Jelena Genčić

Genčić was a handball and tennis player, playing the two sports in parallel. She began pursuing tennis in 1948 at the age of eleven.[2] In 1954, the seventeen-year-old competed at the Wimbledon in girls' singles.

Meanwhile, in handball, Genčić played the goalkeeper position at ŽRK Crvena zvezda in both outdoor and indoor versions of the sport. She further made the Yugoslav women's national team, representing the country at the 1956 World Outdoor Handball Championship in West Germany and winning bronze at the inaugural 1957 World Championships held at home in Belgrade.[2]

In 1963, at the age of twenty-seven, she quit handball, devoting herself fully to tennis.[2] In addition to being a member of Partizan tennis club, Genčić competed at various tournaments around the globe.

Genčić worked as a television director at the state-owned television network TV Belgrade. Her work on television rarely overlapped with sports as she was mostly involved with producing cultural programmes dealing with the history of art in Serbia, classical music, and theater.[3]

In 1968, as tennis went professional with the beginning of its open era, thirty-one-year-old Genčić, still very much an active player, began to be groomed for an eventual full-time tennis administrative career with a board position given to her at Partizan tennis club.[3]

Though already coaching on an informal basis, in 1976, after retiring from active play, Genčić became a tennis coach.[3] Over the following 30 years she played a part in discovering and coaching Novak Djokovic, Monica Seles, Goran Ivanišević, Mima Jaušovec, Iva Majoli, and Tatjana Ječmenica.[4]