I had a fantastic day at Windsor Castle being presented with my MBE and OBE.
My mum came down with me and we were joined afterwards by my uncle and aunt who live in Southampton.
Everything about it was perfect – the weather, the setting and meeting other people getting awards and hearing their stories.
I didn’t actually know until the day before that I was going to receive both medals!
They phoned me up to give me the choice of waiting until next year for the OBE but I definitely made the right decision.
Staff were saying they’d never seen someone get two at the same time before so that made it extra special.
Congratulations are also in order for…
🥌 Gold medal-winning GB skip, @EveMuirhead for services to Curling;
🚴 Three times world record holder, @JacoVanGass for services to Cycling;
🛶 Olympic Gold winner, @LauraSugar1 for services to Canoeing. pic.twitter.com/MLTC5EQV6U— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) June 8, 2022
Loads of other people said they watched the Olympic final, which was really nice too.
I’m definitely getting more looks and comments on my trips to England than I used to!
It won’t be long until I’m coming back for the middle Saturday of Wimbledon.
I’m really looking forward to that one.
In an ideal world it would be great if Andy Murray is still going strong in the tournament at that point and I get to see him play on Centre Court.
That would just cap off a brilliant sporting year for me.
He looks like he’s building up nicely on the grass so fingers crossed.
If anything, there might be a better chance of watching Andy than Rafa Nadal.
The video on social media of him limping around when he was doing the photoshoot in Paris after yet another French Open triumph was hard to watch.
Rafa obviously limping today, viewer discretion advised 😔❤️🩹 https://t.co/YjzIrWlOWB
— TroubleFault (@troublefault) June 6, 2022
It’s no secret that he’s pushing his body to the absolute limit to try and squeeze another couple of grand slams out of his career and you do wonder if he’d still be going if the head to head with Novak Djokovic wasn’t so tight.
And you do also worry about the repercussions in later life.
I always think that injuries and discomfort come with the territory if you’re going to be at the top of your sport for a long time.
If you haven’t got a long list of them you’ve probably not maxed out!
I obviously had my hip operation and the good one has had injections since then – probably because I was over-compensating after the surgery.
I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to manage things pretty well over the last couple of years but I’d like to think I’d know when the cost to my body outweighs the rewards of keeping going.
Nadal may soon come to the conclusion ‘enough is enough’.
It’s not often in sport that the pre-event media conferences are a more compelling watch than the actual event.
But that may well be the case when we look back on the first tournament of the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Wherever you stand on the rights and wrongs of the new tour, for the likes of Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter it’s been a reputation car crash.
🗣️ "If Vladimir Putin had a tournament, would you play that?"
Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood refuse to answer questions on whether there is anywhere in the world they wouldn't play. pic.twitter.com/v9WkEYvDoy
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 8, 2022
Credit to the people who asked questions like – would they be willing to play a tournament in Putin’s Russia if the money was too good to turn down?
But surely the golfers should have been better prepared with their answers.
The awkward silences spoke volumes.
