You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream And I'll always love you for it. But I can't love you obsessively for much longer. This season is all I have left to give. My heart can take the pounding My mind can handle the grind But my body knows it's time to say goodbye.

But I'm ready for what's next after rugby. Being able to not just say that, but to truly feel it, is a privilege. Ultimately, getting to leave your sport on your own terms is all you can really hope for as an athlete.

It’s very easy to get caught up in a habit of work hard and play hard. I couldn’t tell you how much I used to drink in a week – I haven’t got enough fingers. I own two pubs and had built up a reputation of being the best party person in the industry. It got to a point where I realised I was getting too old to be that guy. Now I enjoy the challenge of being on a stag weekend for three days, but drinking Diet Coke and coffee.

As many of you know, the past three years have presented me with challenges in the form of injuries and surgeries. I've worked hard to return to full competitive form. But I also know my body's capacities and limits, and its message to me lately has been clear. I am 41 years old. I have played more than 1,500 matches over 24 years. Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever would have dreamt, and now I must recognize when it is time to end my competitive career.

I feel some sort of chemistry with the subject.…The bar for me is when it’s interesting enough that I would talk about it on my own time.

I wrote while listening to Caribou, Kamasi Washington, Frank Ocean, Mitski. Towards the end, a lot of Talk Talk.

As a writer, the only thing that you can guarantee yourself pleasure and challenge from is inside your own writing process.

I love being bad at something and getting better at it.

At a basic level, I think something is successful if I think I got myself anywhere new at all.

It used to be dosing people out of my purse at parties. Now it’s leaving the hang at 11 p.m. to get in bed.