Are you feeling the burn right now? As we enjoy a summer of huge sporting celebrations, it would be churlish not to get on board. Watching the World Cup fans march all over Mexico and North America has been – for the most part – a truly heartwarming spectacle. Who was not charmed by Boston’s week-long love affair with Scotland’s Tartan Army, or cheered by the unexpected miracle that was Cape Verde’s World Cup campaign?

It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that matters, and for a few glorious weeks this year it has seemed that we might all be on the same page. In New York last month, the whole city was still trembling with its Knicks triumph, and any surfeit of ecstatic spirit was just absorbed into the World Cup games. By being a sports fan, even if only very casually, one joins a community that can be as spiritually uplifting as it is exasperating.

<img width='1' height='1' style='display:none;border-style:none;' alt=' src='https://images.passendo.com/t/2/8448/npxlpxnaph@nie.podam.pl/4430192770371818/0/0'><img width='1' height='1' style='display:none;border-style:none;' alt=' src='https://images.passendo.com/extt/2/8448/npxlpxnaph@nie.podam.pl/4430192770371818?pid=1'><img width='1' height='1' style='display:none;border-style:none;' alt=' src='https://images.passendo.com/extt/2/8448/npxlpxnaph@nie.podam.pl/4430192770371818?pid=2'><img width='1' height='1' style='display:none;border-style:none;' alt=' src='https://images.passendo.com/extt/2/8448/npxlpxnaph@nie.podam.pl/4430192770371818?pid=3'><img width='1' height='1' style='display:none;border-style:none;' alt=' src='https://images.passendo.com/extt/2/8448/npxlpxnaph@nie.podam.pl/4430192770371818?pid=4'>

The actual participation can be harder. Pity poor Lorenzo Musetti; the Italian tennis player has been forced to sit out many of this year’s major tournaments as he attends to a stubborn quad injury. Maria Shollenbarger caught up with him in Turin as he prepares, hopefully, to enter the US Open in August, but also has to manage the mental health issues that come with being benched. Musetti is one of several Italian players – including Matteo Berrettini, Flavio Cobolli and Jannik Sinner – who have been spicing up the Slams. In addition to his not inconsiderable hotness, Musetti brings an old-school elegance to the tour, including “one of the most beautiful one-handed backhands” in the game. No surprise, his tennis idol is Roger Federer. We all look forward to seeing his vintage style return to the court.

Alex Bilmes has now fulfilled his year-long longevity challenge to become the healthiest version of himself that he can. He’s visited medical spas, been prodded by needles, done infusions, had a major dental overhaul and lost a good few kilos on the way. But by far the greatest challenge in this journey has been in conquering his nastiest and most enduring habit: nicotine. 

Earlier this year, he turned to the Allen Carr organisation to see if they could liberate him from his addiction, as they have liberated an estimated 50mn men and women since 1983 (five years before Alex took his first drag). I told him I would double his word rate if he finally managed to quit it…

Meanwhile, Megan Nolan writes about The Body in the age of GLPs. Drugs such as Ozempic have helped millions of people, but still there remain complicated prejudices about a human’s size and shape. Body inclusivity has been abandoned, extreme thinness is back on the catwalk and the GLP debate has prompted an unspoken orthodoxy that the appetite remains a thing to be “controlled”. Megan unpicks the conversation around the body, observed via her own evolving relationship with hers.

Plus, we talk taste with one of the world’s best-known trainers, Tracy Anderson, of the fabled Tracy Anderson Method, run around Mallorca with Kílian Jornet, the mountain runner and athlete, and discuss socks, arguably the greatest marker in the generational divide. We also sent Alice Lascelles to a rave – albeit one in which the only stimulant was caffeine and that kicked off at 9am on a Sunday morning following a 5k run. Coffee is trending in the wellness space; it’s recommended as a way in which to metabolise the body pre-training and, increasingly, to prevent cognitive decline. I need absolutely no further recommendation. Mine’s a tall black americano. See you on the field. 

@jellison22