Djokovic Teammate Reveals His Impact on Serbian Tennis

Olga Danilovic recently opened up about what it’s like playing alongside Novak Djokovic — and honestly, her description makes it sound pretty incredible.

The Serbian tennis player got to team up with the 24-time Grand Slam champion during the 2024 United Cup in Australia. They played mixed doubles against China’s Zheng Qinwen and Zhang Zhizhen in what turned out to be the deciding match.

Talk about pressure.

Danilovic and Djokovic pulled through with a 6-4, 1-6, 10-6 victory that secured the tie for Serbia. But for Danilovic, the win was almost secondary to the experience itself.

"The United Cup we played together in mixed doubles, I was tight, like I cannot miss one ball, my goal is to play like a superhero today, and we won," she said on a recent Tennis Insider Club podcast. "It was such a nice moment. I wanted it so much and I felt like… ‘I’m not going to disappoint you. You didn’t disappoint me by playing with me, I’m not going to disappoint you, I’m going to play the best.’"

You can almost feel the nerves in her voice.

The moment became even more surreal when they walked onto the court together. "I remember I saw on the big screen. I saw Serbians. We play for Serbia and I see myself walking. I see him walking behind me. I’m like ‘Oh my God, we’re stepping on,’" Danilovic recalled.

She called it a bucket-list moment — which makes total sense when you think about it.

Not just teammates, but friends

The two teamed up again at the US Open’s mixed-doubles competition earlier this year. This time they didn’t win, losing to Russia’s Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev. But Danilovic seems to have gotten something more valuable than victories from these partnerships.

She’s developed a genuine friendship with Djokovic, who’s known for mentoring younger Serbian players.

"He is very involved with Serbian tennis, I would say Balkan, he’s very open to us to speak about all the things," Danilovic explained. "When you speak to him… after I finish the conversation, I’m like ‘Give me a racket, I’m going to beat everyone’, because you feel like he really mastered the game."

That’s quite an endorsement.

"Especially his mentality and the way he’s dealing with a lot of things. I’m very proud that I can call him my friend."

A country moved to tears

Later in the same podcast, Danilovic talked about how Djokovic’s Olympic gold medal in 2024 affected their entire country. And her description is pretty moving.

"His best advice, I don’t know, I can never tell you like one thing that he told me. But it’s more of the mental toughness that he has," she said. "For me, every time I watch him, I’m like, ‘How man? How? I don’t know this Olympics he won.’"

The whole country was watching when Djokovic finally captured that elusive Olympic gold.

"I think it was the most emotional day in our whole country. Everyone was crying," Danilovic revealed. "So, I would just say that the way he is representing himself and the way that whenever we speak, like he’s very true to himself and that’s what I honor the most."

She summed up Djokovic’s influence pretty simply: "do what you feel like doing" — that’s the lesson she takes from watching him compete and represent Serbia.

Djokovic has already said he wants to finish his career playing for Serbia at the 2028 LA Olympics. He came close to mixed-doubles bronze at the Tokyo Games with Nina Stojanovic.

With singles gold and bronze already in his collection, maybe he’ll ask Danilovic to partner with him one more time. Going for mixed-doubles gold would be a pretty amazing way to end an incredible career representing his country.