Copyright Reuters
Coming up this week: Coco Gauff defends her crown in Riyadh, rugby’s giants collide from Chicago to Twickenham, and marathon greats Kipchoge and Hassan headline in New York. Here’s your Inside Track to the action. TENNIS Coco eyes a back-to-back title as Finals go full throttle in Riyadh Coco Gauff returns to the WTA’s crown-jewel event this weekend with a champion’s swagger. Riyadh stages the Finals again starting this weekend — a hardcourt, eight-woman round-robin tournament that funnels into a glittering finale offering more than $5 million for an unbeaten champion. With a total prize pot of $15.5 million, this is the tour’s full stop and exclamation mark rolled into one. Last year it belonged to Gauff, and once again she is the headline act, whatever the rankings say. Gauff is joined in the sparkling A-list line-up by world numbers one and two Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, with Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys and Jasmine Paolini all hoping they can rewrite the script. Gauff's timely form is looking good, though. The American romped through Wuhan earlier this month, straight-setting Pegula in the final for her 11th career title — a first since Roland Garros in June — and did not drop a set all week. She has now won nine hard-court finals in a row — a streak not seen since Serena Williams in 2013-15. The tournament is returning to the Saudi capital for its second edition in the kingdom, which is fast accumulating elite tennis tournaments on both the men's and women's tours following the announcement last week of a 10th ATP Masters event that will begin in 2028. For women's tennis, the 2024-2026 deal brings with it not just record prize money but also a stable stage after years of venue hopscotch. For Gauff, 2025 represents a chance to become only the eighth woman to win back-to-back season-enders since the event began in 1972. WTA Finals, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — November 1-8 RUGBY UNION From Chicago to Twickenham, Autumn Internationals take centre stage Rugby's Autumn Internationals are back, and they’re posing a challenge for coaches who are juggling the need to blood new talent while trying to build some consistency ahead of the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia — a balancing act that makes for compelling viewing and plenty of headaches in equal measure. The weekend's standout fixture takes place in Chicago, where Ireland face New Zealand at the same venue where they broke their 111-year duck against the All Blacks back in 2016. They've since won four more in nine encounters — not bad for a team that couldn't buy a victory for more than a century. For New Zealand, it's the opening salvo of a Grand Slam tour with added significance. They're chasing the clean sweep achieved in 1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010 against the so-called four home nations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales — a feat that would go some way to restoring pride after a year where an 8-2 record somehow feels disappointing. That's what happens when you ship 43 points at home to South Africa and lose in Argentina. Back-to-back World Cup winners South Africa open a five-match tour against Japan at London’s Wembley Stadium, aiming to sharpen a more adventurous playing style under attack coach Tony Brown. The approach has seen mixed results this year but did secure that second successive Rugby Championship title. The action gets underway at the home of English rugby, Twickenham Stadium, on Saturday when England will look to build on their run of seven successive wins by taking on an Australian side whose own resurgence began with a last-gasp win over England at the same venue a year ago. England were reeling at the time, also losing to South Africa and New Zealand, but the growing pains of switching from coach Steve Borthwick’s hard-to-watch kicking game to a far-more entertaining all-court approach are long gone and with a wave of thrilling backline talent vying for places there is a real feel-good factor about the team again. Australia are also on the up after a dire spell that saw them fall to ninth in the world rankings a year ago. A battling recovery in the British and Irish Lions series and a tight win over Japan with a second-string team last week have buoyed the mood. Scotland complete Saturday’s lineup against the United States, while France, Wales Italy, Fiji and Argentina join the party the following week when the official international window opens. Autumn Internationals Series, various locations — November 1-29 ATHLETICS Big names but even bigger questions as NYC Marathon closes Majors season The curtain falls on the World Marathon Majors season in New York City on Sunday, when some of the biggest names in athletics join the New York City Marathon field at a queasy time for the endurance event. Kenyan Ruth Chengetich was banned for three years for doping offences last week after breaking the women's world record in extraordinary fashion last year in Chicago. Her record will stand, leaving a sour taste behind for marathon fans as she joins a long list of Kenyan athletes caught in anti-doping rule violations. Among the fiercest advocates for clean sport, marathoning legend Eliud Kipchoge, will line up for the five-borough affair for the first time in his career amid rampant speculation over his potential retirement. The 40-year-old Kenyan, the only man to run under two hours in the event, previously told Reuters his legacy will feel “complete” once he crosses the finish line in Central Park. Another highlight in the field will be Dutch distance star Sifan Hassan, already a three-time major winner and one of the most versatile runners of her generation. Known for her ability to dominate across distances, she brings both pedigree and unpredictability to any start line. Hassan etched her name into Olympic history with a dramatic victory in the marathon at the Paris Games. A year on, that unforgettable moment still lingers. Her return to the roads will be watched closely, as fans and rivals alike wonder what she might do next. New York City Marathon, New York City, New York — November 2 EXTRA TIME What else we're watching Figure skating: The ISU Grand Prix lands in Saskatoon this weekend, with American phenom Ilia Malinin bringing his world record credentials and early-season gold to headline the men's field. But the real showstoppers might be Canadian pairs duo Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, who've made history as the first team to incorporate a backflip into competition — a move that'll feature in Friday's short program as they chase an upgrade on their recent Grand Prix silver. Trail running: Saturday’s Three Peaks Challenge began in 1897 when 25-year-old Carl Wilhelm Schneeberger decided to bag Cape Town's trio of iconic summits — Devil's Peak, Table Mountain, and Lion's Head — all in one epic day trip from Long Street. His sub-11-hour effort sparked a legend that's now a bucket-list staple for trail runners worldwide. Today's speed demons have whittled the record down to 4:42:43 (men) and 6:09:15 (women), both set in 2019, across 50km and nearly 3,000m of climbing that separates the weekend warriors from the genuinely unhinged. American Football: The NFL's marquee Week Nine clash sees Kansas City visit Buffalo in what could double as an AFC Championship preview. The Bills own the regular season series with four straight wins, but the Chiefs have made a habit of crushing Buffalo's playoff dreams — doing so in four of the last five seasons, including January's AFC title game that sent Kansas City to their third consecutive Super Bowl. Elsewhere,the Indianapolis Colts (7-1) test their near-perfectrecord against division-leading Pittsburgh, while Seattle battles Washington in primetime as they scrap with the Rams for NFC West supremacy. Horse racing: Saturday’s $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in Southern California shapes up as a generational clash, with Triple Crown hero Sovereignty taking on a row of older horses including Fierceness, Mindframe, Sierra Leone and Japan's Forever Young. Nine of the 10 runners boast Grade 1 wins, collectively banking 22 top-level victories and over $42 million — stats that have racing insiders calling it the strongest Classic field in years. Post time is 3:25 p.m. PT at the ocean-view track, with perfect conditions expected for what promises to be anything but a day at the beach. Skateboarding: The Exposure women's skateboarding event rolls into Encinitas Community Park on November 1-2, marking 14 years of empowering female and nonbinary skaters across bowl, street and vert disciplines. What started with 32 competitors has since exploded to 230 — a surge buoyed by the sport's 2020 Summer Olympics debut — drawing talent from Japan to South Africa as women's skateboarding continues its global surge. It's part contest, part community mission — proving that progression and purpose make perfect skating partners. Sign up here. Editing by Yasmeen Serhan and Toby Chopra; Illustration by Jeremy Schultz
