “I need to wear bigger sunglasses next time,” she wrote in her Instagram story.

Djokovic stands just one step behind from attaining immense glory at the Paris Olympics. As Jelena stands by his side, more power to him is likely to be extended.