Essay

Wimbledon is a bit like Disneyland – it is a world of make-believe.

Everything about it is far from reality, but once you are taken by the trance, there is no coming back. The magic that the only major still played on green lawns casts – with its white dresses for ‘gentlemen and ladies’, the strawberries and cream, the royalty, the Dukes and Duchesses,  the formal attire of the audience, the ball boys and girls in their greens (now blues), the ‘quiet please, thank you’ takes you into a world of its own. Like Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, you know it is not quite real, but like in Disneyland, you still best enjoy it when you drown yourself in the shows and the parades that transport you into a different world of its own. It is difficult to pin-point what exactly it is about Wimbledon, but it has been doing this to tennis players and fans across the world for over a hundred years now.

And if anything completes this fairy tale of modern times better in today’s era, it is the sublime grace and majesty of Roger Federer in full flow. Like many tennis fans across the world, I witnessed a bit of that magic over the past couple of games at Wimbledon. More so in the semifinal against Djokovic, but partially also in the finals against Murray, Federer gave us glimpses of the sheer genius and astonishing brilliance that he was worshipped for, and which, even at the age of 30, he is still capable of.

In all honesty, till the end of the second set in the finals, we were searching for that flash of genius from Federer. His game till that point reminded me a bit of the knock in the 2011 Cricket World Cup semifinals that Sachin Tendulkar played against Pakistan – an old maestro who knew the importance of the occasion and wanted to give his best, but, in the face of an inspired opponent, was just about surviving and seeing things through – almost lucky to still be in the game. I don’t know what it is about our sporting idols that we expect, that even a slight drop in their invincibility makes us disappointed. But for most of the semifinal and, perhaps, from the end of the second set in the finals, Federer was operating in ‘the zone’, coming up with shots and serves, almost at will and at the right time, that left the audience spellbound and brought back memories of the glorious genius of Federer that we had experienced in the past.

With 16 grand slams in his kitty even before the one he added at Wimbledon this year, Federer was already assured of a place among the all time greats to have played the game. But now, the arguments and discussions about whether he is, indeed, the greatest will probably start all over again. Even when he was at the peak of his game a few years back, there used to be a story of an American and an Australian fan arguing whether Pete Sampras or Rod Laver were the greatest of all time. And how a Swiss gentleman barged into their argument, and said that the greatest is still playing the game and his name is Roger. At that time it was still a prediction, but by the time Federer is done, it is possible that there will be no more discussions – it may well be a foregone conclusion. Who knows what else is in store?

And a few years from now, tennis folklore will have stories of his magic. And those stories will start like this: Once upon a time in Wimbledon, there lived a king called Roger!

Greek mythology is full of kings and heroes who get condemned by the Gods to punishments that are cruel and terrible.

Some of these are fallen heroes like the defeated titan, Atlas, who was condemned to hold the burden of the world on his shoulders. Or his brother, Prometheus, who stole fire for human use, and for whom the king of the Olympian Gods, Zeus, had a rather cruel punishment. Prometheus was condemned to be tied to a rock where every day an Eagle would come to feed on his liver, which would then grow again the next day, only to be eaten again. And because Prometheus was immortal, there was no end to it.

But one of the most absurd predicaments was that of Sisyphus, a somewhat crafty character of a king, who thought he was cleverer than Zeus, but was eventually punished to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to see it roll back to the bottom again, and to repeat this action forever. Hence, he was consigned to an eternity of useless effort and endless frustration, and while eventually he was freed, thenceforth, acts of this nature are, sometimes, called Sisyphean.

Greece finds itself destined to a somewhat similar tragedy that its heroes were subjected to in their mythology. When a country has such severe debts, fall in GDP, high unemployment and no currency, any effort it makes to salvage itself is bound to be a Sisyphean effort. When one looks at the figures, it is not difficult to understand why.

Here are some figures on the Greek economy from Wikipedia:

Imagine the plight of a 55 year old man. He has recently raised debt that is twice his current income. And his income itself is the highest he ever earned in his life. He has used the debt for some niceties and to buy a house which was already bought at bubble prices (High Debt to Inflated GDP).

Add to that the fact that he has a wife and four children who are dependent on him – with fixed expenses (High Public Expenses with little scope for austerity).

Add to it that his income now starts dropping (Falling GDP) and the young son who got out of college is unemployed (Unemployment rates of ~22%).

If you are a family in that situation, it is not very different from a Sisyphean tragedy where the 55-year-old man finds himself rolling a heavy boulder up the hill to see it roll back down and start it all over again.

But if you are country or a government in that situation, it is quite bad, because the entire population would feel like Sisyphus. Not exactly the same, but what Greece as a country and government finds itself in, is a somewhat similar situation.

It is bad enough when someone, a family or a country, is in that situation all alone.

But let’s say the 55-year-old man has not much in the form of assets, and lives in a joint family. His dwelling is part of a large joint family house with his brothers and uncles staying with their families and running their businesses, some of which are doing well and others not that well. Then the problem is, he can’t even sell his house, because there is no currency for it.

Greece finds itself in this Sisyphean tragedy of debt today, mostly of its own making, but further worsened by its joint Euro Zone family. And unless there is some real commitment, as my broker friend Jigneshbhai had said, joint family problems do not get solved very fast.

Like Sisyphus, every now and then, Greece and the world feels excited that the summit is close, but then disillusioned as the boulder rolls back down and the toil has to start all over again. Like Sisyphus, Greece and the world hopes that, one day, the boulder will stay at the summit and not roll down.