Hi everyone,

Once again I start apologising for not sending the blog yesterday.

I am sure this time no one can criticise me for not doing it. I got back to the hotel at around 3.15am !!!! Can you believe it?!?!?!

You might know that I started my match at 11.38pm or so. The whole day went slow and since our match was the last one of the night, we started that late. And it could have been even worse since the previous match finished in 2 sets. It was the Williams sisters and Serena managed to win. But it was close, they were going to a 3rd set !!! I could have started already today. Like Lleyton in Australia earlier this year.

But for me the day was great. I woke up with the news I was really hoping for. The jury gave me the Prince of Asturias award and that is just unbelievable. I know I use this word quite often, but really, to receive that award is the maximum.

It is given considering not only what you do on court but also off court and I really feel proud of it. Carlos Costa, my manager, woke me up with the news, or should I say, I called him when I woke up and he told me.

Anyway it is a great award that really makes me happy and that I thought I would never be able to have it. It goes, as I say, beyond the results of the competition.

For that occasion my team convinced me to do a special press conference before I played. This is something I never do since I think it is important for me to just think about a match the day of play.

All these press gigs take time and you have to do them well so I prefer to do those after I play or on a free day. But yesterday was special. I had to do it and I did it with pleasure. It was at noon, at the hotel I am staying and after that I just got some room service and waited for the time to go to the courts.

By the way I have not spoken much about what I have been eating. I had a very good fried rice with Scallops and mushrooms. They do it really good at this hotel so I have been having it every time I have lunch here.

So you might also ask me what do I do at 3 in the morning? Well we got back at that time and had something to eat. I got some grilled salmon and rice. After that massage and stretching with Rafa Maymo my physiotherapist. In the end I went to sleep around 4.30am and the last thing I wanted to do was the blog.

Today it was an easy day and a day extra for resting. I had some practice at 2pm and it was really, really hot out there. Maybe the hottest day since I have been here, but nothing compared to Beijing so it is OK. Then I had something to eat on-site and I had arranged to play some golf with my uncle Toni. Bad day putting...

Tomorrow more and a good one for you since it is the day before the semis against your favourite Andy Murray.

Thanks to all.

Rafa