Coco writes a new story to end her year -- beating the bad season allegations, as she said -- by taking out Swiatek, Sabalenka, and finally Zheng Qinwen to win the WTA Finals. (Barbie K tried to shake the table, as usual.) In Turin, Jannik Sinner showed that anything you can do, he can do better. He won his first year-end title and notched a 70-win season, the first since 2016. After that, we talk about the retirement of legendary umpire Carlos Bernardes, Frances Tiafoe’s big fine, Jon Wertheim’s hot mic incident, and more.

0:30 Housekeeping: a transition to BlueSky?

6:40 Coco beats the bad season allegations!

19:55 Barbora Krejcikova will f*** it up if you invite her (respectfully)

24:45 ATP Finals: starting with the group photo

29:55 Nice job, Taylor! But Sinner does it better

41:35 #NameTheTennisPlayer is back!

45:15 Umpire Carlos Bernardes retires from tennis

48:00 Wertheim’s hot mic moment

53:15 Tiafoe fined $120,000 for tirade

The top women descend upon Riyadh, the photoshoot is a smash, and #1 Sabalenka sails into the semis. There are still questions around this business decision, and players have varying success in answering them. Paris, as always, suffers from late-season malaise, and the ATP Finals qualifiers start to firm up (almost), but we wonder about the value of grinding it out this late in the season. Plus, lot of et ceteras, including: Dev Patel is the next Zendaya(!), and off-court coaching is no longer a trial but still a tribulation (heh).

0:30 And another thing about Sinner

2:55 Some meta-commentary on the show and getting older and less stan-oriented

8:15 The WTA Finals looks: great job everybody!

16:10 Players answer inevitable questions on Saudi Arabia, some better than others

26:35 If a tree falls in Paris

38:10 ATP Finals qualifications: not many scenarios are left

44:55 WTA results: Shnaider wins #4 of the year and Somnez enters the top 100

47:05 Sloane on protecting your peace

52:20 Et ceteras: Diego Forlan to play pro tennis, the incomparable Dev Patel to make a tennis movie

57:20 Off-court coaching is now the law

These October episodes are always all over the place. The tours are sputtering toward a finish as players are vying for the final spots in the year-end tournaments or securing their ranking for next season. We talk about the Six Kings Slam, its strange and corny happenings, and the Saudi efforts to diversify their economy with sports and entertainment. We go through some recent results -- Dasha back in the top 10! -- plus we discuss the Hall of Fame vote that inducted Sharapova, peruse the slightly confusing WTA ranking rules, and honor Dominic Thiem’s great career.

1:00 Does Saudi Arabia even need to sportswash at this point?

12:20 Results: Stan isn't going, Dasha back at #9, second titles for Draper and Mpetshi

18:35 What’s left this season, and who’s in the running for an ATP Finals spot?

25:15 Danielle Collins is in fact not retiring this year

31:20 Sharapova inducted into the Hall of Fame: a test for voters

42:45 Dominic Thiem retires

48:10 Aryna back at #1: arguments over ranking math