Alexander Zverev: The Love Of The New
Gordon Watson, a renowned expert on art and design collectibles is rightfully famed for his impeccable eye and an extraordinary ability to pluck huge amounts of cash from a list of wealthy celebrity clients that would make the once mighty Lloyds Bank weep.
Watson has featured front and centre on two successful TV shows, Channel 4’s Four Rooms and BBC2’s The Extraordinary Collector. The programmes reflect Watson’s extensive knowledge of 20th century fine design, collectables and art. His highly successful business requires him to sell valuable pieces at a profit. To make this profit he should, theoretically, buy a piece from a newly undiscovered artist and only sell the piece at a healthy profit once the artist is internationally well-regarded.
Watson openly admits that he sells his pieces too early and has lost out on a great deal of money over the years. Profit isn’t the end goal for Watson; the thrill of the purchase is his reward. The anxiety of the hunt, the cut and thrust of the final barter, the final, fulfilling orgiastic joy of claiming the desired object as his own – this is what drives Watson.
Once Watson has his hands on his desired object, his ferocious all-consuming appetite is momentarily satiated. Watson’s ever-expanding physical frame, his hyper-alert, always hungry gaze soon convince the viewer that his appetite for the new is quite insatiable.
It’s impossible not to be touched by Watson’s deep appreciation of the new. He doesn’t have any children, but he does have his discoveries. Bright, young talents from around the UK and Europe who he trusts will one day grow into respected , very rich maestros of their craft. Every time Watson decides to promote an emerging talent you can’t help but strive to see the talent through Watson’s eyes and write their names for future reference.
Alexander Zverev is not a painter, sculptor or ceramics artists; he is a gifted tennis player who at the age of 19 appears to have the sport of tennis at his feet. Tennis has known many gifted young juniors (Jimmy Arias, Richard Gasquet, Tracey Austin, Andrea Jaeger) who failed – because of injuries, off-court problems or lack of interest – to fulfil their great potential once they moved on to the professional tour.
Less than two years into his professional tennis career Zverev already appears to be one of those outrageously gifted prodigies such as Borg, McEnroe, Sampras and Federer who go on to exceed by a wide margin every stressful demand placed upon their young shoulders. Zverev possess an abundance of the quintessential technical building blocks required for future dominance of his beloved vocation: a booming, near unreturnable first serve, a mighty forehand that can break the wrist of his opponent, an aggressive backhand that he can accurately place all around the court at will, a potent killer instinct that cannot be learned or instilled, and an unshakable belief in his own manifest destiny as the world’s indisputably greatest tennis player.
Tennis currently enjoys a crop of great players Federer, Nadal, Djokovic – a veritable Holy Trinity – who stand at the very historical summit of the spot. The Trinity’s dominance is far from over but the expanding global tennis audience and opportunistic sponsors are growing increasingly anxious for a new star to challenge them. Over the long decades of the Trinity’s careers their audience has become intimately familiar with their strengths and weakness. Tennis fans and experts can reliably predict what rallies they will win and lose against one another and, with a measure of confidence, predict which player will come out on top against one of their rivals on a hard court, grass or clay surface.
After the failure of a generation of gifted chokers that includes the likes of Berdych, Tsonga and Monfils to ruffle the Trinity’s feathers, the time has long since passed for an authentic threat to emerge. Murray has his credentials but he cannot, despite all his achievements, claim the right to stand on the same pedestal as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.
Alexander Zverev is a young, bright jewel whose full potential is unknown. The tennis audience senses the extent of his capabilities but the range and power of his strokes is still unknown; his power, creativity and improvisation shocks, delights and inspires wonder. Every time he steps on the court the audience is buzzing about what will he do next?
The next fifteen years will answer this question.
For the moment Zverev is turning an entire new audience of young and older viewers into an expectant and delighted Gordon Watson.
NB. For the howling Murray fans. Federer is on 18 slams; Nadal 15 ; Djokovic 12 ... Murray is on 3.