Sparse domination of Calder\'on--Zygmund operators by mean oscillations

In this note, we show that if $T$ is a Calder\'on--Zygmund operator satisfying $T(1)=0$, then the usual sparse domination for $T$ can be sharpened by replacing local averages by local mean oscillations. As an application, we characterize the Calder\'on--Zygmund operators for which a pointwise Sobolev-type inequality holds: this is the case if and only if $T(1)\in L^\infty$. This answers a recent question of Hoang, Moen and P\'erez.