Congratulations to Andy Murray for the recent good form, culminating in beating world number 1 Roger Federer in straight sets in the Cincinnati Masters. His recent run has, not coincidentally, come after starting work with coach Brad Gilbert. Clearly Brad has boosted Andys confidence but more work still needs to be done on his fitness levels, strength and stamina.

I predict it will take another year for him to seriously challenge at a major event such as the US Open or Wimbledon. But challenge he will and I am confident he will eventually win a major tournament.

In football it has been the same old story on the international front. Scotlands Under 21's dominated Slovenia in Murska Sobota and could have been 4 up by half time. They lost 1-0. Now they must beat France at Pittodrie on September 1 to stand a chance of making the European Championship finals.

Something I have noticed recently regarding Scottish football is that young and promising players, for instance the successfull Under 19's, are often not finding regular first team football at the bigger clubs. More expensive, but ultimately over rated, foreign players are taking their places. This would be fine if the teams were successfull on the international stage. Often however the players underperform, a case in point being Hearts defeat to AEK Athens last week. In effect what we are seeing is a rerun of history and a situation which adversely affected the Scottish national side.

To end on an upbeat note I will mention Scotlands success at the inaugural Celtic Cup, an athletics event involving Ireland and Wales. Scotland won comfortably and the many young competitors winning their events suggests the nation has a bright future on the track.