Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Novak Djokovic says he's not yet decided whether he will compete at January's Australian Open after organisers confirmed that all players must be vaccinated against COVID-19 if they want to compete at the season's opening Grand Slam event.

"We'll see. We'll have to wait and see," world number one Djokovic said after his semi-final defeat by Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals in Turin.

Djokovic, who has declined to say publicly if he has been vaccinated, is currently tied with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal with 20 Grand Slam titles.

The Australian Open, which he has won nine times, is seen as a golden opportunity for him to take the lead over his rivals.

Nadal confirmed he would play at Melbourne Park in January but Federer, who like the Spaniard is also fully vaccinated, will miss the tournament as he recovers from another knee surgery.

Australia Open chief Craig Tiley's announcement brought to a conclusion months of negotiations between Tennis Australia and the Victoria state government, which had insisted throughout that everybody at Melbourne Park would need to be vaccinated.

Zverev said players need to respect that decision.

"We are visiting another country. This is not about tennis," he said after defeating Djokovic to advance to Sunday's ATP Finals championship match.

"This is about the virus that is going on. We need to follow the rules and follow the guidelines. I hope he's able to play."

-Reuters

Ko drops shots in third round

Lydia Ko has fallen out of contention for the title at the season-ending LPGA tournament in Florida.

Ko's even par 72 in the third round resulted in her dropping to a tie for 26th in the $7 million Tour Championship.

Ko is seven under for the tournament, seven shots behind the leaders Nasa Hataoka of Japan, Jin Young Ko of South Korea and Nelly Korda of the United States.

Another big loss for Black Ferns

The Black Ferns have ended their northern tour without a win.

For a second week in a row France were too good for New Zealand, winning 29-7 in Castres.

This was the Black Ferns' fourth straight defeat of a testing tour and their fourth in succession to the French who, despite a world ranking of No 4, have firmed as one of the favourites for next year's Women's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

The Black Ferns battled to stay in the game but were on the back foot early when France scored the first of their four tries four minutes in and were ahead 14-0 after 11 minutes.

The home side were ahead 21-7 at halftime.

The Black Ferns' defence and breakdown work had improved from previous weeks, but concerns remain around their kicking game and lineout play.

Hamilton on pole in Qatar

Lewis Hamilton set a blistering pace to take pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix by nearly half a second.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, 14 points ahead of Hamilton in the title race, was 0.455 seconds behind in second.

Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas was third, 0.196secs behind Verstappen with Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly fourth ahead of Alpine's Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez was only 11th, putting Red Bull at a strategic disadvantage for the race.

With Bottas up with Hamilton at the front, Mercedes can try to pincer Verstappen on race strategy in a race, by forcing him to stop at a time that is not optimal. It is hard to cover two cars on strategy when a team only has one.

-BBC

Wood scores 50th goal

All Whites captain Chris Wood has scored his 50th goal in the Premier League, helping Burnley to a three-all draw against Crystal Palace.

Wood's goal came in the 27th minute, but the result hasn't done much to help his side, which remains in the bottom three, on nine points.

Burnley's won just one of 12 games this season.

In other results, Chelsea beat Leicester 3-0, Aston Villa beat Brighton 2-0, Newcastle and Brentford drew 3-all, Norwich beat Southamption 2-1, Watford beat Manchester United 4-1 and Wolves beat West Ham 1-0.

England secure last-gasp win over South Africa

England's Marcus Smith landed a last-minute penalty to snatch an epic 27-26 win over South Africa on Saturday as the hosts looked full of promise but were hauled back by the battling Springboks in the teams' first meeting since the 2019 World Cup final.

England fashioned excellent early tries for Manu Tuilagi and Freddie Steward but four penalties for Handre Pollard kept South Africa within five points at the break.

The Springboks then took command, cashing in on a series of England penalties to kick their way into the lead.

A try for Raffie Quirke on a rare second-half England attack briefly restored the home lead but Makazole Mapimpi crossed for the visitors and Fran Steyne edged them ahead.

England mustered one more attack and earned a penalty on the 22 that Smith smashed over to make it three wins out of three in November.

- Reuters

Italy break two-year losing streak

Italy earned their first win for more than two years by beating Uruguay 17-10 in Parma, as Pierre Bruno and Epalahame Faiva both scored tries on their debuts.

The Azzurri's last victory came against Canada at the Rugby World Cup in September 2019, and the win over the Uruguayans ended a 16-match losing run since then.

New Italy head coach Kieran Crowley suffered defeat in his opening two games against New Zealand and Argentina, but his side held the lead from the 12th minute onwards in Parma after winger Bruno skipped inside two defenders to dot down.

A Federico Favaro penalty kept Uruguay in touch, but scrumhalf Tomas Inciarte was shown a yellow card in the 32nd minute and Paolo Garbisi's boot soon added another three points to give the hosts a 10-3 halftime lead.

Replacement hooker Faiva charged over the line two minutes after coming off the bench to mark his debut in style, but Uruguay reduced the deficit when Santiago Civetta burrowed over the line on the hour mark.

The two sides will meet again at the Rugby World Cup in 2023, where they share a pool with the All Blacks, France and an African qualifier.

Hamilton takes pole in Qatar

Seven times Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes on pole position for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix.

Red Bull's championship leader Max Verstappen, 14 points clear of his British rival with three races remaining, will start alongside but qualified nearly half a second slower.

Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas was third.

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly was fourth despite losing his front wing and suffering a puncture, shedding debris and bringing out the yellow flags on his final lap.

"That last lap was beautiful, it was a really sweet lap," said Hamilton.

The defending champion was first out of the pits for the final flying effort and set an eye-opening time of one minute 20.827 seconds for his 102nd career pole.

- Reuters