In his latest BBC Sport column, Jamie Murray discusses his upcoming partnership with brother Andy in Washington, the hard-court season in the US and his recent holiday back home in Scotland.

My brother Andy and I will be teaming up in the doubles at the Citi Open in Washington next week and I am really looking forward to it.

I couldn't play in Washington with my partner Neal Skupski because he is playing the World Team Tennis season in the US, which is a three-week commitment after Wimbledon.

I was always looking for someone to play with in Washington so it's great that Andy is able to do it. I had asked Andy what his plans were for the summer while he was waiting to get some of the feedback from the physical testing he had been doing for his hip. Once he got the all clear, he was able to make a plan.

It's been a while since we last played together at the Davis Cup in 2016 and a lot of our tennis together around that time was in tournaments like the Davis Cup and the Olympics, so I can't remember the last time we played together in a normal tournament.

We practised together on Wednesday and we will do more when we get out to Washington - we'll have a few days in which we can prepare and get ready for the tournament.

During practice, we tend to go through a few strategies and positioning, mainly for Andy's benefit because he's not as used to playing doubles. Recently, he's obviously become more committed to it and he's a great player who reads the game so well, so I have to just let him be him and play the game that he knows best.

We complement each other well on the court. His return is amazing and that can give me a lot of action up at the net, and when I'm there I can also help him out on his serve.

We know each other's games and I guess, because we are brothers, we are able to communicate that bit better and have more honesty than other partnerships. At the end of the day, partners can fall out but the difference with us being brothers is that we will always make up, so it makes it a lot easier.

That's probably the reason the Bryan brothers, who have won 16 Grand Slam titles together, have been so successful over the years, because of that family bond and the natural communication they are able to have.

It's all fun, I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully we can have a good week there.

'Neal and I will be successful' - preparing for the US

I'm really looking forward to the hard-court season starting in the US. I always like this season and I feel like I've played good tennis in the last few years.

There are a lot of big tournaments; the Washington doubles field is probably the toughest of the whole year. It's like a mini ATP Finals in terms of the field because the best 8-10 teams compete plus a few others.

You've then got the two Masters tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati and then it's all preparation for the US Open, which starts at the end of August.

Once Neal and I hook up in Montreal, it will be full steam ahead for us. It has been a bit stop-start so far but I'm looking forward to getting back on court with him.

Wimbledon was obviously a big disappointment for us when we lost in the first round but I don't doubt that we will be a successful team, but whether that is in the immediate future or the long term, I'm not sure.

'It was nice to put the racquets away' - on taking a break

After Wimbledon, I went up to the west coast of Scotland for five days with my wife Alejandra. We flew to Glasgow and then hired a car to drive up to Oban, Glencoe, then up to Skye and the Outer Hebrides, which was amazing. The scenery was incredible and while there was a lot of driving, we crammed a lot in.

It was good to get away. It was disappointing how Wimbledon finished for me and the first half of the year has been pretty intense, so it was nice to put the racquets away for a while and get away from tennis, and just enjoy a bit of Scotland.

It was nice to spend some quality time with my wife because she works full-time in communications and marketing and so doesn't travel with me that much. She maybe comes to four or five tournaments a year. I always find that for players' partners, it's not that exciting because it's a lot of hanging around while we train and prepare.

We went back to Dunblane for about a day and a half so it was nice to see some of the family. It's always good to get home because I don't get much opportunity to do so during the year.

Jamie Murray was speaking to BBC Sport's Katie Falkingham

FAIRBURY, Ill. – The 30th annual Prairie Dirt Classic kicked off on Friday night with four Prairie Dirt Shootouts that set the first eight rows for Saturday’s main event at Fairbury Speedway.

Just a short time after setting quick time in qualifying, besting the other 71 drivers in the Fairbury pit area, Brandon Sheppard once again put Rocket1 Racing’s prowess on display for the thousands of Prairie Dirt Classic fans watching in the grandstands.

Leading all 25 laps and going virtually unchallenged throughout the entire night, Sheppard picked up $2,500 and the third Prairie Dirt Showdown win of his career. He has now won a Showdown in each year since the most recent event format change that introduced them in 2017.

With 15 laps in the books, it looked as though it may have been an all-Outlaw top-five, with four of the top five spots occupied by full-time World of Outlaws drivers. Sheppard had led since the green waved with Chase Junghans and rookie Cade Dillard following close behind, Darrell Lanigan riding back in fourth and Dennis Erb Jr. battling it out with Chris Simpson and Ricky Thornton Jr. for fifth.

Unfortunately for Dillard, he slowed on the backstretch and ended up pulling off the track in a puff of smoke on lap 16.

This opened the door for Boom Briggs, who seemingly came out of nowhere on the lap 16 restart. From his 11th-place starting spot, Briggs steadily worked his way to ninth before the yellow came out. When the field came back to green, Boom got the jump and went from ninth to fifth in less than one lap. He went on to pass two more cars to claim his starting spot in Saturday’s 100-lap finale.

An even better run came in the same race for the driver out of Carpentersville, Ill., Dennis Erb Jr. He came from the outside of Boom Briggs in row six and passed five cars in less than one lap on the restart to go from seventh to second and put himself in Saturday’s redraw.

In the second Showdown, Bobby Pierce rode the big Fairbury cushion on the topside of the quarter-mile like he’s done so many times before, allowing him to lead all 25 laps to score his first Prairie Dirt Showdown win.

“It went a lot smoother than about all of the other times I’ve been here for this race,” Pierce said.

That statement sheds a bit of light on last year’s Prairie Dirt Classic, when Pierce set fast time over 60 other drivers but failed to transfer (or finish) out of his Showdown. This set him up for one of the greatest charges to the front (and the win) ever seen at Fairbury in the Prairie Dirt Shootout, but with the Showdown win this year, Pierce is just glad he doesn’t have to deal with such a situation this time around.

“This race has become one of the toughest races to win, by far,” he said. “With the amount of cars here and the competition, if you can start up front, that’s 50 percent of the race, I think.”

“Last year’s [Prairie Dirt Shootout] was something else. That was cool, but I’d really rather not have to do that again. Fortunately, here we are.”

Continue reading on the next page.

SONOMA, Calif. – Defending Funny Car event winner Robert Hight kept his impressive pace going at Sonoma Raceway, powering to the No. 1 spot on Friday during the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

Clay Millican (Top Fuel), Alex Laughlin (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also provisional No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories. The event is also the second of three races during the NHRA’s famed Western Swing.

Hight, the current points leader and two-time Sonoma winner, put down a 3.858 second run at 334.65 mph in his Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS. If it holds, Hight would rack up his eighth No. 1 qualifier of the year and 68th in his career.

Shawn Langdon drove to the second spot and Jack Beckman sits in third.

“You know you’re always in for a treat when you come to Sonoma with the Friday night run,” said Hight, who also set the national speed record at the track in 2017. “It’s not like any other track we go to where the atmospheric conditions change so drastically. You know it’s going to be great conditions and this is a great race track. You just have to hit it right. I’ve attended every national event ever held here, first as a fan coming to the races, just dreaming to get to work on one of these cars, then a crew member and now a driver. I love coming here and it’s very special to me.”

Top Fuel’s Millican put up a season-best blast of 3.698 seconds at 330.96 mph to go to No. 1 in his Parts Plus/Laris Motorsports dragster. It would be his third No. 1 qualifier of the year and 23rd in his career if it holds.

Points leader and defending world champ Steve Torrence, who has won eight of the past nine races, is second and his father, Billy, is a spot behind in third.

In Pro Stock, Alex Laughlin went 6.520 seconds at 210.80 mph in his Havoline Chevrolet Camaro to take the No. 1 spot on Friday. If it holds, it would give Laughlin, whose first race in Pro Stock came at Sonoma in 2015, his second No. 1 qualifier.

Deric Kramer is right behind in second, while defending event winner Jeg Coughlin Jr. sits third.

Defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ Matt Smith went to the top of the class on his Denso/Stockseth/MSR EBR thanks to his run of 6.779 seconds at a track record speed of 200.83 mph. Smith was the only rider to reach the 200 mph on Friday.

Jerry Savoie is currently second and Eddie Krawiec is third.

JACKSON, Minn. — A late-race pass from a hard charging driver secured victory in both divisions competing on Friday night at Jackson Motorplex, which hosted Tony Stewart Night presented by C&B Operations.

James McFadden led the final five laps of the $10,000-to-win Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions feature and Elliot Amdahl powered to his third consecutive Heartland Steel RaceSaver sprint cars presented by Wyffels Hybrids triumph after taking the lead with two laps remaining.

McFadden maneuvered from fifth into second place by the midpoint of the 30-lap All Star feature. He stalked Josh Baughman for the top spot before executing the race-winning pass on the bottom of turns three and four with only five laps remaining.

“I was getting really annoyed at the cautions,” he said after becoming the 24th different feature winner at Jackson Motorplex this season. “Every time we’d get to traffic we’d have a caution. It’s one of those deals if you didn’t get it done he’d probably step up the pace.”

Brian Brown led the first dozen laps before he spun as the caution was waved on Lap 13 – a lap after entering traffic. Baughman inherited the lead and just as he reached traffic a caution came out on Lap 20. McFadden stayed within striking distance before pouncing in the closing laps for his second straight All Star triumph and the fourth of his career.

Cory Eliason passed Baughman for the runner-up result with two laps remaining and he finished 2.255 seconds behind McFadden.

“Any time you can have more than one groove of racing it’s awesome,” Eliason said.

Baughman rounded out the podium.

“That last caution a tire sealed over and we were a sitting duck,” he said. “To come out here and race with these guys and compete says a lot.”

Kerry Madsen was the Hard Charger Award winner for maneuvering from 18th to fourth and Justin Henderson garnered a fifth-place finish.

Aaron Reutzel set quick time of the 33 drivers in qualifying.

Amdahl continued his recent domination during the Heartland Steel RaceSaver sprint cars presented by Wyffels Hybrids main event. He moved up to the high groove in the waning laps and took over second place with five laps remaining before running down Ryan Voss for the top spot.

Voss posted a runner-up result after leading 16 of the 20 laps. Javen Ostermann placed third with Sam Henderson fourth and 12th -starting Bill Johnson fifth.

The finish:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 9-James McFadden (5); 2. 26-Cory Eliason (2); 3. 17-Josh Baughman (3); 4. 2M-Kerry Madsen (18); 5. 7X-Justin Henderson (4); 6. 44-Trey Starks (11); 7. 13-Paul McMahan (8); 8. 70-Brock Zearfoss (7); 9. 21K-Thomas Kennedy (20); 10. 55-Brooke Tatnell (15); 11. 11-Dale Blaney (9); 12. 2KS-Austin McCarl (14); 13. W20-Greg Wilson (23); 14. 70X-Justin Peck (10); 15. 17W-Shane Golobic (22); 16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr (12); 17. 21-Brian Brown (1); 18. 83-Lynton Jeffrey (19); 19. 35-Skylar Prochaska (13); 20. 07-Gerard McIntyre Jr (25); 21. 14M-Marcus Dumesny (17); 22. 99-Skylar Gee (24); 23. 2C-Wayne Johnson (16); 24. 87-Aaron Reutzel (6); 25. 14-Tony Stewart (21).

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Kevin Thomas Jr. led three times for 13 laps in Friday’s Sheldon Kinser Memorial, round seven of NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week from Bloomington Speedway, but it was the final lap that decided his fate.

After swapping the lead multiple times down the stretch, on the final lap, Thomas rocketed around the outside of Jason McDougal in turns one and two, locked up the bottom in three and four and raced to his third Bloomington ISW victory.

In 19 previous USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car starts this season, Thomas had finished as the runner-up on four occasions

“I didn’t think that was ever going to happen,” Thomas admitted. “It’s been a trying year. I think we’ve finally overcome our things that have gone wrong and our bad luck. You just have to be in a position to win all the time. You’re not going to win every race, but you’ve got to be there and then things will start going your way.”

Thomas began the 30-lapper fifth, but the early going was marred by a three-car accident involving a flipping Chris Windom with Carson Short and Jordan Kinser also involved.

On the restart, Thomas went to the rail, riding the outside line to move into the top-three on lap six underneath Justin Grant. Up front, outside front row starter McDougal was working on race leader Jarett Andretti, pulling even on the outside before clearing Andretti off turn four to grab the race lead. Thomas followed suit and worked inside past Andretti for second on the bottom of turn one.

After working his way to third by lap 11, Brady Bacon encountered trouble as he slid to a stop on the back straightaway with a little bit of flame being thrown from the car. Though he’d restart from the tail, he worked his way back to a seventh-place finish by race end.

McDougal led Thomas into turn one but left the bottom open for Thomas. Thomas took hold of the advantage and cruised underneath McDougal exiting turn two with the lead. Following an incident in which early race leader Jarett Andretti slid to a stop on the front straightaway, the man on the move was Kyle Cummins.

The previous night’s winner at Lincoln Park put his ride up top and methodically picked his way past Grant for third on lap 14, by McDougal for second on lap 15 and was literally on the edge for the lead on lap 16.

Thomas moved up to protect up top at the exit of turn four.  However, Cummins found a line even higher than Thomas and the two banged wheels at the stripe, with Cummins nipping the line mere inches ahead of Thomas. Thomas cut down into one and reclaimed the lead with a slider on Cummins, who ended up getting hung up on the turn four cushion, losing second to McDougal.

“From the start of the race, we were pretty decent on the bottom,” Thomas explained.  “I tightened myself up with the shocks.  I think it was the wrong move for going down there. When I finally got to the lead, my pace was slowing down and I heard a guy up around the top, so I tried to move to the top, and I’m pretty sure it was Kyle Cummins. I didn’t think anybody could get any higher, then he tried going around me down the front stretch and we made a little contact. I didn’t know anybody could even go up there without running off the track.”

With seven laps remaining, second-running McDougal and third-running Cummins began to hunt down Thomas again. McDougal pulled even to the inside of Thomas between turns one and two on lap 23, but on the 24th circuit, McDougal kept the momentum rolling on the bottom off turn two, edging ahead of Thomas in turn three, then letting his car float to the top, pushing Thomas wide to secure the top spot before pulling ahead by five car lengths into turn one with just five laps to go and a bit of traffic now on the horizon.

With four to go, Thomas began to inch closer to McDougal on the top as McDougal closed in rapidly on the lapped car of Brody Roa between turns three and four with the two nearly making nose-to-tail contact. McDougal was in a sort of no-man’s land sliding through the middle, allowing Thomas to close within a car length at the line.

Thomas kept digging, pulling even with McDougal into turn one, and took the outside line into turn three, which nearly proved disastrous, hopping the rear wheels airborne. A rapidly closing Cummins tried to avoid ramming Thomas and spun himself into a 360 over the berm in turn three before coming to a rest.

Now it was down to a duel between McDougal and Thomas, and only three laps remaining. Thomas knew he needed to turn up the wick, making adjustments and making plans on how he was going to tackle the task.

“I made a little bit more of a shock adjustment on that last restart,” Thomas remembered. “I knew I couldn’t go to the bottom because you’re going to run second. It was either going to stick or I was going to drive right off the end of the track.”

McDougal initially had a fine restart and was leading by four car lengths going into turn one on the final lap, but Thomas devoured the high line and ate up the interval in no time flat to take the lead, cut down to the bottom in front of McDougal in turn three, nailed his marks and drove to victory by 0.388 of a second over McDougal, Grant, ISW point leader C.J. Leary and a career-best fifth-place finish for Brandon Mattox.

For Thomas, it was his 26th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, moving him ahead of past series champs Steve Butler and Jay Drake for 17th on the all-time list.

“I think the driver just finally showed up,” Thomas said. “There’s a few little things like

to make somebody comfortable and with everybody being new to the way I like to do things and how I drive, that’s just the way it is. It’s a learning curve. When everybody’s this tough night-in, night-out, that’s the way it goes. We haven’t been terrible, we’ve been running top-five, but it just wasn’t quite there, but now we’re there.”

To see full results, turn to the next page.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Crew members from the Roth Motorsports team jumped into Tim Shaffer’s trailer and scurried to the sweat drenched driver.

With his arms out and a smile just as wide, Shaffer embraced the two crew members and thanked them for helping him get back on track.

Shaffer had just left victory lane at Williams Grove Speedway for the second time in his World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series career — first since 2001. The win was also his second Series victory of the year — the first was at Las Vegas in February.

“They’re hard to get,” Shaffer said about winning in general. “This place is really special. I hadn’t realized how long it had been since I won here. It goes back to a great car, great engine, great team. It’s funny, we struggled this year. We started good, struggled mid-season and it seems like we’re coming back to life.”

What the Roth Motorsports crew did to help Shaffer had nothing to do with car set up, the engine or tires. They simply helped him have fun again.

“Basically, they’ve been hanging out at my house and having fun,” Shaffer said. “Running go-karts and just having fun again. It’s neat to have friends like that. They enjoy racing and love it as much as you do and get to have fun with other things instead of being around racing all of the time, and we had a blast.

“You kind of loosen up. We came here already in a good mood, having fun, and it’s carrying on.”

That showed in Shaffer’s performance throughout the night. He finished second to Brad Sweet in his Drydene Heat race but tested Sweet for the lead in the early stage of the eight-lap race. Shaffer then went on the win the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash from the pole and the feature, leading all 25 laps.

David Gravel, who was coming off a win at Lernerville Speedway and eight top-five finishes in a row, with seven of them being podium finishes – did not let Shaffer cruise to the victory.

In the early stage of the Feature, Shaffer powered around the high side of the track with a blistering pace that left about a straightaway distance between he and second-place Freddie Rahmer. His pace also put him in lap traffic by Lap five on the half-mile speedway.

Rahmer held on to second-place for the first 11 laps before 10-time series champion Donny Schatz dove underneath the PA Posse member in turn three and powered by him off turn four. The next corner, Gravel charged around the outside of Rahmer and stole third-place.

Gravel worked on Schatz’s bumper for the next few laps until the caution came out for Daryn Pittman having a flat right front tire.

The group of 25 cars lined back up two-by-two for the restart. Shaffer crept the field around turns three and four before mashing the throttle and launching back to the lead down the front stretch. Behind him Schatz and Gravel raced side-by-side through turns one and two – Gravel low, Schatz high. The high side had been the fastest way around all night, but Gravel made the bottom work and darted to second off the corner.

The track widened as the race progressed. Shaffer stayed high, testing the limits of the cushion. Gravel, however, was perfecting the bottom line. The Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 car worked its way to within striking distance of Shaffer and waited for an opportunity to pounce.

There were no mistakes, though.

Shaffer was smooth around the top and aggressive with laps cars. If there was an opening, he threw his Rudzik Excavating No. 49x into the gap without hesitation. There was no time to be cautious. Gravel was coming, and he knew it.

“I saw the board that the 41 got by [Schatz] on that yellow,” Shaffer said. “I said ‘Oh, he’s hunting me down.’ I was just trying to make good laps and I knew we’d be hard to beat.”

With Shaffer not making any mistakes, Gravel knew he had to do something drastic if he wanted another Williams Grove victory.

Coming to the white flag, Gravel rocketed his car underneath Shaffer into turn three – closing about a four-car length gap. The momentum slid his car up the track and he went side-by-side with Shaffer, about a foot a part, through turn four. Shaffer held his line – and his eyes closed, he said jokingly.

“I was close, I didn’t see him there for a second,” Gravel said. “I obviously just gave him a little bit of room to get back by me. If it was twenty or fifty grand (to win) I probably would have slid up here. But it was a good night. We were fast all night long. I feel like we were the only car to run on the bottom of the race track.”

Shaffer pulled away with the lead and the $8,000 win at the opening night of the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals doubleheader — his 27th series victory.

To see full results, turn to the next page.