Sporting type's wife taking break by the French river (8)
I believe the answer is:
wrestler
'sporting type's wife' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'break by the french river' is the wordplay.
'break by' becomes 'wrest' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for river).
'wrest'+'le'+'r'='WRESTLER'
'taking' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wrestler that I've seen before include "Fighter who holds and throws" , "Grappling combatant" , "Athlete who gets to grips with an opponent?" , "As someone lacking punch" , "One fighting in ring" .)