Harmless,perhaps,if deeply dippy. But then,last year,Djokovic could be found hosting a former estate agent called Chervin Jafarieh on his Instagram Live channel. Jafarieh was selling bottles of Advanced Brain Nutrients at $50 apiece,which – likeDjokovic’s resistance to the COVID-19 vaccination – sounded contrary to the interests of public health.

To return to the present,and the 2022 Australian Open,many have wondered why Djokovic does not just put his career first and receive a jab. But you can see thathis sceptical position on conventional medicine,and his enthusiasm for alternative treatments,lie right at the heart of his self-image.

These are not positions to be easily abandoned. Especially for a man who has climbed to No.1 in the world by following his instincts. The trouble is that,for all the power of human intuition,our instincts are notoriously unreliable.

There is a clear story arc at work here,all leadingto an interrogation room in Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport.

Following his famous meeting with Cetojevic in the summer of 2010,Djokovic won the Davis Cup with his Serbian teammates,and then set out on the first great season of his career. The manner of the diagnosis is significant. Had Djokovic discovered his gluten intolerance via a conventional blood test,he might never have decided that alternative medicine represents a great untapped resource.

From there,it has been an evolution to views such as the one that Djokovic expressed in a 2018 interview withShortlist magazine.

“I believe that it is our mission to reach a higher frequency through self-care by exploring and respecting our own avatar,our body,and by doing that,raising the vibration of the planet.”

Have Djokovic’s eccentricities hindered his career? From time to time. Take the wilderness period around 2017,when he struggled with an elbow issue before finally undergoing surgery in February of the following year. When I interviewed him about his comeback,in November 2018,he admitted that he had put the procedure off for as long as he could.

“I was trying to avoid getting on that table because I am not a fan of surgeries or medications,” Djokovic said. “I am just trying to be as natural as possible,and I believe that our bodies are self-healing mechanisms ... I just cried for two or three days afterwards ... Every time I thought about it,I felt like I had failed myself.”

The operation proved triumphantly successful,allowing Djokovic to end a two-year dry spell by winning Wimbledon five months later.

It is also worth noting that,at around the same time,he was one of the most influential voices within the governance structure of the ATP Tour. One of his suggestions was to equip each tournament with a mobile pod which – using some combination of cryotherapy or air pressure – was supposed to rejuvenate muscles. In the end,this large,expensive and unwieldy item had to be crossed off the to-do list,partly because it was deemed unsafe by several countries.

And so,we return to the dark side of this whole peculiar tale. Were Djokovic just a journeyman player,his pseudo-scientific beliefs would be no more than a bizarre footnote.

As it is,he is a powerful role model,particularly in the Balkans. Thousands of people have probably emulated his stance on vaccines. Some are likely to suffer consequences as a result. As for Djokovic himself,he is clearly experiencing some turbulence of his own this week.

But do not expect him to change. He is a stubborn character,used to getting his own way,and cut off from normal society by his very success. He will not easily give up the philosophy that – for better and for worse – has made him the man he is.

Telegraph,London

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