Editorials: 15-July-2025

 

The Hindu Editorials

Courting grass: On Wimbledon 2025

Sinner and Alcaraz look set to establish a famed rivalryFeats on grass have a special allure (1). When they come at Wimbledon, the most prestigious grass court on the planet, they acquire a richer tone of lustre (2). Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, who won their maiden titles at the All England Club over the weekend, stand testament (3) to this. Both were past Major champions, with Sinner having won three and Swiatek five trophies. Yet, by their own admission, very few achievements rank alongside their runs on the pristine lawns of southwest London. The wins also come at a critical juncture (4) in their tennis lives as both players served doping-related bans in recent months and had their sporting ethics questioned. For Sinner, the success against two-time defending and five-time Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz snapped a streak of five straight losses to the Spaniard. This sequence contained the most painful of all defeats, at Roland-Garros last month where the Italian lost despite being three championship points up. The victory at SW19 showed the 23-year-old’s remarkable powers of recovery and mental resilience (5). For Swiatek, Wimbledon was her first trophy of any kind since the French Open 2024. The Pole, who had spent a combined 125 weeks as No. 1 — seventh best in history — had slid down the rankings and had lost her aura. But by winning on her least-favoured surface, she has resurrected her career emphatically (6).

Sinner’s and Swiatek’s triumphs will also have wide-ranging effects on their respective Tours. Sinner and Alcaraz have now split the last seven Majors between them, and Wimbledon was the second straight Slam final they were sparring (7) in. In fact, starting from the Rome Masters in early May where Sinner made his comeback from doping suspension, they have clashed in the final in all three competitions they have both been part of, reinforcing the view that theirs is now men’s tennis’ pre-eminent (8) rivalry. They have met 13 times — 10 of them in semifinal or better — and appear to have fully satiated (9) fans’ desire to see a worthy follow-up to the famed Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal duel. Ranked No. 1 and No. 2, they are also head and shoulders above the rest of the field. The gulf is best explained by Sinner’s ATP points-tally of 12,030, which is nearly double that of third-ranked Alexander Zverev. Swiatek, meanwhile, has re-established the triumvirate (10) atop the women’s game. The 24-year-old may be the ninth different Wimbledon winner in as many editions, but she, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff have won 10 of the past 14 Majors. Swiatek’s six Slams make her the leading light among active women, a position she seems primed to hold on to.

​Too close for comfort: On America’s tariff and U.S.-Canada ties

Canada is looking for new friends after the Trump-induced uncertainty.On July 10, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 35% tariff on Canadian imports, despite Ottawa rescinding (1) a 3% digital services tax (DST) that was to go into effect on June 30; Mr. Trump had dubbed this as an ‘attack on American firms’. Canada expected that it would generate about $5 billion from DST on revenues from Canadian-source digital services over five years dating it back to January 1, 2022. The 35% tax was imposed despite ongoing trade talks, which Canada was hoping would result in a trade deal by July 21 — as agreed upon between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mr. Trump on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in mid-June. The new 35% tax, that was conveyed to Mr. Carney through a letter, which Mr. Trump sent to more than 20 U.S. trading partners, is likely to exempt items compliant under the 2018 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Canada and the U.S. are each other’s largest trading partners. In fact, despite Mr. Trump’s constant refrain (2) about the flow of fentanyl, the opioid coming through America’s northern borders (less than 0.1% of what lands in the U.S.), what has rankled (3) the American President is the trade surplus (4) of about $63 billion in Canada’s favour. This on-again-off-again approach to tariffs as a stick against America’s trading partners has forced even steadfast (5) allies such as Canada to scramble to diversify (6). Hours before receiving Mr. Trump’s letter, Mr. Carney posted a picture of himself with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on X, saying, “… the world is turning to reliable economic partners like Canada.”

America’s action against Canada brings to mind a similar episode about a decade ago between close neighbours, India and Nepal. India closed land ports following the enactment (7) of Nepal’s new Constitution citing fears about the treatment of the minority Madhesi community that has had close ties to India. This action crippled (8) Nepal’s land-locked economy that was entirely reliant on Indian ports such as Kolkata and Visakhapatnam for its trade. Acute fuel and medicine shortages followed. Nepal’s GDP collapsed from 3.3% in FY15 to 0.2% in FY16, and Nepalis began harbouring a deep resentment toward India. New Delhi’s move forced Nepal to recalibrate (9) its foreign and economic policy, eventually leading it to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2017 and accepting massive infrastructure funds from Beijing, much to New Delhi’s dismay. This episode, between two vastly different nations, would serve Washington well to realise that mending a trade imbalance must not come at the expense of losing one of its closest allies with deep running cultural and linguistic ties, as Canada, with an economy that is one-eleventh that of the U.S. albeit (10) with a trade surplus, now attempts to redraw its foreign and economic strategies.

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