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Trump Gives Russia 50 Days To Reach Ceasefire With Ukraine Or Face Sanctions; China's Second Quarter GDP Better Than Expected; Family Of American Killed In West Bank Calls For Justice; Russia's Lavrov To Attend Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit; Mexico Investigates Crematorium After 380 Plus Bodies Found; Sinner Defeats Rival Alcaraz Top Claim First Wimbledon Title. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[00:00:33]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Good to have you with us. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.

Fifty days for a peace deal. That's Donald Trump's latest deadline for Vladimir Putin. We'll discuss whether the threat of tariffs is enough to stop the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

And speaking of tariffs, China reported slightly better than expected economic growth. We'll go live to Hong Kong with a closer look at how the trade war with the U.S. impacted their economy.

Plus, the family of a Palestinian American killed in the West Bank is demanding justice. We'll have Saif Musallet's story soon.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Lynda Kinkade.

KINKADE: The U.S. president has issued an ultimatum to Russia. Make peace with Ukraine or face secondary sanctions and new tariffs. During a meeting with NATO secretary-general, the president also promised more weapons for Ukraine and a novel plan to get them there with European help. If there's not a peace deal in 50 days, Russia would face 100 percent tariffs and countries buying Russian oil would be subject to sanctions.

President Trump also announced a preliminary plan for NATO members to buy U.S. made weapons for Ukraine. A U.S. diplomat says the focus will be on defensive weapons, like Patriot batteries that can intercept Russian missiles.

Russian attacks on Ukraine have escalated in recent weeks, including this attack in the city of Kharkiv, which damaged a maternity hospital and sent patients fleeing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called President Trump and NATO secretary-general to thank them for their support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are also working on major defense deals with America. Now is not the time to talk about the details publicly, but we can do a lot together for security. Ukraine is absolutely ready to take all honest and effective steps for peace, lasting peace, for real security. It is Russia that is not ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Now CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump seemingly almost doing a 180 on his stance on both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the situation, the war in Ukraine. Today, during his major announcement on Russia now, he announced two big things. The first of them being that he was going to, if Putin, Vladimir Putin did not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine in the next 50 days, he is going to impose a tariff at 100 percent.

Now, this is a secondary tariff, just to be clear here. This is not just on Russia. Russia itself doesn't do enough trade for that to be impactful with the U.S., but instead on intermediary countries. These are countries that do business with both Russia and the United States. And the hope there is that if a country like China, which does business with both, is taxed at 100 percent, that that might be incentive to try and push Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

One of the things we've heard as to why President Trump is taking these steps now is because he's very frustrated. He doesn't believe that negotiating with President Putin has gone the way he said it was going to. Here's just part of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are very unhappy, I am, with Russia. We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. Tariffs that are about 100 percent, you'd call them secondary tariffs. We want to see it end. And I'm disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago. But it doesn't seem to get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now in addition to this, President Trump announced that they were going to be sending weapons to Ukraine, but through NATO countries. And the way that this would work is really President Trump threading the needle here. Remember, one of the things that he ran on was this idea of America first, that he wanted to give less money to Ukraine, give less resources to Ukraine, that he believed that it was a waste, and also that he could end the conflict there.

Now you see him wanting to ramp up those weapons. So the way that they're doing this as the announcement comes, they are, these NATO countries, going to buy the weapons from the United States, then they are going to distribute the weapons to Ukraine. And we're hearing this is going to happen almost immediately. He, President Trump, talking about how some of these countries already had Patriot missile systems, that those systems were going to move over to Ukraine almost immediately.

[00:05:06]

And then the United States would ramp up its production and then take that, send that to the countries as almost a backfill that send their weapons to Ukraine. But again, this is a 180 from where we saw President Trump even six months ago. And I think the most telling part of what we saw there was in the meeting that he had with the secretary general of NATO. He said, essentially, not Trump, but the secretary general said that Trump had made a decision that the Ukrainians needed to defend himself.

So clearly here we are entering a new chapter of this war in Ukraine. President Trump offering support to try and help these Ukrainians defend themselves. A lot of this, again, falls back on what he has -- what we have seen, what we've heard is frustration for how it's been to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: For more, I want to bring in General Wesley Clark. He's a former NATO Supreme Allied commander and the founder of Renew America Together.

Welcome, General.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Thank you. Good to be with you.

KINKADE: So just a few months ago, President Trump was berating President Zelenskyy in the White House, even questioning Ukraine's leadership and accountability. I just want to play some sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World War III, and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country.

ZELENSKYY: I'm with all respect to you.

TRUMP: That's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, today it was a change of tune. Openly condemning Russia, praising Ukrainian bravery and NATO's strength. What explains this shift in tone and this evolving strategy?

CLARK: I think President Trump is demonstrating that he really does want to end the conflict, and he really should. It's in America's vital interest to stabilize Europe and in this conflict and ensure that Vladimir Putin doesn't continue with his aggression. So I think he's finally come to the recognition that he's not going to be able to persuade Mr. Putin to stop unless he changes the balance on the battlefield, or at least threatens to change the balance on the battlefield.

KINKADE: Today, he threatened to give Russia, you know, additional sanctions, secondary sanctions, and tariffs if there isn't a peace deal within 50 days. Russian commentators have dismissed that timeline as a bluff. Is 50 days, which is more than seven weeks, giving Russia too much space to maneuver? Or could it serve as a real diplomatic leverage here?

CLARK: It's not clear why there's 50 days in here to me. Obviously, part of it depends on how long it takes to get the weapons there. Part of it depends on what coordination must be done with allies in terms of the sanctions. But in terms of Mr. Putin's expectations, look, you can't push back hard enough, soon enough, because he's going to continue this war as long as he thinks he can win.

And right now, what he's heard from President Trump is rhetoric. Rhetoric, rhetoric, rhetoric, rhetoric. So this is the first real action that looks like it could be real. And with the selling the weapons to NATO nations and then the weapons going into Ukraine, it could be very, very significant.

Now, it depends on what weapons, how many and how soon. But one thing is clear. It's not just Patriots. If you want to really stop this, you've got to strike Russia and you've got to strike deep. In other words, you have to shoot the archer, not the arrows coming in.

KINKADE: Yes. I want to ask you more about those weapons systems, especially the Patriot missile systems, which Donald Trump has promised yet some of these systems previously stationed in Poland remain undelivered after the Defense secretary initially suspended the transfer without presidential approval. The Pentagon said, you know, later today that they are still sorting out the details.

Who's responsible for that delay and what impact does that have on the front lines?

CLARK: Well, it may have impact. We don't know whether those weapons have been pushed forward already or not. If they've already been pushed forward, maybe there was no impact. Maybe there was a temporary dip in stockpiles. So we don't know that. But we do know that the U.S. expended a lot of ordnance defending against that, those missile strikes coming against our base in Qatar.

How many is unknown, at least it's not known at the unclassified level. But we shot a lot of Patriots and probably a lot of other things as well going after drones and so forth.

[00:10:04]

So there was there was legitimate concern in the Pentagon about it. But it's a matter of national priorities. And this is in America's vital interest to stop Mr. Putin, ideally to roll him back, to get those abducted children back, to get reparations, to get war crimes punished, et cetera. And I hope we'll strike a very tough -- very tough position in negotiating this ceasefire.

KINKADE: Seems like we're starting to move in the right direction.

General Wesley Clark, great to have you with us as always. Thanks very much.

CLARK: Thank you so much.

KINKADE: Well, China has reported slightly better than expected economic growth despite its ongoing trade war with the U.S. The second quarter GDP coming in at 5.2 percent.

Well, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is following the story and joins us live from Hong Kong.

Good to see you, Kristie. So China's latest GDP numbers, certainly stronger than expected. But I'm wondering to what extent is this growth being driven by government subsidies. Can you kind of break this down for us?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Lynda. And strong exports are indeed playing a role here. But let's break down the numbers. We got fresh new Chinese economic data out, and it does show resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs. Around 10:00 a.m. local time. That's when we heard the new number out. Second quarter GDP growth at 5.2 percent year on year. That is lower than the previous quarter growth of 5.4 percent. But it's still above the 5 percent annual growth target for GDP for the year for China.

And analysts say this. They say, look, the U.S. trade war, the tariffs from Donald Trump, they have been a dampener on sentiment in China but not the massive shock that many people had feared. Still, China is facing quite a number of systemic economic challenges.

I want to share with you some really strong insight from Nick Morrow of "The Economist" Intelligence Unit. And he says this to CNN. He says, quote, "We'll need to untangle the difference between what the headline figure says and what companies and households are seeing on the ground. For many, this doesn't feel like an economy growing at around 5 percent."

That's a really important point that he's making here, that there's a concern of a mismatch between the official number that's being reported and the actual sentiment on the ground among consumers and corporates across China because the reality is China is facing a number of persistent economic headwinds.

Let's bring up the list for you. They include low consumer confidence, low consumer spending. They also include high youth unemployment, as well as the ongoing property slump. Now we also reached out to Larry Hu, an economist at the Macquarie Group, and he draws a direct line between low consumer spending and this ongoing property slump that's been happening in China. And he tells CNN this, let's bring it up for you, "Falling home prices

have led to a negative wealth effect on consumption, as housing accounts for 60 percent to 70 percent of household wealth." He goes on to say, "Consumption will not recover until housing recovers."

Now, in contrast, China's export machine that is still humming along really nicely and powering forward. In fact, on Monday afternoon, that's when we got the latest trade data, export data from China. China posting 5.8 percent export growth in June. That's year-on-year, and a factor behind that is because of the export rush. A number of companies and businesses working really hard to be able to get their goods out of China as fast as possible as this fragile trade truce holds between China and the United States.

But, Lynda, we know that the clock is ticking because the current pause on higher U.S. tariffs on China is going to run out soon. In fact, that deadline is going to be August 12th, and that is less than one month away.

Back to you, Lynda.

KINKADE: Yes. August 12th, we will see if they negotiate a deal before that deadline.

Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, thanks so much.

Well, still ahead, CNN speaks with the father of a Palestinian American man who was killed in clashes in the West Bank. We'll show you what they witnessed firsthand.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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KINKADE: The family of a Palestinian American killed in the West Bank is demanding justice. 20-year-old Saif Musallet was born and raised in Florida. Witnesses report that he was attacked by Israeli settlers wielding sticks and clubs. His relatives said in a statement he was, quote, "brutally beaten to death" while protecting his family's land.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond spoke with Saif's family, who are demanding that the U.S. investigate their son's death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the back of an ambulance, Saif Musallet's aunt says one final goodbye. She is far from alone. Hundreds in this West Bank town have come to honor the American son who was deeply rooted in his Palestinian community.

Saif was killed on Friday, just two weeks before his 21st birthday, beaten to death by Israeli settlers, according to his family. Those settlers also shot and killed another Palestinian man in the same attack, according to eyewitnesses. It is a senseless yet all too common outcome in the West Bank.

Today, it is an American citizen being put to rest here.

[00:20:02]

But over the course of the last 20 months of this war, nearly a thousand Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the United Nations. But today, Saif Musallet's family is demanding an American investigation into his death.

KAMEL MUSALLET, SON KILLED: We want -- we want justice.

DIAMOND (voice-over): His father, Kamel, was home in Florida, where he runs an ice cream shop with his son when he got the call that Saif had been attacked by settlers.

MUSALLET: You never think that it's your son or anything like that, that -- who is this happening to, and then I got word that it was my son. He was hit. He was beaten. He lost consciousness. But nobody could get to him. Ambulance couldn't come in. Why? Because the IDF restricted that, the IDF blocked that.

DIAMOND: So you hold the Israeli military responsible?

MUSALLET: I hold the Israeli military just as responsible as the settlers and the American government for not doing anything about this.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The State Department said it is aware of Saif's death, but declined to comment further on calls for an investigation. Israeli authorities say they are investigating, but have not made any arrests.

For two months now, Palestinians here say Israeli settlers have been encroaching on their land and terrorizing Palestinians who try and access it.

This was the scene on Friday as Saif and other Palestinians tried to reach their farmland. Hafez Abdel Jabbar said he saw settlers chase after a man he would later learn was Saif.

HAFEZ ABDEL JABBAR, SON KILLED IN 2024: They ran up the hill, they caught him. They started beating him with sticks.

DIAMOND: By the time he reached Saif's body, he was already dead. As we head to the location where Saif's body was retrieved, a white vehicle suddenly appears behind us.

We have a group of settlers who are now following us in their vehicle. They've put their masks on as well, which is a concerning indication.

(Voice-over): At an intersection, the settlers get out and try to pelt our vehicle, but we manage to approach a nearby Israeli border police vehicle, and the settlers turn around. But minutes after the border police head out to search for the settlers, we are ambushed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. DIAMOND: Everyone OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.

DIAMOND: Go, go, go. Drive, drive, drive. Keep driving.

(Voice-over): The masked men smash the rear windshield of our car. But we managed to speed off unharmed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no, they went --

DIAMOND: They turned, they turned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They turned, they turned, they turned.

DIAMOND (voice-over): It is just a small window into the reality here.

ABDEL JABBAR: What if it took us five more seconds, we all would have been beaten with the sticks.

DIAMOND: You think they would have beaten us?

ABDEL JABBAR: Yes, sir.

DIAMOND: But your son was also killed.

ABDEL JABBAR: In January 2024 by a settler simply just being there barbecuing.

DIAMOND: What does that feel like to have to constantly try and tell the world what's happening?

ABDEL JABBAR: You scream into the whole world, and the whole world is watching, simply silent, seeing all these mothers put their sons that they worked so hard to raise them up for 20 years. And you pick them up and you put them in the ground under the sky, and the silence go on and on and on.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Sinjil, the occupied West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: And still to come, China will soon host foreign ministers from several countries, including Russia and Iran, as they face new pushback from President Trump. We'll have a live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:28:18]

KINKADE: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

U.S. President Trump says he's giving Russia 50 days to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or he'll impose 100 percent tariffs on Moscow. Buyers of Russian oil could be slapped with secondary sanctions. Mr. Trump also said NATO countries will buy U.S. made weapons, then transfer them to Ukraine.

Less than a month before the deadline for new U.S. tariffs, China is reporting slightly stronger than expected economic growth. Its GDP expanded 5.2 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year ago.

The U.S. National Park Service is under scrutiny after a wildfire raging along the Grand Canyon's North Rim leveled a historic lodge. The governor of Arizona is calling for a federal investigation into why the park service allowed the fire to burn for days, instead of aggressively fighting it after it broke out on the Fourth of July.

Russia's top diplomat is getting ready to meet members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in northeast China, the latest stop on his diplomatic swing throughout East Asia. Sergey Lavrov will be meeting with his counterparts from not just China, but also Iran and India hours after President Trump's latest tariff threat.

Well, CNN's Simone McCarthy is following this from Hong Kong and joins us now live.

Good to have you with us, Simone. So President Trump has announced that if there's no peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in the next 50 days, his administration will impose secondary sanctions on countries that continue to purchase Russian oil. And of course, we know that since the E.U. banned Russian oil back in December of 2022, China has accounted for almost 50 percent of Russia's crude exports.

So what's the response there to this new threat?

[00:30:12]

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR NEWS DESK REPORTER, CHINA: Well, Lynda, we've yet to see an official response from Beijing on this. I think they're likely to lean into their classic language that they oppose unilateral sanctions?

But we have already seen a significant show of the close relationship between Russia and China. TASS and the Russian Foreign Ministry just noted a couple of minutes before we went to air here that they have met -- that Xi -- the Chinese leader Xi Jinping has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

And so that's a -- that's a very strong showing of the close relationship, the enduring partnership between these two countries.

Xi Jinping sees Vladimir Putin as a very important partner. And if we look, as you very -- as you very rightly pointed out, the Chinese purchases of Russian oil, well, we saw those hit a record in terms of imports in 2023. We saw that record topped again in 2024 in terms of volume.

And so this has been seen as a way that China has lent economic support to Russia in its time of need. But at the same time, it's important to point out that China's big corporations have also been careful of tripping up sanctions. These are major companies. They don't want to come under the fire of the United States. And so, I think Beijing will navigate this very carefully if this threat does indeed come to pass.

KINKADE: So, is China and their allies likely to endorse a coordinated stance on resisting sanctions or strengthening energy partnerships?

MCCARTHY: Well, it's really interesting that this is all playing out right when this Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting is taking place because it's not just China that's been a significant purchaser of Russian crude.

That's also India. And India has also significantly ramped up its purchases because these are discounted prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And so, I think that these countries are unlikely to necessarily directly grab the bull by the horns here and make a very direct statement about this.

I think we will again see them relying on some of their more typical language in terms of opposing unilateral sanctions and things of that ilk.

But at the same time, I think we can be very sure that both in Beijing and in Tianjin, where today's meeting is taking place, that these are going to be discussions that are playing out behind closed doors.

KINKADE: All right. Simone McCarthy in Hong Kong. Thanks to you.

Well, Bitcoin hit two new records on Monday. The cryptocurrency is value-topped $120,000 for the first time. It later rose even further touching $123,000 before falling again at the close of trading.

The latest surge comes as U.S. lawmakers debate a series of bills that would regulate the crypto industry. One of them is the Genius Act, which regulates stablecoins, a type of crypto asset that is tied to the value of another currency, such as the U.S. dollar or gold.

U.S. President Trump has long urged policymakers to revamp crypto rules in favor of the industry.

And take a quick break. We'll be back with much more "CNN Newsroom" in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:35:51]

KINKADE: All right. Welcome back.

Mexican authorities are investigating a crematorium in Ciudad Juarez, where they say hundreds of bodies were stored for months or even years after people had died.

Now, the grieving families, shocked and outraged. As CNN's Valeria Leon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They thought they had their loved one's ashes. But after evidence surfaced that the Plenitud Crematorium in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, had been handing out fake remains, hundreds lined up for hours outside the prosecutor's office, demanding to know what was really inside their urns.

NORMA GUARDADO, LOOKING FOR HER MOTHER MARIA NIEVES' REMAINS (through translator): We need the authorities to help us find out what's going on, so we can be sure we have the right person in our urn.

LEON (voice-over): The scandal broke after a citizen complained about smells coming from a field owned by the crematorium. There, the police found at least 383 bodies piled up.

Javier Ramirez thinks her father may be along them.

JAVIER RAMIREZ, AFFECTED BY THE PLENITUD CREMATORIUM SCANDAL (voice- over): My father passed away two months ago. His body was at this funeral home, Latino Americana.

LEON (voice-over): Six funeral homes hired Plenitud Crematorium despite the latter having no electricity and a cremation oven that hasn't worked in over three years, according to investigators.

OMAR GARCIA HARFUCH, MEXICAN SECRETARY OF SECURITY AND CITIZEN PROTECTION (voice-over): It's known that sometimes they handed out ashes that didn't even belong to the families. And many times, they weren't even human remains, but animal remains.

LEON (voice-over): Police arrested the crematorium's owner and his employee. And they are investigating crimes related to illegal management of bodies and fraud.

But for the representative of Juarez Funeral Homes, these arrests aren't enough to ease the family's pain.

MARCELO RUIZ, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CIUDAD JUAREZ FUNERAL HOMES UNION (through translator): There's no way to fix this in a way that will ease the family's pain. This has become a double tragedy.

LEON (voice-over): So far, the prosecutor's office has identified six of the bodies found on June 26th as nail space for the hundreds of families waiting to give their loved ones a proper burial.

[00:40:09]

Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well thanks so much for watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Lynda Kinkade.

I'll be back with much more news at the top of the hour. Right now, "World Sport" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT WITH DON RIDDELL)

[00:45:23]

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hello there and welcome to CNN WORLD SPORT. I'm Don Riddell in Atlanta.

There is no question that we have a compelling new rivalry in men's tennis. And Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are heading shoulders above everybody else in the game right now.

On Sunday in London, the Italian world number one, Sinner, won his first Wimbledon title, beating the two-time defending champion Alcaraz in four sets.

Alcaraz arrived on center court in the form of his life. He'd beaten Sinner in the French Open final last month, and he was riding a career-best 24-match winning streak. Sinner was in unfamiliar territory, a first Wimbledon, a final appearance for him, but he started well with an early break, only for Alcaraz to break him twice to win the opening set.

As we've come to expect from these two, the standard of tennis was exceptionally high, but Sinner brought his A game. He was more focused and hungrier, fighting back to win the next three sets to become the first ever Italian singles champion at Wimbledon. It is a fourth grand slam title for Sinner and he now holds three of the four majors at the same time.

Afterwards, he explained that this was a harder win emotionally than it was physically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANNIK SINNER, TENNIS PLAYER: Yes. I would say emotionally -- emotionally, because I had a very tough loss in -- in Paris. So it's -- but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how -- how you win or you lose the -- especially important tournaments. You just have to understand what you did wrong, trying to work on that. That's exactly what we did. We tried to accept the loss and then just kept working. And -- and this is, for sure, one of the reasons why I hold this trophy here.

And -- and we were talking actually before the match. We would never have thought to -- to be in this position.

Back in the days when I was young, this was only -- only a dream, a dream of the dream because it was so far away where I'm from. So it's all -- I'm just living my -- my dream. So, it's amazing and --

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RIDDELL: After the final on Sunday, I caught up with the tennis writer and author Christopher Clarey. He watched the match on Center Court and he agreed that nobody else can hold a candle to these two great warriors at the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER CLAREY, FORMER "NEW YORK TIMES" TENNIS WRITER: Yes, Don, you're absolutely right. I think these -- these two players are head and shoulders above. And I think this was actually a great outcome for their rivalry. It already was a great rivalry, but it just got better, because I think if Alcaraz would have beaten Sinner again in a major final, it would have given him six majors to Sinner's three, would have been the sixth victory in a row for Alcaraz against Sinner.

So, as Sinner's coach Darren Cahill said afterward, this was very, very important for Jannik on many levels, aside from, of course, being the first Italian ever to win this great championship.

So, and I think Jannik really rose to the occasion today. There were times when Carlos was a little bit subdued, but Jannik was able, unlike in Paris, to play the biggest points with great courage, I would say, great conviction. He really went for it, especially when he closed out the second set, which was so critical after losing the first. And the way he closed out the match as well on his serve.

It was just a little bit different than he -- the attitude that he had in Paris when he lost those three match points and lost the edge. And now this rivalry, who knows where it goes from here? It could be quite a while of these two reigning.

RIDDELL: I mean, you know, tennis fans have lamented the end of the big three era because for so long, we had Federer and Nadal and Djokovic, who's still playing utterly dominating for the best part of two decades. And now that era is over.

Can anybody believe how quickly two other guys have stepped into the void? And because -- it's it's like we haven't missed a beat. The brilliance continues.

CLAREY: It is exceptional. And I think part of the reason why is because Nadal and Djokovic -- Djokovic is still on tour. Nadal just left. Federer was around for a while. So these -- these guys, Alcaraz and Sinner who had big-time talent were able to really kind of rub up against these greats, see how they operated. Talk to them.

Djokovic, I know, was spoken a lot with Sinner in particular. Nadal has spoken a lot with Alcaraz. They understand what it takes to endure. They understand what it takes to be excellent, slam to slam in a week to week. And I think that has been a real opportunity for the -- for these two guys and also for the game in general.

And that's why it seems seamless. But I guarantee you, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. And, of course, Sinner was -- was suspended for three months for doping violation earlier this season. So it's been anything but smooth for him.

RIDDELL: The risk of raining on Jannik Sinner's parade, he is arguably lucky to be in this position today. He was very close to being knocked out earlier in the tournament. Grigor Dimitrov had him on the ropes, but then Dimitrov tragically had to retire hurt.

[00:50:03]

Does that matter now? Does that take anything away from what Jannik Sinner has just achieved?

CLAREY: It's been a long process, Don, on -- on the adjudication of the doping violation. I think there was a lot of back and forth on it. The ruling came down. I think we have to sort of accept what was done by the sporting bodies.

And as far as Dimitrov, he was up two sets playing incredible tennis on Sinner and then he -- he tore a pectoral muscle and had to withdraw from the match.

I don't know if he would have won the match against Jannik or not. Jannik certainly could have come back on him and -- and won in five sets, but it was a definite reprieve and it felt like Jannik in a way got a second chance at Wimbledon and he made the most of it.

RIDDELL: Oh, for sure. So after the disappointment of the French Open final, we wondered how Sinner would respond. We have our answer now.

Going into the U.S. Open coming up later this summer, how do you think Alcaraz will respond to this experience?

CLAREY: I think Alcaraz has to realize that if he wants to have a chance to stay on top of the game with Sinner, he's going to have to keep improving. Have to improve his returns. Have to maybe improve his shot selection.

He does so many things so well. He's got this amazing X factor of surprise when he plays. You don't know how he's going to play these big points sometimes and that's part of his -- his strength, but I think he's going to need to probably batten down the hatches a bit.

And I think Sinner, on hard courts, has been all but unbeatable in recent times. Obviously won the U.S. Open and Australia open back to back on hard courts. So he will be the favorite unless there's a huge surprise or an injury going into the U.S. Open. And I think Carlos, for all his brilliance, has his work cut out for him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIDDELL: Can't wait for the next installment of their rivalry. Great insight there from Christopher Clarey.

All right. Still to come on CNN WORLD SPORT. We'll show you how Chelsea secured world domination culminating in a trophy presentation like never before.

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RIDDELL: The Chelsea football club is on top of the world right now, literally. The Blues are returning to London with the Club World Cup trophy after a sensational win against the European champions Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday's final.

Our Patrick Snell was at the game at MetLife Stadium just outside New York.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Chelsea are Club World Cup champions again. The Blues adding to their 2021 triumph by delivering an absolutely sensational performance to well and truly shock the reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain and all before the watching Donald Trump.

The U.S. president arrived in his box ahead of kickoff, joined by first lady Melania Trump and the FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Chelsea were superb from the word go. Cole Palmer with a brilliant composed strike an ice-cool finish in the blistering New Jersey heat.

[00:55:10]

Minutes later it was two, Palmer, with breathtaking skill which left PSG's defenders bamboozled, same player, same finish, same celebration.

PSG, by now, were completely outclassed and Chelsea were through and a lot before the break. A wonderful chip finish from Brazilian star, Joao Pedro after he was played in by Palmer. The big money signing from Brighton with his third goal in three matches.

And then came an historic first ever half-time show at a FIFA tournament with Doja Cat among the headline performers before an unexpected twist as Cole plays Chris Martin appeared on stage as an unannounced half-time performer.

The second half saw tensions rise as PSG's Joao Neves saw red after yanking Chelsea's Marc Cucurella by the hair.

Then after the full-time whistle, a confrontation between Chelsea's Joao Pedro and PSG players plus their manager, Luis Enrique, Joao Pedro falling to the ground in the process.

This was Chelsea's day though, three-nil the final score, a moment they were determined to savor with their ecstatic fans.

Then came the trophy lift. Chelsea, the first ever winners of the newly revamped tournament. Trump, who'd been booed by some as he walked out, appeared on the podium along with Infantino to hand the trophy to Chelsea's skipper, Reece James, while Infantino carried on walking.

Trump though stayed put to sample first-hand the Chelsea celebrations.

(CHEERING)

COLE PALMER, SCORED TWICE IN 3-0 WIN: I knew it was going to be, but I didn't know it was going to be on the -- on the stand where we left the trophy, so I was --I was a bit confused here.

Well, whatever was going on there, there is no doubt that the Chelsea head coach, Enzo Maresca, has delivered an absolute master class. He'd already guaranteed the Blues Champions League footing for next season. His team also won the UEFA Conference League, and now they are officially the best club side in the world.

Patrick Snell CNN, East Rutherford, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIDDELL: Thank you, Patrick. We have got just enough time on the show today to bring you a highlight so good it wouldn't look that out of place in a video game.

In Major League Baseball on Sunday, an incredible play from the Reds' catcher, Tyler Stephenson.

Now, catchers aren't known for being the fastest guys around the bases, nor for their cat-like agility, so Stephenson defied some stereotypes here. He would have been tagged out there against the Rockies, but he went all matrix-y to evade the second baseman. That is poetry in motion. What a play.

And that's all we've got time for on "World Sport" today. Thanks to your company. Take care. And hopefully I'll see you again soon.

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