Eala intends to stay out of the spotlight for a bit after her amazing season ends

Australian McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, a competitor in the Formula 1 World Championship, and his compatriot Mark Webber and his wife Anne announced today (Monday) the termination of their management agreement.

Mark Webber, winner of nine Grand Prix races, began working with Piastri in 2019, and played a fundamental role in the young driver joining McLaren in 2023 to replace his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo, instead of continuing with Alpine.

The Alpine team, owned by Renault, wanted to promote Piastri to occupy a starting seat in the races after two-time world champion Fernando Alonso announced his departure to Aston Martin, but the Australian driver rejected this offer.

Webber said in a statement: “We are proud that we played a pivotal role in the formative years of Oscar’s career, and that we helped him participate in (Formula 1), which allowed him to compete in the front positions at a very early stage in his career.”

He added: “After reducing our presence at racetracks this season, we all agreed that this is the appropriate time to terminate the management agreement between us.”

He continued: “This will allow Oscar to build on his achievements under a new management structure, and will also allow us to move forward with our new projects.”

For his part, Piastri, who won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles respectively in 2020 and 2021, expressed his gratitude to them for their support, stressing that their guidance was invaluable.

The Australian driver did not achieve any race wins this season after he was close to competing for the title last year before his teammate Lando Norris overtook him to end the season in third place. Piastri finished sixth in the Brazilian race yesterday.

Piastri, who has previously won nine major races, has not been on the podium in 16 races. He ranks seventh in the overall standings this season.

Alex Ayala said that she is looking forward to staying away from the limelight for a short period, after her wonderful career ended yesterday (Sunday) with a 6-3, 6-0 loss to American Claire Liu, in the final of the Hong Kong Open tennis tournament.

Ayala (21 years old), who earlier this season became the highest-ranked Filipino and player from Southeast Asia in the history of the Women's Professional Tennis Association, has been very popular among the fans this year, and her performance in Hong Kong will raise her ranking to fifteenth place in the world, which is the highest in her career.

Eala won her first WTA Tour title at the Washington Open in August, and achieved 7 victories over players among the top 10 throughout the year. She also won a bronze medal at the Asian Games last month.

She told reporters after the Hong Kong final: “It never occurred to me that I might achieve what I achieved, to finish the year in fifteenth place.” She added: “Dreams remain dreams until they become reality.”

When asked about her goals for 2027, Ayala said she did not spend much time thinking about next season. She explained: “I was enjoying what I achieved this year; Especially since the schedule was crowded with one tournament after another.” She added: “I will spend some time with my family, stay away from the spotlight, and disappear for a short period.” “Yes, these are my plans,” she confirmed. "I'll just disappear."

Kazakhstan's Yelena Rybakina ensured that she finished the current season at the top of the World Women's Tennis Professionals Association (WTA) rankings with 8,099 points, as she is 1,614 points ahead of Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who is in second place with 6,485 points, during the latest version of the rankings released today, Monday.

Rybakina achieved 54 victories against 14 defeats during the year 2026, and won 4 titles this season, in the Australian Open, US Open, Stuttgart and Ningbo tournaments.

Rybakina faced several physical problems during the recent period, which led her to withdraw from the season-ending tournament of the World Women's Tennis Association, which is currently being held in Indian Wells. Thus, she missed the last competition of the season, and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, ranked tenth in the world, took her place.

Russian Mira Andreeva came in third place with 6,306 points, followed by American Coco Gauff in fourth place with 5,763 points, only 3 points ahead of her compatriot Jessica Pegula, who ranked fifth with 5,760 points.

Ukrainian Yelena Svitolina came in sixth place with 5,121 points, followed by Czech Karolina Muchova in seventh place with 4,665 points, then her compatriot Linda Noskova in eighth place with 4,343 points.

Poland's Iga Szvyontek came in ninth place, with 4,188 points, while Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk ranked tenth, with 3,910 points.