World No.1 Novak Djokovic was ready to quit tennis following his loss to Benoit Paire in the first round of the 2018 Miami Open, according to his wife, Jelena Djokovic.

In a recent interview with American journalist Graham Bensinger, Jelena revealed her husband felt burned out and sick of tennis following a string of injuries that left him contemplating his future.

"After that match, he wanted to quit,” she said of the loss to Paire. “He gathered all the members of his team and told them: You know what: I’m done, I’m quitting. We cried and told him that he couldn’t do it, that it wasn’t the right time. He didn’t want to play tennis, and he didn’t even want to see a ball pass in front of him.”

However, she stated he soon rediscovered his love for tennis, with some gentle prodding from his wife and son.

“He didn’t want to know anything about it," added Jelena. "But I love tennis and I take the kids to the court every day. On the third day Novak arrived. He saw that we were having fun and that it wasn’t a workout like what he had been used to for years.

“Novak asked me if he could play and get a racket, but I refused.

“I started teasing him and told him that he had given up. That it was our turn to play tennis. In the end, he served and said that he felt good, then he came back every day to finally call his coach Marian Vajda and ask him to resume training.”

The Serbian would go on to add another 12 Grand Slam titles to his resume, with his most recent being at the 2023 US Open.