Month: April 2020

Ten best players of the season?

Monique Professional snooker tournament

Today, I should have been traveling to Sheffield for the World Championship qualifiers. Instead, I’m sat in a small condo in Santorini. There are worst places to be stuck in, although, under strict lockdown, I can’t really enjoy the island wonderful sceneries. For the time being, it’s all about all our small garden, the cats’ family that chose to live in the bushes … and a lot of cooking.

Nobody knows how long this will last. It’s been months since I saw my children and my grandson in the flesh for the last time. Of course we stay in contact every day – bless the Internet – but it’s not the same thing.

I certainly can’t complain. For now, nobody in the close family has been taken ill and Santorini has registered 0 case so far.

Everything, in real life and in snooker, is on the back burner for now…

WST has yesterday published this 

The 2019/20 season still has two huge tournaments to come – but here’s our top ten performers of the campaign so far.

10. Ronnie O’Sullivan

The Rocket still looked snooker’s man to beat when he won the first tournament he contested this season. He landed the Shanghai Masters crown for the third year in a row, beating Shaun Murphy 11-9 in the final of the lucrative invitation event. “I don’t have anything to prove to anyone,” he said. “I think it is just nice for snooker fans to see me play and they want me to keep going for as long as I can.” He has played in just nine events since, reaching one final; at the Northern Ireland Open when he lost a cracking contest 9-7 against Judd Trump. O’Sullivan sits 18th on the one-year ranking list and missed out on qualifying for the last two events of the Coral Series. But could things click for the five-time World Champion at the Crucible? Betfred rate him third-favourite at 5/1.

9. John Higgins
By his own high standards it has been a mediocre season for the Wizard of Wishaw, but he has still performed well enough in ranking events to earn a Coral Tour Championship spot as he currently stands eighth on the one-year list. Semi-final appearances at the 19.com Northern Ireland Open and Zhiyuan World Open are his best runs in ranking events so far. The real highlight of the season for Higgins came at the Beverly World Cup in China in June when he partnered Stephen Maguire to claim victory. They beat China in the final to secure Scotland’s first World Cup triumph since 1996. “It’s a brilliant feeling and I had a great partner. It is a brilliant moment for both our careers,” said Higgins. As an aside: remember the 2017/18 season when the ‘Class of 92’ of Higgins, O’Sullivan and Mark Williams won ten ranking events between them? This season the trio haven’t captured a single one.

8. Yan Bingtao
Touted as the ‘next Ding Junhui’ (as various Chinese players have been) when he broke through as a 15-year-old by partnering Zhou Yuelong to World Cup success, Yan has taken time to establish himself as a regular contender for titles. It seems remarkable now that last season he didn’t reach the quarter-finals of a single ranking event. This term the 20-year-old, nicknamed the Tiger, has made strides forward in terms of consistent performance and confidence on the televised table. He won his first ranking crown at the Kaspersky Riga Masters, reached the final of the Coral Players Championship and the semi-finals of three other events including the Betway UK Championship. Sixth on the one-year list, he is into the top 16 of the official two-year list and guaranteed a Crucible seeding. Without doubt, Yan is the best player in the world in his age group.

7. Stephen Maguire
A ranking title drought which stretches back to 2013 continues, but Maguire has still had by far his best season in recent years. Early in the campaign he won two lucrative invitation titles in the Far East, partnering Higgins to glory at the World Cup then beating the same player in the final of the Sangsom Six Red World Championship. Those two titles boosted Maguire’s bank account to the tune of almost £200,000. He went on to reach the final of the Betway UK Championship – denied the title by Ding Junhui – and only a ridiculous Judd Trump clearance ended his hopes of reaching the the Coral Players Championship final. After a few years of teetering around the brink of the top 16, Maguire has comfortably secured his place among the elite.

6. Stuart Bingham
It has been a poor season for Bingham in ranking events – he has reached the quarter-finals of just one and the last 16 of one other, leaving him 28th on the one-year list. But even if he doesn’t win another match, Bingham will remember this season for only one thing: winning the Dafabet Masters for the first time. He had previously reached just one semi-final in nine appearances at snooker’s biggest invitation event, but this time went all the way, knocking out Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson and David Gilbert to reach the final before an exciting 10-8 victory over Ali Carter. “To get my hands on that trophy, finally, means everything,” said 2015 World Champion Bingham after doubling his tally of Triple Crown titles.

5. Ding Junhui
Like Bingham, Ding has been something of a one-hit wonder this season, but can bask in the glow of a major trophy in his cabinet, having won the Betway UK Championship for the third time. In York he saw off the likes of O’Sullivan, Carter and Yan before a final 10-6 success over Maguire. “I have had to wait a long time to lift a trophy again, and this is a big one,” said China’s top player after landing his first ranking title in over two years. “People have doubted me, asking whether I would win again. Now I believe I can win more.” Ding also reached the International Championship quarter-finals and the last 16 of four other ranking events.

4. Mark Selby
Selby became the first player to win two Home Nations titles in a single season by landing the 19.com English Open in October and the 19.com Scottish Open in December. A 9-1 final thrashing of David Gilbert in the former was one of the best performances of his career, and he secured the latter with a 9-6 defeat of Jack Lisowksi; his 14th win from his last 15 ranking finals. That brace of titles represented a welcome return to form for Selby, who had previously not won a title for over a year. “I wondered whether I would win another tournament again. It was that bad,” he admitted. “If you are used to winning over a period of time and then suddenly getting nowhere near, then of course you begin to ask questions.”

3. Shaun Murphy
At 9-9 in the final of the Evergrande China Championship in September, Murphy had seen a 9-5 lead against Mark Williams evaporate and was staring at the possibility of a seventh consecutive defeat in ranking event finals. So to win the decider with a superb break of 69 was a huge moment in Murphy’s career. “To stand up there under the pressure and take my chance – I’m very proud,” said the Magician after winning his first ranking title in 30 months. He went on to land the ManBetX Welsh Open crown in February with a 9-1 annihilation of Kyren Wilson. Throughout the season, Murphy has enjoyed spells of playing at his brilliant best.

2. Neil Robertson

After a patchy start to the campaign, Robertson’s game clicked in November at the ManBetX Champion of Champions when he beat Murphy and O’Sullivan on his way to the final, then beat Judd Trump 10-9 in the best match of the season. Towards the end of January he had still not reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event, but a purple patch which spanned the next three weeks gave him two titles and a runner-up cheque. Robertson beat Zhou Yuelong 9-0 in the final of the BetVictor European Masters, the first whitewash in a two-session ranking final for 31 years, and scored a 10-8 win over Graeme Dott to win the Coral World Grand Prix. And then the Aussie topped it all by setting a new record in our back-to-black challenge.

1.  Judd Trump
Not only the clear winner in this list, but if Trump goes on to retain the Betfred World Championship title then he will have had, arguably, the best season of any player in history. The pressure of playing as World Champion? No problem for Trump, his confidence and all-round game have reached new levels this term. He has already become the first player to win six ranking events in a single season, landing the International Championship, Zhiyuan World Open, 19.com Northern Ireland Open, BetVictor German Masters, Coral Players Championship and BetVictor Gibraltar Open, while keeping fans enthralled with shots like this. “Hopefully my game can attract new people who wouldn’t usually be attracted to snooker, especially younger kids,” said Trump. Early exits in the UK Championship and the Masters have been the only blemish – but there’s still the big one to come.

As usual a few remarks …

  • Two events to come? Possibly but far from certain. Personally, I can’t see it happen, unless next season is reduced to next to nothing. I’m certainly not confident that the Tour Championship and the World Championship can be played as early as the end of July. And, if they do, how the overlap of these events and its consequences regarding the World Championship seeding and draw will be handled, has not been explained, and, very likely has not even be considered.
  • Ronnie is 10th in this list, but only 18th on the one year list. Of course part of it comes from the fact that he played a reduced schedule, and part of it is because the money list based ranking is so top-heavy nowadays. If the past “point” system was applied, Ronnie would be much higher. He has been fairly consistent but didn’t win a ranking event so far although he made the final of the NI Open and won the Shanghai Masters that was an elite field tournament.
  • Ding and Bingham are both in this list for winning just one event each, but of course, they were the UK Championship and the Masters respectively. They were otherwise very poor. John Higgins has been more consistent but hasn’t reached the final of a single ranking event yet this season.
  • Judd Trump, of course, has won six ranking events, something nobody had done before. However in both majors, the UK Championship and the Masters he made an early exit. He lost to 54 years old, n° 79, Nigel Bond in the last 32 of the UK Championship and lost in the first round in the Masters, when he was defending champion. In both cases he had put pressure on himself ahead of the tournament, claiming that he fancied his chances to win. I would not be surprised if the same happened at the Crucible. If that happened, despite the six titles, I wouldn’t see him as the best player of the season.

Coronavirus messages – Neil Robertson and Ronnie

Monique Media

The coronavirus has been dominating the news and impacted our lives for several weeks now. It’s the same for everyone, including snooker players.

According to “The Sun” Neil Robertson is offering to help other snooker players who face temporary problems because of the lack of earnings:

LEAN ON NEIL

Neil Robertson offers financial help to fellow snooker stars affected by coronavirus shutdown

  • Rob Maul

KIND-HEARTED Neil Robertson has offered to financially help any struggling snooker players during the coronavirus crisis.

Australia’s 2010 world snooker champion says he would support close pals if they find it hard to pay their mortgage before the rescheduled World Championships this July.

Robertson and Trump

Neil Robertson (pictured to the left) wants to offer financial help to snooker players who have been affected by the coronavirus crisis. The 2010 world snooker champion has earned more than £900,000 over the past two years.Credit: Getty Images – Getty

World No 2 Robbo said: “Should any struggle or need advancement for their prize money at the worlds, then they can pay me back as soon as they get paid from World Snooker. It’s no problem.

“If a player I know came to me and said, ‘Look, I’m really struggling to pay my bills, are you all right to front me as a guarantor for the first round of the worlds?’ Well, I’d do that no problem. Absolutely.”

Snooker chiefs have set up a hardship fund against future prize money for those down the rankings.

Some people in the UK may have mental health issues and we’ve seen the best and worst of humanity. People are trying to be generous and help elderly people.

Neil Robertson

Robertson, 38, who earned £915,000 over the past two years, knows how fortunate he has been and is willing to help out the baize community.

“Some people in the UK may have mental health issues and we’ve seen the best and worst of humanity. People are trying to be generous and help elderly people. In Cambridge where I live, everyone’s pulling together.”

The Crucible showpiece was supposed to start on April 18 but will be moved to July 25.

It could be staged behind closed doors in Sheffield or with restrictions in place for the crowd.

With Premier League football on hold, the Tokyo Olympics postponed and Wimbledon cancelled, top-class snooker could save our summer.

Left-hander Robertson and world No 1 and defending champion Judd Trump were the men in form before the tour was postponed.

But Robertson reckons maverick Ronnie O’Sullivan might fancy his prospects of winning a sixth crown.

The Thunder from Down Under said: “Snooker is a very good TV sport. And it’s probably more equipped to deal with this situation than maybe other sports.

“Lifting a major trophy in front of an empty stadium would be a very strange feeling.

“But then you’d rather do that than not play at all. It’s a tough balance.

“Form goes out of the window now. It’s like starting a new season. We cannot do exhibitions or smaller events to get match sharpness.

“It could be wide open. Myself and Judd were clear favourites from the end of the season.

“But I feel Ronnie has a better chance than maybe if he had been busy in the second half of the season. He’s one who would be the favourite should it go ahead.

“A crowd plays a massive part with Ronnie. It can get on top of his opponent but at the same time, sometimes they can get on him if he’s not entertaining.

“At the same time, he won’t have the pressure from the crowd. Sometimes they can get on him if he’s not entertaining.

“When you watch Barcelona play you want to see Lionel Messi score two goals. If he hasn’t after 80 minutes you can perhaps get restless.

“But if the tournament goes ahead with full safety guaranteed, it’d be better to play than not at all.”

Robertson, who is sponsored by Dental Centre Turkey, is able to practise three times a week at his Essex club with no one else around.

This lockdown period has allowed him plenty of time with his wife and two young children.

He added: “When I do start playing again it’s important to be sharp. A long break can cause long-term damage to a player’s technique.

“It can be dangerous for a snooker player to go 2-3 months without even touching a cue.”

This is a genuinely kind gesture from Neil who is one of the nicest and more positive person on the tour.

Meanwhile, this was published on Youtube:

The channel/user behind it is named “Covid 19” and the associated link brings you to the WHO site on the page offering info about the pandemics.

I’m not too sure what to make of this. Ronnie doesn’t look great in there. Maybe it’s just because the camera is fitted with a wide-angle lens, and the focus is poor, but he appears rather fat and out of shape, physically and mentally.

He thanks China for the help they sent to Italy and praises their response to the crisis. Both of it makes sense knowing how much Ronnie loves China and keeping in mind that his mother is Sicilian.

China indeed sent equipment and doctors to Italy at the worse of the epidemics. One interesting thing I read about that “mission” to Italy, is that one on the most experienced  Chinese doctors said that we, in Europe, were making the same mistake that they had made in Wuhan at the start of the epidemic: putting people with mild symptoms in self-isolation at home. Even if those people try their best to self-isolate, very few of them actually live alone at home and, despite everyone’s best efforts, they are bound to contaminate others in the same household. He said that some time into the crisis, they had come to understand that, despite the Chinese respecting the social distancing measures much better than most Europeans do, spreading continued and as much as 80% of contamination happened inside families. They then started systematic testing and isolation for everyone coming up positive in ad-hoc facilities, no matter how mild the symptoms were. That resulted in a very fast decrease in new cases.

Going back to Neil’s article and his views on Ronnie’s chances, should the World Championship be played end July, I’m again in two minds about it. Ronnie is rather fragile mentally and I’m afraid that all the anxiety around these epidemics might affect him badly. On the other hand, not being seen as a favourite and not having the media attention, would probably help him. Also, in the past, when the season only started in September, Ronnie used to do very well in the first event of the season: he seemed to need less time than most to brush off the cobwebs.

Judd Trump, on the other hand, has been busy talking to Stephen Henry on Instagram a few days back and it was reported by the press. He insisted that the World Championship can’t be played behind closed doors and wrote Ronnie’s chances off. That was before Barry Hearn announcement.

Regarding that announcement, the dates Barry secured overlap with the dates announced for the postponed Tour Championship. I’m not sure how that’s going to work. Judd Trump is the seed n°1 in both events and all eight players involved in the Tour Championship are seeded at the Crucible, but their seeding could still change.

Should both events go ahead, this means two things:

  1. That because the draw of the World Championship can’t be made before the definitive seeding is known, it may cause a major issue as it might not happen until the second day of the World Championship is completed, and, whatever happens, it will certainly make the promotional media work extremely difficult.
  2. Should Judd Trump reach the final in Llandudno, there is no way that he could start his defence on the first day of the World Championship. This won’t go down well will the people who bought tickets for the morning and evening session of the opening Saturday, knowing that the defending Champion was due to play.  It may also not particularly please the sponsors and the BBC

 

 

 

 

 

Barry Hearn plans to play the World Championship end July …

Monique Professional snooker tournament

This was reported in the press (metro) today:

Barry Hearn reveals plan for rescheduled Snooker World Championships

The Snooker World Championships has provisionally been moved to July but could still be played behind closed doors at the iconic Crucible Theatre. The sporting calendar has been decimated by the global coronavirus pandemic which has seen the Tokyo Olympics and Euro 2020 pushed back until next year, while in England the Premier League remains suspended indefinitely and an entire summer of international cricket looks set to be wiped out, which would cost the ECB around £300million.

With the UK set to enter its third week of lockdown, World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn told The Sun of his intention to move his three-week flagship tournament to the end of July, starting on the 25th, even if it means staging the event with no fans present.

He said: ‘We have secured the Crucible for the same dates as the Olympics were going to be. ‘And we have applied to the BBC to make that move so it will be played out at the end of July and start of August. ‘We are waiting to hear back from the BBC if that is acceptable to them. ‘Fortunately the Crucible have made those dates available. So we are in the position to stage a truly huge world snooker championship. Provided we fit alongside government rules.

‘When sport is back, we will all be very busy because we’ll play catch-up on a huge scale. ‘When it does come back, it will be wall-to-wall – and that cannot happen soon enough for a lot of our members. ‘Clearly by then we will have all been starved of world-class sport. ‘I think it will be a phased approach. The Crucible is less than 1,000 people. ‘It may well be part of that phased exit. But notwithstanding that, we’re prepared if necessary to stage a Crucible behind closed doors.’

And here is the article in “The Sun” the above is citing:

JACKPOT

World Snooker Championship secures postponed Olympics slot this summer on BBC

Rob Maul

5 Apr 2020, 10:15

THE Snooker World Championship is set to replace the Tokyo Olympics in the TV schedules this summer.

SunSport can reveal the Crucible event has been moved from this month to July 25 – the same slot vacated by the rescheduled Olympics on the BBC.

The Sheffield tournament could also take place behind closed doors for the first time if government restrictions are still in place during the coronavirus crisis.

World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn said: “We have secured the Crucible for the same dates as the Olympics were going to be.

“And we have applied to the BBC to make that move so it will be played out at the end of July and start of August.

“We are waiting to hear back from the BBC if that is acceptable to them.

“When sport is back, we will all be very busy because we’ll play catch-up on a huge scale.

“When it does come back, it will be wall-to-wall – and that cannot happen soon enough for a lot of our members.

“Clearly by then we will have all been starved of world-class sport.”

Instead of watching Katarina Johnson-Thompson go for heptathlon glory in Japan, TV viewers this summer can see Ronnie O’Sullivan attempt to win a sixth snooker world crown.

More than 18 million people watched the epic 1985 snooker world final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis which went down to the final black ball.

And TV figures could go through the roof in the absence of any live sport in this country, especially now Wimbledon, the Olympics and Euro 2020 have gone from the calendar.

Top sports promoter Hearn said: “I don’t think we will come out on one day and the next day they will say go back to normal.

“I think it will be a phased approach. The Crucible is less than 1,000 people.

“It may well be part of that phased exit. But notwithstanding that, we’re prepared if necessary to stage a Crucible behind closed doors.

“This is a business, people’s livelihoods are at stake, and obviously we want to entertain people globally.”

Matchroom Sport look after several sports, including snooker, darts and fishing, and there is an appetite for action – even if it is without fans.

Hearn, 71, said: “When the situation eases slightly enough, we can stage events behind closed doors. The moment it becomes acceptable.

“I don’t know if that is a week or a month. But we can start that in two or three days of getting clearance from various authorities.

“That will give an opportunity to players who have remained in the UK.

“Snooker and darts players are self-employed people. I am certainly looking to do several events pre to the worlds, including the qualifiers.

“They can all be played quite comfortably within the two-metre rule.”

Two puzzling thoughts …

  1. Barry Hearn doesn’t say anything about the qualifiers dates. These need to happen BEFORE the main event, starting at the latest mid-July and involve a lot more persons than the main event itself. I’m not sure that it’s realistic to hold such an event, involving 128 players as soon as mid-July or earlier. Has he a plan for that?
  2. “That will give an opportunity to players who have remained in the UK.” … and sod the others? Don’t ever tell me again that there isn’t a huge bias in favour of UK players within a sport that claims its ambition to be “global”. We might have the World Championship played without any of the Asian players. And mainland European players might find it difficult, maybe even impossible to attend. How is that right? That’s probably 1 in 4 players, maybe even more who might be unable to play in the main event of the season, by no fault of them, and a good number may face relegation as a consequence.

Right … maybe if that happens WST should rebrand itself  UKST and the event be renamed “Summer UK Championship”.

And one more … IF it happens, then maybe, BBC could stay put and cover the WSS ROKiT Phones.com World Championship? It’s scheduled to start on August 12. If the BBC plans are to fill the Crucible slot in April with classic matches it means that there is an appetite for a bit of nostalgia and history. Why not show the heroes of yesteryear back playing snooker at the Crucible on the BBC as well? The equipement and crew would altready be there…

Players – pros and amateurs – are taking the blue ball challenge

Monique Charity, Snooker ,

Jason Francis came up with the idea. Here is WPBSA explaining what it’s all about:

Snooker Stars Potting for the NHS

3rd April 2020

Snooker German Masters

 

Leading snooker stars including 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham have taken part in the Blue Ball Snooker Challenge during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to raise money for the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom.

The initiative was the brainchild of World Seniors Snooker Chairman Jason Francis who challenged any players with snooker tables at home to try and pot ten difficult blue balls with people predicting how many they would get and donating to the NHS.

“It started as a bit of fun but its gone viral now with players having a go and raising money for our national health service in the UK,” said Francis. “This week alone we have had Stuart Bingham, Joe Perry and Kyren Wilson take part and our regular Facebook live videos have proved very popular with the snooker community.”

The initial goal was to raise £1,470 for a local NHS trust as a reference to snooker’s maximum 147 break – a target which was soon met within four days. Further targets have since been met for bodies including the London North West NHS Trust and Barts NHS Trust, with a Sheffield-based Trust set to be the next beneficiary in recognition of the city’s status as the home of snooker having hosted the professional World Snooker Championship since 1977.

Overseas players in Ireland have also taken up the challenge with €1,000 having been raised for its Health Service Executive.

“For as long as we remain in isolation, and players want to continue supporting this, we will continue,” added Francis. “It would be incredible if we could top £10,000 by the time we finish.”

For more information and to view the attempts so far visit the ROKit Phones World Seniors Snooker Facebook page.

This is a great initiative and players have really embraced it.

Gary Filtness, the Super Seniors n°1, was first to take it and made it ten out of ten! Stuart Bingham made nine. Kyren Wilson involved his whole family. Emma Parker, the women under-21 n°1, potted eight out of ten…

Far too many players took it already to name them all, with a lot more already committed to trying their best and they come from all corners: professionals, seniors, juniors, disability players, all united to support their national health system.

Well done everyone!

Eurosport looking at the 10 best long potters

Monique Eurosport, Professional snooker tournament ,

Yesterday, Desmond Kane was looking at the 10 best long potters.

…

All-time top 10: Who are snooker’s greatest long potters?

By Desmond Kane

In the second of our weekly series, we look at the 10 greatest players in each department of snooker finishing with the Greatest Of All Time. We continue by looking at the game’s finest long potters.

1. Judd Trump (England)

Judd Trump

Judd Trump, with more potting ability than Percy Thrower, perhaps edges out Neil Robertson on the all-time long list for what he provided in the 2019 World Championship final. An 18-9 win over John Higgins was staggering enough, outmanoeuvring one of the game’s true titans, but the manner of the victory was probably the greatest levels ever reached on the sport’s grandest stage.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Bristolian. At one point, Trump seemed to be playing on autopilot, like the pockets were craters. Higgins has witnessed as much as anybody in the sport over 28 years, but was flabbergasted by the green baize hurting bombs TNT Trump unloaded over a bewitching two days.

It was breathless, incomparable one-visit snooker, including seven centuries and nine breaks over 50, in lifting his first world title in the final as he turned the Crucible Theatre into his own living room. With 12 or 13 frames won at a single visit, Higgins was privileged to be on the receiving end: “He doesn’t just overwhelm the opponent, he overwhelms the snooker table. I don’t think there’s been quite a player like him.”

Trump can pot balls, create angles and get movement on the cueball like no other player. He is quickly becoming the all-rounder with a tactical approach enhancing his wares, but it is his opportunism to create from distance that ultimately creates carnage.

If there has ever been a better long potter in snooker, one does not immediately spring to mind.

2. Neil Robertson (Australia)

Neil Robertson

Robertson forged his reputation as a formidable potter when he attempted to make it as a professional on the UK-based professional circuit three times in the late nineties and early noughties before returning to Australia out of pocket and out of form. When he eventually regained his own self-belief by winning the World Under-21 Championship in New Zealand in July 2003, including a victory over a teenage Ding Junhui, he would not be denied a fourth time. He remains a devastating, preening potter at his best, but has added a substantial tactical game to support his adroitness from beyond the balk line.

With one of the best all-round games in the sport’s history, the 2010 world champion Robertson remains as dangerous when he is lining up pots at distance as among them from close range. He holds the record for most centuries in a season with his haul of 103 in 2013/14 – a totemic moment in snooker folklore.

Only Ronnie O’Sullivan (1038), Stephen Hendry (778), John Higgins (772) and Judd Trump (712) have made more career centuries than Robertson’s 701. Like those four icons, the Aussie likes to provide for himself.

Which is perhaps understandable when he almost failed at the sport he lives and breathes.

Projecting a flawless technique, there is arguably no better long potter in the game than the Melbourne Potting Machine, a committed vegan who smells blood on a snooker table.

3. Mark Williams (Wales)

Mark Williams

Described as the best single ball potter in the history of the sport by his peers, Williams has spent 28 years at the very top of the game because of an enviable long game that enables him to dictate the narrative of a frame. He is not nicknamed the Welsh Potting Machine because of a reputation for tactical torpidity despite his innate ability to win at any cost.

Williams has lifted three world titles in 2000, 2003 and 2018 based on a penchant for snaffling up half chances. Only Williams, Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis have won the world title, Masters and UK Championship in a single season, but the man from Cwm in Blaenau Gwent arguably did it in a more taxing era.

He remains in esteemed company. “Long potting is all about confidence, and good eyesight,” he said.

“Think positive. If you’re feeling down or lacking a bit of confidence, your game goes. You start thinking about the balls you might miss more than the ones you are going to pot. “

At the age of 45, Williams has never been blighted by the fatigue of frames. Nor does he appear ready to slip quietly into the night.

4. Ronnie O’Sullivan (England)

Ronnie

O’Sullivan’s game has become more measured in recent years, but his all-round approach has always been supported by his ability to pounce on half chances from distance. He has never been overly keen on waiting for opponents to make errors, preferring to splatter the reds and limit long exacting frames with one-visit snooker.

The five-times word champion has produced a series of devastating sessions, but his 6-0 whitewash of an unsuspecting Ricky Walden in the quarter-finals of the Masters on the road to winning the 2014 invitational tournament among his overall total of seven was as close as you will see to green baize utopia. O’Sullivan was knocking in balls like he was playing on a pool table. O’Sullivan rolled in a record 556 points without reply, beating the 495 points set by Ding Junhui in 2007.

“Probably the best performance I have seen from anybody in all the years I’ve been coming to the Masters,” said 1997 world champion Ken Doherty. Of course, it is impossible to maintain such levels on every occasion, but O’Sullivan ranks high among the greatest long potters in the history of the sport.

When he gets it right, nobody does it better.

5. Stephen Hendry (Scotland)

Stephen Hendry

It is easy to forget how imperious Hendry was in his pomp. Such was his self-belief and dominance of the sport that he rarely became embroiled in tactical duels. While his great rival Steve Davis was more concerned about not leaving shots, Hendry was focused on making them.

It was a mindset that proved key in ending Davis’ dominance of the sport in the early 1990s. Hendry pioneered the new breed of attacking snooker player that we witness today when you study the world’s leading men. There was nobody like Hendry in the late 1980s or the 1990s. His one-visit approach would see him smash open the pack of reds as soon as possible with the blue to middle bag at pace to open up the table or controlled blacks a particular favourite of his canon. It was a manoeuvre that helped him to transform the game.

Hendry was a fearsome, focused sight on a snooker table bolstered by a razor sharp game from long range. He once compiled a 147 to overcome Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-8 in the final of the Charity Challenge in 1997 after his opponent had recovered from trailing 8-2 to restore parity at 8-8. Hendry’s long potting was the main stanchion of his snooker success. He had problems with technique that contributed to a steady decline in the noughties before he retired in 2012. He was also unwilling to fraternise with a safety game that could have extended his lifespan like Davis or O’Sullivan.

Yet it is astonishing to think of what his success might have been when he largely refused to see extended safety bouts as helpful to his cause. That all seven of his world crowns were donned in the nineties is also fascinating.

Hendry remains the winner of the most world titles in the modern era. His long potting was a key component behind his stockpile of silverware.

6. Shaun Murphy (England)

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Murphy lifted the 2005 World Championship at the age of 22 as a 150-1 qualifier with a performance heavy on long pots and low on safety. Like Stephen Hendry, safety has never really been Murphy’s law. Sometimes when you study Murphy in action, you wonder how he has contrived to win only a solitary world title.
He has a ramrod straight technique, among the best snooker has paid testament to, that allows him to generate power and pace through the cue ball from distance. While a lack of a safety game and odd lapses in concentration has arguably harpooned his quest for greater riches, his potting ability has never been in doubt.
Murphy apparently toyed with the idea of retirement after a barren 2019, but has emerged a stronger figure for his travails lifting the China Championship and Welsh Open this season to increase his career haul to nine ranking event triumphs.
“There are times when the occasion gets the better of you. This time it all clicked,” said Murphy after demolishing Kyren Wilson 9-1 to lift the Welsh Open in February.

“It is dangerous to put too much stock on how you play. There is a small part of the mind that thinks about how you win rather than the winning itself and that can be very dangerous. However, it was nice to allow myself a little moment of enjoying the way I won and the performance in that match.”

7. John Higgins (Scotland)

John Higgins

Higgins merits a place in the pantheon of potters for his range of skills on a snooker table. Renowned as a formidable tactical player, mastering the safety side of the game is only beneficial if you can score heavily.

Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan studied Stephen Henry’s fixation with one-visit snooker, and arguably improved it, adding their own class to the theory of potting a long red, finishing plum on the black before devouring the balls to win frames with minimal fuss.

Higgins remains a devastating long potter. Armed with a technique made to weather the buffeting storms of self-doubt, the stats would back up his success. He has lifted four world titles with victories over Ken Doherty, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump illustrating an enduring class in all aspects of the game. He has also reached the last three world finals to roll back the years as much as the blacks.

To be a contender at the Crucible over three decades tells the story of a very special potter.

8. Alex Higgins (Northern Ireland)

Alex Higgins

Higgins stood out in the 1970s and 1980s surrounded by figures who were addicted to a percentage, tactical game such as Ray Reardon and Steve Davis. Higgins was also a fine safety player, but was a prodigious potter whose vibe was one of unpredictability. He was more interested in amusing himself and delighting the public with a unique brand of attacking snooker than reverting to the trenches.

While there are arguably more consistent potters in modern snooker than Higgins, it should not be underestimated the level of credibility the Northern Irishman brought to the green baize at the beginning of the televised era. Without Higgins, the mass market appeal of snooker would never have gained traction in the early days of television coverage.

His Hurricane nickname fitted with his ability to race through pots and frames without much thought. His break in the 1982 World Championship semi-final against Jimmy White shows how good a single ball potter Higgins was.

Higgins won two world titles, against John Spencer in 1972 and Ray Reardon in 1982, but the second was the solitary world trophy he carried off at the Crucible. In the semi-finals against Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White, he trailed 15-14 and 59-0 when he came to the table. On the cusp of defeat, he produced a series of unbelievable pots

“It was a mental break, it was phenomenal,” said White. “I didn’t think he would clear up, no. There were about four shots he played that were amazing. His name was on the trophy that year. Did it cost me the World Championship? At that time I didn’t care if I won or lost because I was having such fun. In 1979 and 1980, I went to Australia to play in the amateur World Championship which cost me two years of experience at the Crucible. Who knows? Maybe it was meant to be because I’m still playing now.”

That Higgins could do it under pressure and under the influence of several libations is even more impressive.

9. Jimmy White (England)

Jimmy White

Jimmy White will be recalled as snooker’s nearly man, but the same cannot be said for his potting ability in his prime. White lost six world finals in the 1980s and 1990s, but it is worth noting that he lost four of them to Stephen Hendry and another one to Steve Davis, two of the greatest players to play the game.

If not for those two pesky characters, White’s long game would have delivered multiple world titles, and he would have merited them. His potting ability was not hugely inferior to Davis or Hendry in their halcyon days. It was probably a bit less consistency in scoring, safety and temperament that did for him over a longer period of time. But the Whirlwind was a firm favourite with the snooker public because he played the game to entertain.

Like Alex Higgins, he was a pioneer of attacking play from long range. As a winner of the Masters in 1984 and the UK Championship in 1992, his place in the all-time list of prominent potters must respect his era as well as his role in the sport’s progression.

10. Cliff Wilson (Wales)

Cliff Wilson

A player ahead of his time and after his time. Wilson was a ferocious potter, who played at breakneck speed and put the emphasis firmly on entertainment. At the age of 54, he was remarkably ranked at 14 in the world in 1988 despite battling fading eyesight and ill health. There are certainly more consistent candidates to include in a top 10 of out-and-out potters, but Wilson stood out in his era, and provided his successors with a blueprint on a different way to approach the game.

From Tredegar, the same Welsh town as six-times world champion Ray Reardon, Wilson won the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1956, 1977 and 1978, but worked in the steelworks at Llanwern until he turned professional at the age of 45 after claiming the World Amateur Championship in 1978. He usurped Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-8 in the 1992 UK Championship two years before his premature death at the age of 60 due to ill health. He was once coached by the great Joe Davis, but probably played snooker in the wrong era.

If Wilson was a twentysomething today, he would be a clear and present danger.

Desmond Kane

Where to start with this one?

Well, maybe, with this question: how do you define excellence in long potting? It’s not as straightforward as it reads.

Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, the two players topping this list, go for and get a fair percentage of difficult, and spectacular long pots.  However, if you pay attention to stats, they often have a lower long pot success rate than their opponents. If you don’t believe me, open your eyes and ears whenever snooker is back and they play. This, of course, is because they go for more, and more difficult ones than most others on the tour. Also, both of them have tremendous cue power and frequently play in such a way that the cue ball comes back to relative safety in the baulk area. Therefore, they aren’t punished that often when they miss. What we, fans, tend to remember most, are the misses that proved costly. Shaun Murphy also has a similar style.

Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Ronnie are different. Stephen and Ronnie in particular were/are very attacking, they go for a lot, they didn’t/don’t want to be caught in long drawn out affairs. But, contrary to the ones above, they almost always play for position as well as attempting the pot. Usually, playing either for black or blue. Because of this, they know that they will likely be punished, should they miss. That adds a lot of pressure. As mentioned in the above article, confidence is a huge factor in long potting success, and pressure will always play on your mind, no matter how good you are. In the last year and a half, Judd Trump has also been playing that way more often than he used to do.

A lot of players are fearless when young, and as they age, battle scars undermine their confidence. That was blatant with Stephen Hendry, and it happened as early as in his late twenties. I can’t help to believe that his defeat to Ken Doherty in the 1997 World Final was a turning point in Hendry’s career. He won only one major after that and he was only 28. He won his last World Championship at 30, the age Judd Trump is now, played for another 12 seasons and won only five more titles, none of them “majors”. I’m convinced that losing to Ken that year, and the way of it, delivered a killing blow to Stephen’s confidence, and effectively to his career at the very top. He still remained a top player for years, but no more a serial winner. Think about it this way: Stephen made 5 centuries in that final, his highest break was 137, whilst Ken highest break was 85. Yet, eventually, Ken won by 18-12; the match wasn’t even really close. His all-attack strategy, and “safety is overrated” moto hadn’t worked. Ken had shown that he could be beaten and how.

A  lot of very young players are excellent long potters because they have very few battle scars. Other parts of their game may let them down, but usually potting in general isn’t the issue.

One player who, IMO, should be in the list above is Kyren Wilson.

Then you have this weird concept of “single ball potter” that inevitably comes in the conversation when Mark Williams is mentioned. I write “weird” because potting just one ball isn’t really an efficient approach in snooker. What it means in Willo’s case is that, more often than most, he goes for a ball, without intending to gain position. What he wants is to gain the initiative, and control over the next shot, often combined with getting rid of a “danger” ball, one that could possibly give his opponent an opening.

 

 

The BBC will show snooker come April

Monique Professional snooker tournament, Radio or Television Show ,

BBCSpecialApril2020

Following the BBC annoucements on social media, WST has published this:

The BBC will televise some great Betfred World Championship matches from years gone by during the dates of what would have been this year’s tournament.

The London 2012 Olympics and Euro ’96 are just some of the other memorable moments that viewers on the BBC can relive this summer after the coronavirus pandemic decimated the sporting calendar. For more detail CLICK HERE

The Betfred World Championship would have run from April 18 to May 4 but has been postponed, potentially until July or August.

We’ll also be reliving some magical Crucible moments from the past 40 years on our social media channels – for a taster click here.

Well at least that’s something…

 

Some news about the 2020 World Championship Qualifiers.

Monique Professional snooker tournament

Barry Hearn has made no mystery that he is very keen to have the 2020 World Championship organised and run as soon as possible. This is a tournament that carries a lot of prestige and is very lucrative. For the snooker players, who are self-employed, the lack of playing opportunities is a disaster.

WST has rescheduled the Tour Championship to be now played end of July.  This is an eight men tournament and it could, if needed, easily be played without an audience, hence involving a minimal number of persons on site. The coronavirus crisis is expected to be under control, or about, by that time, but nobody can guarantee that social distancing measures will be completely lifted. That’s actually doubtful.

The World Championship itself is a 32 men event. Even played without an audience, it would still involve more people on-site than the Tour Championship, hence present a higher risk. I heard from a trustworthy source that WST and WPBSA are confident that by early September the situation would be such that the tournament could be run safely, and that, hopefully, it could be played at the Crucible.

The real challenge though is the qualifiers. They involve 128 players, coming from all parts of the world, and involve a considerable number of referees, fitters and officials. They require a huge venue, with proper security, and decent conditions. This, in turn, means, in addition to the aforementioned persons, that there will be security personnel, cleaners, on-duty paramedics and minimal catering. This presents a much bigger health risk than the World Championship itself and it’s difficult to see it happen before later in autumn, therefore pushing the main event even further towards the end of the year unless … it goes virtual.

From what I understood, WST and WPBS are considering the possibility to have the World Championship qualifiers run on Snooker 19, the licensed game developed by Ripstone Games in collaboration with Lab42 and World Snooker. The game is available on various platforms and allows for players to play each other online. It has been praised for its very realistic gameplay.

Players would be offered a free copy of the game, on the platform of their choice, and a webcam. The budget initially planned for the rental of the venue would be used for this instead. The shipping should happen in the coming weeks, so that they have time to set the equipment up and get familiar with the game. A help desk will be made available, under the supervision of Paul Collier who is well known amongst the fans and players for his abilities to fix recalcitrant scoreboards. Paul will also organise workshops for the referees involved in the tournament.

During the tournament itself, the webcams will be used to allow the referees on duty to supervise the game remotely, making sure that the players operate the console or computer without external help, but without the need for physical proximity with the players. For technical reasons, frames will be timed – limited to 20 minutes – and played under a 30 seconds shot-clock. The format will remain best of 19 over two sessions but without interval. The player with the most aggregated points will be deemed the winner. There will be prize money for the highest break, but centuries won’t count towards the official tally.

If the experience is a success, the same technology could be used for the Q-school, limiting the need for players’ travel and allowing the Asian Q-school to be held despite the difficult circumstances.