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

Hi everybody,

Short one again today since I have not really done much. Not much to tell today and I am actually about to start watching a movie here in my room. I have called Maymo and Carlos to come and watch it and Benito who was coming also decided to stay at the restaurant where we had dinner with Albert Costa and Feli Lopez who you all know he is a good friend of mine. He lost today his doubles match with Verdasco and so he is flying back home tomorrow. So as I say short one today and I am being help to write this by Rafa Maymo.

The question lots of people have is do I watch the other players' matches? I did see part of Djokovic's match, the last part, since I was at the club practicing. When I finished I had something to eat at the Player's Lounge and had the chance to watch some of it. It was a tough match and that proves that there are no easy matches for anyone. I know Robredo well and we know that it would have been a good match. I also watched Roger's match back at the hotel before going out for dinner. Another tough one and another to make people understand that it is not easy to make it to finals. It is typical that they ask me when I get to a tournament where Roger is playing about a final between us. And today is a prove that it is very difficult to get there. As I always say, match by match.

Another question that I have is about the food i eat. Let me just tell you that I eat lighter the night before the day I play. I have some pasta and maybe some pizza. I leave the meat or even the fish for those days that I play and don't have match the following day. I also never take dessert or coffee. I actually don't like coffee.

Tomorrow more...

Thanks Rafa

Hi all,

Well it has been a very difficult day with a difficult match played. I started playing pretty well and for those of you who have seen the match I ended playing not that great. I played good the first set but mid second I could not find my game, played with bad intensity and made too many mistakes. Thank God I could win in the end which is what really matters. It is important to win those matches that you don't play well. It is easy when everything goes well but at these matches is when you really need to step up.

The day started early since I had a car to pick me up at 8.30 am. We left early so that we could get an early warm up and get ready for the match. It is funny, we call the tournaments sites "the Club". This is the way the Spanish players refers to the tournament sites. I am going to the Club, I am having lunch at the club, I am hitting at the club... in the end most of the tournaments are not played any more at tennis clubs. OK we have big tournaments such as Wimbledon where it is really played at a Club. Or Barcelona, where the tournament is played at the beautiful RCTB, Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. Those are clubs and I suppose that the tradition of having those tournaments be played at clubs make us call all the sites clubs. But this US Open is far from being a tennis club. It is a huge stadium and huge grounds that during the year is not a tennis club.

What else can I say from today? not much. You know, it is difficult to know what else to say or write after so many days out of home and at the same place. Probably that is even harder. Everyday is more of the same since we don't have much time to do other things. That's also why I like to answer the questions you send me. It makes it easier. Tomorrow I am going to take it easy and I will try to sleep a bit more than usual. I will try to wake up at around 10am and try to get some extra rest. We are leaving to the club - I mean to the site - at 10.45 for practice.

Many thanks

Rafa

Hi everyone,

I am writing you this blog from a different laptop. Mine is still dead... But, why am I saying this? Who cares, right?

Anyway, everything went today as planned. I got to practice pretty early considering that I had the whole day  but as I said yesterday I had planned to go to see a football match that started at 3 pm. We got a bit late there since unbelievably there was a bit of traffic out there. You may think that on a Sunday there is way less traffic and you get around fast. Well there is way less traffic but it still takes a long time to go from the tournament to the hotel.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone to see the match since Real Madrid lost. First match of the league and they lost. Too bad. We also watched a bit of golf. We actually had two TV screens and could see both. We had lunch there and a lot of people ask me what do I eat? I had chicken tenders with some fries to eat and water to drink. They are pretty good where I went. 

We were around 42nd street and we were 6 of us. We decided to go walking back to the hotel. It is around 15 blocks or so, so a nice walk back to the hotel on a Sunday. On our way back we found out there was a huge Brazilian party on the streets!!! It was Brazil's day and I have to say that walking it was quite amazing to see all those people with yellow shirts and dancing every where. Pretty cool. New York is really special, and this is one of the things of it. So international. We didn't go in the 6th avenue where the party was taking place but all the surroundings were full of people from everywhere.

Tomorrow I have to wake up pretty early around 7.45 (early for a tennis player, come on), since I have a car at 8.30 picking me up and getting to the site pretty early. Have practice at 10/10.30 and then the match against a local player. I am sure the crowds will be supporting him more than me. It is normal. The crowds here in NY likes the underdogs and also he is a local player so I expect a great atmosphere out there. I am sure they will be very respectful with me since they have always been like this. But I know it will be a very tough match in any case since he is having a great season. We'll see what happens.

Thanks all.

Rafa

Hi everyone,

First of all apologies for not sending the blog yesterday and the day before. I did send the answers to your questions before but when I was writing the blog my screen went blue and the laptop crashed. I couldn't believe it. I lost everything and could not get it back on.

Something is wrong with it. I might have to go and buy a new one since it's being happening for a while now. It is also bad for me since I normally look every day to the newspapers to keep me informed of what's going on. I don't know how would it be nowadays to live without internet. Can you imagine?

For me to have internet and my laptop is fundamental. I chat with friends, read the newspapers, look for anything, just everything. If we want to go out and we want to make a reservation for anything we look at it on the internet. So to have my computer crashing is simply a mess...

I also think how did the players did in the past. Must have been difficult. I mean the tennis players, traveling for weeks around the world and with no contact or very little contact with home. Yes, you had the phone but to know and read what's going on back home is something different, don't you think? and how to follow the football? I love it and I love sports so it is necessary to have internet.

Anyway, yesterday I finished very happy with my match. It is one of those matches that are very tricky. Troicki is a player that is very dangerous and have improved a lot this year. I'd played him before earlier this year and he had a set point in the first set and was a break up in the second at the Australian Open. You know, you make a mistake or get distracted and you can find yourself packing the luggage and heading back home. So I really felt great after the match. I feel I am playing better now than on the first match and that's great for me.

So today I have a pretty good day since I am practicing this morning and then have arranged to go and see Real Madrid play. We have found this play where they show it and we will go there to have lunch (late lunch) and see the first match of Real Madrid at the Spanish League. Last Sunday we went there to see the Super Cup of Spain and Golf where Sergio Garcia was playing. Today more of the same.

Lots of people ask me if I have time to see the cities and go out. I have mentioned it on my blog several times. During competition is difficult to go out and do sightseeing or tourism since it takes a lot of time and energy. But to go out to a musical like a did the week before the Open or to go like today to watch some football is OK. Not very intellectual, I know, but not much time and definitely no time to go to the Metropolitan Museum for the moment. with practice, work with media, meetings and my family now here things are more difficult on this regard.

So, apologies for not sending the blog yesterday and thanks again.Rafa

Hello everyone,

First of all I would like to apologize because this will be a very short blog. The reason for this is that I have just arrived to the hotel and it is half past midnight. This is the thing I like less about the night matches. Today it wasn't too bad since the match was pretty fast. But if a match lasts 3 or even 4 hours, I could have gotten here by 2-3 am and you know how it is: press, something to eat, the transportation back to the hotel and also the tension after a match that has you awake until late. It can be 4 or 5 in the morning when you really go to sleep. Not the best when you are going to compete in less than 48 hours.

But on the other side I have to admit and say that the night crowds here in NY are somehow special. Very noisy, very much into the match, a fun experience. Very different from Wimbledon that is also fun and the ultimate thing. You know what I mean.

I came to the hotel as I say over midnight and we are waiting in my room, Rafa Maymo, Tomeu Salva and me to have room service dinner. In the mean time I write this blog and the one I am writing for a Spanish newspaper. They are similar but not the same for those of you that speak Spanish. Of course that the things I do are the same in any language, right?

Sometimes I read your comments to the blog but not every day. It depends if I have time, if Benito is around (he helps me with translations), etc. But I do read them sometimes. Thanks in any case for the comments and support.

Tomorrow I practice at 12 and therefore I will leave to the site around 10.30. Not much time to sleep but you know that I normally sleep 6/7/8 hours max every day. Enough to recover!

Thanks again.

Rafa

Hi Everyone,

One more day here in New York and happy to be writing today this blog. Don't ask me why but today I feel like I have the time I need to do so and got something to tell you that is important. It was my second consecutive day without playing and tomorrow I play again.

One thing that is kind of weird is that I played my first round on Monday and my next match, my second round match, is tomorrow, Thursday, and it's the last match!!! Not second or third or even fourth ... last match.

From a technical point of view it doesn't make much sense but I do understand it is a TV thing and also the tournament has told us that it is because they wanted me to experience the night match and the crowds here at that time. I understand although as I say it is strange to have such a big gap during a tournament to play.

So a calmed day that I thought would be shorter at the tournament. It is always the same with me. I intend to come back early and in the end always something comes up. I practiced not too early, at 12.15 noon with Tomeu my friend who is here as a hitting partner. I had planned to come back to the hotel at 2pm or so. But in the end, once again I only managed to get to the hotel by 6pm.

The reason for that is that I had a meeting with Ivan Ljubicic. Ivan has recently been elected and appointed as the European Player Board representative. We had a meeting and went through the stuff that the board has been discussing at the meetings in these past days. Things have changed. The president of the ATP left, he resigned, I suppose since he knew he did not have the support of a lot of people, and I believe that things will go better now.

We have had lot of talks lately and I see now that the players are more together. The meeting today with Ivan is one more example. There is an open channel of communication now open with our representatives and we can get things done together. It was important to meet and our commitment is there. I am happy to spend time trying to help improve the game. Now we know what's cooking and we can give our input since we are in the Player Council.

Hopefully we can work for the better of the game.

Hi everyone.

Another of those days today where we don't play. Not only that, since tomorrow I am not playing either so it makes it a kind of funny day. Yesterday it was a match day and therefore the routine is more or less the same as every day I play. Warm up in the morning and wait to be called to go on court. After that the usual press conference, pictures with the US Open Series trophy and back to the hotel.

Talking about these US Open Series, i "only" played two events and had the luck to win it. I won Toronto and made it to the semifinals in Cincinnati. That allowed me to have the same number of points as Andy Murray but since I defeated him in Toronto the head to head made me win the thing and now I have the chance to win the biggest prize money in tennis. Some people do not really appreciate the game that Andy has. He is really good, very good.

Coming back to this prize money thing, the other day someone asked me about this fact. Do we really think about the money when we walk on court, and the answer is clear and simple without sounding arrogant. We really don't think about it when we step on court. We want to win. The most important thing is the honor to win a certain title. No chance to think about the amount of money at stake on the final of Wimbledon. The most important thing is to win the title and I am sure this is the way most of the players think. I hope no one misinterpret what I am saying.

Anyway, today was that kind of day where you practice and at the same time you have some time off without thinking about the next day and the match to come. It is way more relaxing and it allows you to have some time off and do things that normally you can't do. As a matter of fact I went to play some golf after practice with Tomeu Salva, a friend of mine since we were kids that sometimes travels to tournaments with me and also helps me as hitting partner, and Benito my PR Manager.

We had a good time and we came back to the hotel around 8.30 pm. I went out for dinner with a big group of people including Sergio Garcia the golfer who also came earlier in the day to my practice. We hit some balls and arranged to go out tonight for dinner with some friends. We talked a lot about golf. I have to say I love that sport and with people like Sergio giving you some tips, it is easier to improve. At least on the theoretical part... the tough one is when you go out and play...

Hi Everyone,

Here I am back writing a blog for you this time from New York. Initially I didn't feel like writing another blog since I really don't know if it's liked or not and I don't really know what to write about. I hope that I am not too boring because I would hate that. But they have kindly asked me again to do it and I will be answering your questions and writing a few of the things I do during the day here in New York. Also a good way to let my fans know, first hand, what I think and do. I don't think this will be a very deep blog if you know what I mean.

So that you understand, I normally do this blog either before going out for dinner or just after that. We sit, and do the blog. It takes some time and I am happy to do it, but it is not easy for me to just sit here, answer to all your questions (that's the easy part) and then try to come up with a great, deep, writer's blog.

Having said that, some of you may not know that I left home Mallorca on Friday July 18th. Wimbledon's final was on Sunday July 6th (I'll never forget that), went to Stuttgart on Monday July 7th having only slept one hour, got back home to Mallorca on that same day and started my 7 1/2 days holiday.

Resumed practice on Tuesday 15th and as I say left home to go to Toronto on Friday 18th. I played Toronto (won) and Cincinnati (semis but grabbing the #1) and from there fled (?) to Beijing via Chicago straight. No rest, no days in Mallorca. Then played the Olympics and on Monday after the tennis was over fly straight to NY where I have been now for a week.

Some people might not think this is the right decision but I talked long with my manager Carlos Costa and my uncle Toni about it. They thought and I agreed that the best is to keep with the good swing and the results. My uncle always say that you have to take the good moments and I was feeling strong enough to do this. We can come back to this in the next days.

In the mean time the tournament has started and I played today. Not a great match, I didn't feel great out there but did the job and managed to win an always difficult first round match.

Many thanks to all.

Rafa

QUESTIONS TO RAFA

Hi everyone,

This is my last blog post from Wimbledon. I have to be realistic and I don't think I will be able to do it tomorrow. On Monday I am flying early in the morning to Stuttgart and tomorrow win or lose it will be impossible to do it. If I win (please, please) I will be going to the winners party/dinner that the club organizes and logically I won't have time. If I lose then I will be packing everything (got a lot of luggage, as always) and I will be together with my family. In any case I have an early flight on Monday morning.Coming to today, it has been quite a busy morning.

I practiced for 2 hours. Initially it was going to be a smoother practice but I wasn't feeling that great hitting the ball and decided to practice a bit more with my uncle Toni and a player from Menorca called Nacho Coll. I know him for some time, he is in the Balearic Tennis Centre and he is around to pay some future events. I use to hit with him sometimes when we are in Mallorca. After that I had a lot of media obligations with Press Conference, TV interviews and a get together with the Spanish media that follow me around the different tournaments. 

In the afternoon I just stayed at the house with my family, my team, playing cards, playing darts and some play station. Quite and relaxed day just not thinking about tomorrow. Over dinner my uncle Toni and I talked a bit about tomorrow's match and on how to play. What you call a tactics chat. This is the way we do it. Sometimes Toni gives me some advices, some things to think about. He preferred to share those things tonight so I can think about them instead of tomorrow morning when the match is closer. We don't have a fixed procedure and today it as like this.

My parents went out for dinner with their friends and we stayed at home. Apart from Toni, also Rafa Maymo, Tuts, my sister, my uncle Rafael,  and Benito. We cooked one of those dishes of pasta with shrimps and mushrooms and stayed calm.

To finish with this, I wanted now to thank this paper for having me doing this blog and you specially for following it, reading it and hopefully enjoy some of the things I say. My job is not to write but to play tennis and that's what I do better. Definitely writing is not my best thing. I suppose you noticed it.

Many thanks again and hope to do this again soon