Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, February 2021 source ↗
I’m terrified of time. The people I love are getting older and time seems to be going faster and faster. It’s scary. I’d like it to slow down, please.
Not being liked.
Clothes moths (and the imminent threat of world war three).
The greatest fear I can remember is coming back from WW II and being amazed that I was more afraid to audition for a job than I was flying 52 missions.
A veterinarian.
I wouldn’t change anything about myself. If you asked me 20 years ago, I probably would have had a long list. But I’ve learned to appreciate and love who I am.
I love to entertain. I'm not sure every player sees it that way, but I love the performance aspect of it—to be able to entertain people week after week. Some of the happiest times in my life were spent waiting in that hallway in Melbourne, and walking out into Rod Laver Arena with my earphones in and trying to stay focused and drown out the noise but still feeling the energy of the crowd.
Taking time every day to read the Bible.
I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn't feel like a modern word to me. I've been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution. I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.
Like you can do anything.
Derek Jeter, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rafael Nadal, Paul Merson, Ally McCoist, Scottie Pippen
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