Novak Djokovic reveals he first met wife Jelena while she was dating his friend

Tennis legend Novak Djokovic has revealed the awkward story of how he and his wife Jelena first met.

Djokovic, 38, and Jelena have been together for 20 years and share two children together.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Djokovic reveals how he met his wife Jelena.

The pair tied the knot in 2014 with son Stefan born the same year and daughter Tara arriving three years later.

Jelena was also a tennis player in her youth, but never turned pro.

Speaking to Piers Morgan Uncensored, Djokovic said he first met Jelena when she was dating a friend of his.

The friend, who was also a tennis player, celebrated winning a match by revealing a t-shirt that said “Jelena, I love you”.

“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,” Djokovic 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’.

“And we were like that is so lame, why would you do that and who is this Jelena, and it was her.

“And then and then she showed up afterwards and so forth and then we’ve known each other through obviously common friends for about you know four or five years.

“Actually one of my best friends has been her friend and they went to school together, so you know we were in a kind of similar same company.

Djokovic went on to say they began dating when he moved to Monte Carlo — and stressed it was after she had split up with his friend.

“She’s basically the only serious long serious relationship I ever had,” he added.

“I had some few months relationships here and there, but she’s truly the love of my life.”

Despite the potentially awkward situation, Djokovic is still friends with Jelena’s ex-boyfriend and actually just spoke to him the day before the interview.

However, the topic of Jelena remains off-limits between the two friends.

“He’s good, he moved on and has a family,” he said.

“We actually never spoke about it. I think we’re both very uncomfortable speaking about it.”

Djokovic last week became the third-oldest winner of an ATP title in the Open era after defeating Lorenzo Musetti in the final of the Athens Open.

But he played with strapping on his shoulder and later announced he would have to pull out of this week’s season-ending ATP Tour Finals in Turin.

“I was really looking forward to competing in Turin and giving my best but after today’s final in Athens, I’m sad to share that I need to withdraw due to an ongoing injury,” he posted on Instagram.

“I’m truly sorry to the fans who were hoping to see me play - your support means so much.

“I wish all the players an amazing tournament, and I can’t wait to be back on the court with you all soon.”