Sport pill recycled, almost lapsed (6,5)

'pill recycled almost lapsed' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'sport' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'sport' could be 'tennis' (tennis is a sport) and 'tennis' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'table' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?