Country (sports) | Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born |
Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
November 9, 1936||||||||||||
Died | June 1, 2013 Belgrade, Serbia |
(aged 76)||||||||||||
Singles | |||||||||||||
Professional majors | |||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Jelena Genčić (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Генчић, pronounced [jɛ̌lɛna ɡɛ̌nt͡ʃit͡ɕ]; 9 October 1936 – 1 June 2013) was a Serbian tennis and handball player and coach. In the 1970s she became a junior tennis coach and was later credited for playing a major role in the early development of numerous top class professional players and future grand slam champions. Among the players she discovered and coached are Monica Seles, Novak Djokovic, Goran Ivanišević, Mima Jaušovec, Iva Majoli, and Tatjana Ječmenica.
Jelena Genčić's pupils collected 24 Grand Slam single titles: Novak Djokovic 12, Monica Seles 9, Goran Ivanišević 1, Mima Jaušovec 1 and Iva Majoli 1.
Born as one of seven children to Serbian father Jovan and Austrian mother Hermina, Jelena came from a prominent Serbian family. Her grandfather Lazar Genčić studied medicine in Vienna and became Serbia's first surgeon and ran a hospital. In World War I he held the rank of General in the Serbian campaign. Her great uncle Đorđe Genčić was the interior minister in the cabinet of Nikola Pašić and one of chief conspirator of the Serbian May Coup.
She graduated in art history at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy.