Two tours spent this week explaining themselves: the WTA over live microphones on the practice courts at the WTA Finals, the DP World Tour over a tuft of grass in Abu Dhabi. Only one of them had a rulebook to point at. Elsewhere, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a football game without catching a pass.
The ruling: Indian Wells wired the practice courts for sound
The WTA Finals were never meant to be in California. The tour's flagship event was due in Riyadh, the last year of a three-year deal, until the WTA ended that agreement early and moved the 2026 edition to Indian Wells, announced on 1 July (Sky Sports).
Part of the new event was a free livestream of the players' practice sessions. On Wednesday 4 November, after practice, Jessica Pegula, the world No. 5, talked to her coach about Mirra Andreeva, the 19-year-old world No. 3, and Andreeva's coach Conchita Martinez. She was critical of both. She also said Andreeva "moves like a cat" and has "the perfect serve" (Bleacher Report). The court microphones were on, the stream was public, and the clip went viral the same day (Bleacher Report).
Pegula's agent, Chris McCormack, told BBC Sport's Ben Collins she was "completely unaware" the microphones were there or that the session was being streamed, and that she had since contacted "those involved" directly (Bleacher Report).
On Thursday the WTA took the blame. "The WTA takes full responsibility for failing to inform our players and their teams that microphones, in place to give fans a livestream of the players' practice, were active on the courts at the WTA Finals," it said in a statement to Front Office Sports' Colin Salao (People).
Pegula opens against Coco Gauff today, and Andreeva plays Elina Svitolina tomorrow (Bleacher Report).
A practice court is about the last private room left in professional tennis, and the WTA wired this one for sound without telling anyone in it. The cost landed on two players who have never met in a singles match, in the week the tour most needed its finale to look like one.
The number: 8
Victor Wembanyama blocked eight shots on Wednesday while scoring 52 points against the Dallas Mavericks. No one has blocked more in a 50-point game since blocks became an official statistic in 1973-74 (TSN). He also took 24 rebounds, the most in a 50-point game since Chris Webber's 26 in 2001 (TSN).
The 52 points and the 24 rebounds were both career highs, in a 112-111 win, and he said afterwards he had been sick for a while (AP, TSN).
The call: two shots for a tuft of grass
On the 12th at Yas Links on Thursday, Rory McIlroy's chip rolled back into a sandy divot in the rough. Before his next shot he set his wedge behind the ball, and a piece of grass behind it lay down and did not spring back. After his round, rules officials showed him the video (GOLF.com, National Club Golfer).
Rule 8.1b(4) of the Rules of Golf, as the R&A publishes it, lets a player "ground the club lightly right in front of or right behind the ball". The same rule then excludes "Pressing the club on the ground". The DP World Tour told National Club Golfer there is no penalty for grounding lightly "even if the lie is improved", that McIlroy "was unable to say whether he had pressed the club on the ground or not", and that he "chose to apply a two-stroke penalty". His double-bogey six became a quadruple-bogey eight.
The case for: the grass stayed down on camera, and a player who cannot say he did not press should not sign for the lower score. The case against: the rule forgives an improved lie, nobody showed that he pressed, and a man took two shots off himself for how a video looked. "I don't feel like I pressed down," McIlroy said (Irish Examiner).
He finished third today at 19 under, four behind the winner (BBC Sport).
Right call or wrong call?
Around the grounds
Football. Manchester United play Aston Villa at Old Trafford today from 19th, with seven points from nine games, after this weekend's other results dragged them into the bottom three before they had kicked a ball (BBC Sport). United had not been in the bottom three after nine or more league games since November 1986, Alex Ferguson's first fortnight (Reuters). Lisandro Martinez is suspended (BBC Sport). Erik ten Hag called relegation possible last Monday.
NFL. Zero. That is how many passes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers completed while beating the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 in the rain last Sunday. Baker Mayfield went 0 for 3. The Buccaneers ran for a club-record 324 yards behind Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell, and became the first team without a completion since the Buffalo Bills on 29 September 1974 (AP). "I'll do whatever it takes to win," Mayfield said.
F1. Who is the youngest champion in Formula 1 history? Kimi Antonelli, aged 20, after finishing third in Mexico City last Sunday behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. He beat Sebastian Vettel's age record by three full years (Autosport). What happens in Sao Paulo today? Lando Norris starts from pole after a wet qualifying session, and Verstappen from the back of the grid (Formula1.com).
Tennis. Alexander Zverev's first match as world No. 1 lasted two sets. Lorenzo Musetti, ranked 24th, beat him 7-6, 6-2 in the second round in Paris on Wednesday, days after Zverev lost to Alex de Minaur in the Vienna semi-finals (Reuters). On the same day Rinky Hijikata ended Novak Djokovic's hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals (Reuters). The Paris final is on the wire tomorrow.
Golf. Jon Rahm has six Rolex Series titles after a closing 67 won the Abu Dhabi Championship today at 23 under, two clear of Tyrrell Hatton (BBC Sport). It is his first win since he announced his departure from LIV Golf, and his first at a DP World Tour event in four years (BBC Sport). We covered that exit in October. Eugenio Chacarra, the Race to Dubai leader, finished 11 under (BBC Sport).
NBA. The Golden State Warriors have stopped paying Kristaps Porzingis his $20 million salary, claiming he is not rendering services while he is out with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, ESPN's Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported (theScore). Porzingis and the players' union do not plan to dispute it, according to The Athletic. The salary still counts against Golden State's cap, ESPN's Bobby Marks said (theScore). Porzingis is 31.
WNBA. Who is out in New York? Chris DeMarco, fired by the New York Liberty on Tuesday after one season (AP). He came from more than a decade on the Golden State Warriors bench with no WNBA experience. How did it end? A first-round sweep of the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, then a three-game exit to the Atlanta Dream, in which his staff missed a reset timeout left in overtime (AP).
The argument: does Manchester United's money need Manchester United to win?
Last week we asked whether the NBA should have signed with the prediction markets. Nothing this week answered it.
In September, at the first Deutsche Bank Sports Investment Conference in London, Avram Glazer, the co-chairman, said clubs of Manchester United's scale do not need success on the pitch to hold their commercial power, and compared them with the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys, The Athletic reported (Evening Standard). The Yankees last won the World Series in 2009 and the Cowboys the Super Bowl in 1995. United last won the league in 2013 (Evening Standard). We covered the remarks on Friday.
For Glazer: his examples are real, and a famous badge sells through lean years. Against: the Yankees and the Cowboys cannot be relegated, and United woke up 19th.
Is he right, or does the table eventually reach the balance sheet?
One from the archive
Eighteen years ago last Monday, on 2 November 2008, Felipe Massa won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos and was world champion for 39 seconds, by RacingNews365's count. Lewis Hamilton passed Timo Glock, stranded on dry tyres in the rain, on the final lap before Junção, the last corner, and took the fifth place he needed for the title (Motor Sport).
Massa is still contesting that season. In November 2025 a High Court judge, Mr Justice Jay, let his conspiracy claim against the FIA, Formula One and Bernie Ecclestone go towards trial, while ruling that no court could award him the 2008 title (Reuters). The defendants have since taken the case to the Supreme Court after being ordered to pay £250,000 in costs (Sky Sports).
Hamilton makes his 400th start at the same circuit today (Formula1.com).
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