Jelena Gencic, the Coach Who First Encouraged Djokovic's Dreams PARIS - It was Wimbledon they dreamed about together, Jelena Gencic and Novak Djokovic. And it was easy for a golden boy to dream when Gencic, with her luminous blue eyes and soothing voice, kept telling him that such big things were possible. Djokovic remembers practicing for the victory ceremony on grass in Serbia, holding up a small trophy and saying: "I'm Novak Djokovic. I won Wimbledon. But Gencic, a born teacher who was much deeper into means than ends, was not the type to declare a project finished, a quest complete. Though Djokovic did indeed win Wimbledon in 2011, holding the trophy aloft and then eventually showing Gencic, his boyhood mentor, the replica in person in Belgrade, Gencic was well aware there was still one trophy missing from her former prize pupil's collection. That was the Coupe des Mousquetaires awarded to the men's singles champion at the French Open, the last of the four Grand Slam tournaments Djokovic has yet to win. "She didn't know she was going to die probably, but she told Novak when she saw him last time that she would be the most happiest woman to hold that trophy," Marian Vajda, Djokovic's current coach, said Saturday night. When she saw Novak the last time, she told him she wanted to take a picture and have the whole collection. There will be no picture now. Gencic, the coach who discovered Djokovic's talent in the mountain resort of Kopaonik and expertly laid the foundation of his game, died Saturday in Serbia, according to an announcement by the Serbian Tennis Federation. She was 76, and though word of her death arrived in Paris before Djokovic took the court Saturday to play his third-round match against Grigor Dimitrov, his support team, including Vajda and his friend and physical trainer, Miljan Amanovic, knew it was better that he wait to hear the news. "We found out before, when he was warming up in the annex," Vajda said. "Miljan told me during the practice, and I said: "We should not tell him right now. I think it would not be good." " Djokovic remained in his prematch bubble and then dismantled Dimitrov in straight sets despite some right shoulder discomfort that required treatment late in the proceedings. After the on-court smiles and the television interviews, Amanovic was among those who informed Djokovic of Gencic's death. According to members of his team, Djokovic broke down in tears, and he later canceled his postmatch news conference to grieve out of the spotlight. What this means to his quest for a first French Open title remains unclear. In the fourth round Monday, he is scheduled to face Philipp Kohlschreiber, the flashy 29-year-old German with a huge serve for his size, who upset Djokovic in straight sets here in the third round in 2009. But what is clear is that Djokovic has had to play through plenty of grief and concern in the last two seasons. His father, Srdjan, was hospitalized last year in Serbia in intensive care with a severe respiratory illness and is still recovering. Djokovic's grandfather Vladimir died last April while Djokovic was playing the Monte Carlo tournament. With Gencic's death, Djokovic has now lost two touchstones in a hurry. They were two elders who were particularly crucial to his sense of stability and possibility during the war years in Serbia in the 1990s, two elders who were there for him when NATO forces were bombing Belgrade in 1999, when he was 12 and the future for an aspiring tennis star looked particularly dark. "I went to practice with Novak and three other boys," Gencic said in Belgrade in 2010. There were many other boys and girls and when they were on the tennis court, they don't think about bombs. That's the point of, the reason of, practicing. You don't think about that. Gencic remembered picking practice sites based on where the bombs had fallen the night before, reasoning that NATO would not bomb the same place again. "I could feel it in my house, it was terrible," she said. My sister was very hurt by the bombs and 16 months later she died.