SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS: NEW RANKING EVENT ANNOUNCED!
INAUGURAL SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS AND WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIP TO TAKE PLACE IN RIYADH AND JEDDAH AS PART OF MAJOR 10-YEAR DEAL
• Snooker’s ‘fourth Major’, with over £2m prize fund, to launch in Riyadh in August • ‘Crown Jewel’ World Pool Championship will take place in Jeddah this June • Exciting legacy commitment with Ministry of Sport for Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation sees strong focus on developing both sports in the region over next decade
The world’s best snooker and Nineball pool players will this year descend upon Saudi Arabia to launch a 10-year deal that will bring two major annual sporting events to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and transform Billiards in the Middle East.
The World Snooker Tour and World Nineball Tour – in partnership with the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation and the Ministry of Sport for Saudi Arabia – confirmed today that a historic, decade-long association will start this summer, with events in both Riyadh and Jeddah.
It begins this June (3rd-8th), when the 2024 World Pool Championship – the crown jewel of the World Nineball Tour – takes place at the Green Halls in Jeddah.
A record World Nineball Tour prize fund of $1,000,000 will be contested by the planet’s premier pool cueists, including reigning world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, five-time US Open champion and 2022 world champion Shane Van Boening and 2018 world champion Joshua Filler.
Then, in August (31st-September 7th) in Riyadh, the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters – spearheaded by the world’s leading players – takes place and officially becomes the sport’s ‘fourth major’ alongside the traditional Triple Crown events. A prize pot of over £2million will be at stake in what is the second richest event on the prestigious World Snooker Tour schedule in 2024.
The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will be a world ranking event open to all 128 tour players, plus six local wild cards from the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation.
HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Saudi Minister of Sport, and President of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee Sports said: “Saudi Arabia is an ever-emerging home to all sports and we’re excited by the opportunity to add new world-class events in snooker and Nineball pool to our growing year-round calendar. Hosting global events is all part of our strategy to grow all sports and to inspire our people to participate by giving them the chance to enjoy live sporting action. We are a young country with a young population and the approach is working. Since 2018 we’ve hosted over 100 international sports events and during that time sports participation has more than tripled.”
Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s ongoing social and economic transformation, the country has become a welcoming host for some of the biggest global sports events for both male and female athletes including football, motorsports, tennis, equestrian, esports and golf, attended by over 2.6 million sports fans.
Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn said: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has forged a reputation for growth and creating new opportunities for sports to grow in a new market to new fans. The country has hosted some of the world’s premier sporting events in recent years, welcoming visitors from all over to experience its passion for sport and unique culture. The addition of both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and World Pool Championship over the next decade further enhances that as it heralds an exciting chapter for Snooker and Nineball pool. We have seen the incredible impact Boxing has had in this region. Now, I believe we will see Billiards cement its legacy here too, creating incredible opportunities and competition for the finest players on the planet.”
Saudi Arabia Billiard & Snooker Federation President, Dr. Nasser Saab Al-Shammari, added: “The introduction of two brand new global events in Saudi Arabia with long-term deals in place is absolute game changing moment for our sports. We have a flourishing community but until now opportunities were limited expose to the game’s elite.
“This will undoubtedly accelerate our progress and development. We look forward to warmly welcoming the very best snooker and Nineball pool players in the world to the Kingdom and taking their sports into the heart of our communities, while also giving emerging young Saudi players the chance to compete at this level for the first time with a ‘home’ event.”
“Both events will be underpinned by community engagement to introduce new players to the sport and will open up new talent pathways over the decade. Clinics for coaches, for referees and player visits will guarantee a massive boost and a bright future for both snooker and pool in Saudi Arabia.”
Global television syndication will ensure fans around the world will get to enjoy both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and the World Pool Championship.
Both sports have also pledged a strong focus and commitment to grow and develop the game in the region in tandem with the Saudi Arabian Billiard and Snooker Federation, along with offering wild card places to burgeoning, local talent to take part in the annual world-class competitions.
Further details in relation to both ground-breaking events will be released in due course separately by the World Snooker Tour and the World Nineball Tour.
This snooker Masters is clearly a different event to the invitational that will take place in March this year. It’s “open” to the 128 players, but it’s unclear if all 128 will play at the venue or if, once again, “qualifiers” will be played in the UK.
There is no doubt that the prize money is very attractive and I’m not expecting the players to boycott it.
BUT … but …
Saudi Arabia has one of the worst records when it comes to human rights and women’s rights.
This is a country where one can be imprisoned or even executed for peacefully protesting or peacefully expressing opinions that go against what the authoritarian regime and the religious authorities see as appropriate. Children as young as 15 years old have been arrested and imprisoned. You might want to read this report by Amnesty International and this one as well
This is a country where women are not considered “adults”, they are always under the control of a male legal “guardian”. Although there been some recent reforms, women’s rights are still very restricted under the guardianship system. You might want to read this piece by Amnesty International.
I have no doubts that the events will be well organised, and that the players will be well looked after and spoiled. In recent years, organising major sporting events have been a “means” for the Saudi authorities to improve their “image” and attract lucrative investments. That’s the very nature of sports-washing. I’m extremely disappointed and saddened to see snooker heading this way, although I’m not surprised. “Making money” as always been what the Hearn clan, and hence Matchroom, are about. There is nothing wrong in trying to make good money … I just wish it was done with at least some kind of moral compass. 😔
And … to brand this event “officially the fourth major” only adds insult to injury. 😡
Following Ronnie’s withdrawal from the 2024 Welsh Open, David Hendon – who has been around the tour and got to know the circuit and the players for many years – shared this piece on the Eurosport website.
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN, MARK SELBY, NEIL ROBERTSON DESERVE MORE EMPATHY REGARDING EXTERNAL FACTORS – DAVE HENDON
Dave Hendon details why the general public must not forget that snooker players – and sportspeople in general – should not be seen as superheroes, but as human beings. With Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrawing from the Welsh Open due to “anxiety”, and Mark Selby recently opening up about his issues at home, Hendon explains why it’s important to consider “external factors” when analysing their play.
What was Dennis Taylor thinking about as Steve Davis won frame after frame, threatening to turn their 1985 World Championship final into a damp squib?
Taylor played that season in a haze of grief following the sudden death of his mother at the age of 62. He withdrew from a tournament when the sad news came through and was not going to play in the next one, the Grand Prix at Reading, until urged to do so by his family.
Driven by pure emotion, he beat Cliff Thorburn 10-2 to win his first ranking title. A few months later he was facing Davis in snooker’s showpiece match at the Crucible.
Taylor had first seen a snooker table as an excited eight year-old in Coalisland, Northern Ireland. He was from a typically close-knit Catholic family, the bonds of which could not be broken. As Davis piled on the misery, Taylor talked in his head to his mother. Finding calm amid the Sheffield storm, he staged a memorable recovery from 8-0 down to win on the final black of the match.
As he told the Belfast Telegraph in 2020: “That was one for my mum. She was still there helping me. I had her to chat to. It helped to keep me relaxed throughout that final game.”
Taylor’s story underlines something fundamental. The world of modern sport endlessly analyses technique and performance but can often forget the human realities which lie behind every competitor.
In snooker, we routinely obsess about cue actions, a player’s long game, their safety prowess and how many centuries they are knocking in. We rarely stop to consider the external factors which could be affecting all of the above.
Every life is informed by a heady mix of experiences, some exhilaratingly good, some heartbreakingly bad.
It’s no surprise these are widely overlooked because we go to sport to escape the very pressures which burden us in everyday life. But peel back the surface and you will find that snooker players, like anyone else, are human.
Mark Selby has long been regarded as snooker’s iron man, at times impossible to break down, yet he has dealt with considerable pain away from the baize. His parents divorced when he was young and, at 16, his father passed away, leaving Selby to rely on help from friends at the snooker club.
He rose to the top of the sport but has been battling mental health issues stemming from unresolved grief. During the last year his wife, Vikki, has been undergoing treatment for cancer. A close friend of the couple died recently from the same cancer at the age of 44.
Given all of this, how does Selby concentrate on a snooker match?
Perhaps the table can serve as a refuge. In some ways it’s as far away from real life as you can get, a cocoon away from the cruelty of fate where the only concern is whether you can successfully get a ball into a hole.
Selby’s form has dipped this season, most likely because his preparation has been affected by what is going on at home, but the experience has also reminded him of what is important. He told the Metro last week: “Playing does help because it gives me a purpose. I’m doing it for Vikki and [daughter] Sofia, to put food on the table, so I’ve got a drive to keep going for them.”
Neil Robertson has spoken of his wife, Mille’s, struggles with mental health and his pride in how she has overcome them. It was a difficult time for the couple, with Robertson attempting to juggle family with a high profile career.
He told Eurosport in 2020: “I had a few mixed results on the table and people not really knowing why. It wasn’t myself going through those issues, but when you are trying to help someone through them in some ways it can probably be worse because you feel completely helpless in that situation.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan has been through several emotional maelstroms and somehow still come out not only standing tall but arguably stronger than ever.
His father’s imprisonment just as O’Sullivan became a national figure precipitated a spiral of depression and substance abuse. It took him years to find a way to cope. Snooker was both an anchor and a weight around his feet. He needed it but at the same time it exacerbated the very problems he was dealing with.
Even Stephen Hendry, the iceman of the 1990s with a seemingly impenetrable shield of invincibility wrapped around his shoulders, was not immune to real life.
He spent long hours playing snooker as a boy in part as a distraction from his parents’ divorce. In his autobiography, Me and the Table, Hendry writes of this unhappy part of his childhood: “Now, more than ever, snooker is a fixation. I discover that the physical and emotional disturbance caused by the split can be pushed away into a corner when I’m at the table.”
It’s sad to hear exciting talents such as Jack Lisowski and world champion Luca Brecel recently talking about how they are not enjoying their snooker. Lisowski said at the World Grand Prix that he was longing for a break. When Brecel was asked before walking out at the Masters if he was looking forward to it, he sounded as if he’d rather be anywhere else.
To the watching world this sounds strange, but we are only watching. The media, social media, the wider public – all of us – are guilty of judging without really knowing what is going on underneath the shiny surface. Maybe we don’t really want to know, because sport is where we go to escape our own pain.
To some, it is ephemeral, a distraction to be switched on or off, its performers there for our benefit and entertainment. Others regard sportspeople as superheroes. They aren’t. They bruise like the rest of us.
In a world that could use more empathy, maybe sport is where we should start.
There is not much to add to this and it applies to people around us in every day’s life as well as to our sporting heroes. In particular, this applies to our every day usage of social media. There is that idea floating around that those who earn a lot of money and are “successful” should be happy, have no actual right to feel down. How often have I read about Ronnie that he should “get a real job” or “work down the mine” to know what hardship is. Of course money helps in life but it doesn’t buy you happiness, it doesn’t heal deep psychological wounds. A rather depressed and self-deprecating Ronnie once told me about his money … “it gives me the luxury to go and cry somewhere sunny if I so wish … ”
Words can hurt as much, and sometimes even more, than a physical blow. Being kind(er) costs nothing.
Neal Foulds column: Ronnie O’Sullivan snooker’s dominant force again as focus turns to World Championship bid
By Neal Foulds
What Ronnie O’Sullivan is doing right now is incredible. In sporting terms, never mind snooker, we are witnessing greatness in front of our eyes and just when we think we might be at the beginning of the end, he comes again and reminds us that even now, at 48 years of age, he is still the man.
He is an amazing sportsman. The youngest and the oldest winner of the UK Championship, that record chalked up only last month, and now confirmed as the youngest and the oldest player to win the Masters only a few weeks ago. All topped off with victory at last week’s World Grand Prix. More records, more memories, more of that Ronnie magic. It’s bonkers, really, beyond belief.
Even now, he is as dominant as ever, as far ahead of his peers that I can ever remember.
He is in the realms of dominance that we haven’t seen since Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis. He’s number one in the rankings, he’s got so many points in the bank he might need to open another account soon, and he’s in the envious position of probably needing to pick and choose from here until the World Championship to ensure he isn’t overcooked by the time Sheffield comes around.
He’ll miss next week’s German Masters, which is a huge loss for the event, but perfectly understandable all the same.
Ronnie is now 15 matches unbeaten, which is staggering in itself, but when you consider that those wins span two Triple Crown tournaments, the hardest events to win, it’s clear that we are talking about complete and utter domination. And it’s not just his play on the table. He has an air of invincibility that Hendry had, that Davis had, but that I wasn’t sure a 48-year-old could have, not even Ronnie.
Is he as good as he was in 2013 when he won the World Championship after taking a year off? I’m not sure he is, but he can win in different ways now. He might not be able to produce the jaw-dropping session of snooker we saw in semi-final defeat of Ding Junhui at the World Grand Prix quite so often, but he’s prepared to roll his sleeves up nowadays and win when he’s not at his best.
He’ll grind out victories in matches he might have lost 10 years ago, and where we always used to think of him as a brilliant, almost unstoppable frontrunner, he is now so hard to shake off even if starting matches slowly and falling behind. It was that way in the Masters final against Ali Carter and again when trailing Judd Trump in the final of the World Grand Prix last week. He just wouldn’t buckle and eventually, he broke his opponents down.
Dr Stephen Peters must take plenty of credit for his input, and Ronnie says that himself. His attitude rarely lets him down nowadays, and to beat O’Sullivan you know you’re generally going to have to play somewhere close to your best. The harsh reality is that even the best players don’t seem capable of doing that right now, and I’m not sure many believe they can beat him.
And as we have always said, if O’Sullivan plays his best, he’s almost impossible to beat. His scoring is always deadly, his unrivalled positional play ensures that, but when his long game is on point like it was in Leicester, you can’t see him losing too many matches. Ronnie’s long game isn’t always as strong as it was last week, but when that facet of his game clicks, there are no chinks in his armour.
He can’t keep winning every week, of course he can’t, but right now, when he’s playing well, it’s hard to see who steps up to take him down. The tournament organisers in Germany might be disappointed he isn’t in Berlin, but the other players will be relieved.
One man who will be particularly happy to see the back of Ronnie is Ding, denied late in the UK Championship final and completely blown away in that session of their semi-final at the World Grand Prix. It was simply awesome stuff from Ronnie, and my ITV colleague Ken Doherty described it as the best session of snooker he’s ever seen.
I wouldn’t want to completely nail my colours to that mast, but most of the best sessions in the history of snooker involve Ronnie – his 6-0 drubbing of Ricky Walden at the Masters in 2014, when notching 556 points without reply, is another performance I’ll never forget.
What a player he’s been, and what a player he continues to be. A truly remarkable sportsman.
If the match with Ding was memorable for its quality, his defeat of Carter at the Masters will be remembered for different reasons. The match and whole furore around the final was unsavoury, we can’t get away from that. The two have history and it showed, but that probably inspired Ronnie. Once again, he dug deep to win a match he might’ve lost a few years ago.
Carter played really well in the afternoon session and put Ronnie under pressure, but I think that spurred Ronnie on and he got stronger and stronger as things developed. Carter wasn’t the same player as he saw his hopes of a maiden Triple Crown win slip away, but all credit to Ronnie who just wouldn’t be beaten.
Attention now turns to Berlin for a tournament that I have a lot of time for. The Tempodrom is one of the best venues I’ve been to and when it gets to finals weekend, it’s as good as anywhere in the world to watch snooker. People who say otherwise haven’t been and experienced it for themselves.
The support for snooker in Germany is fantastic and the enthusiasm for the sport helps deliver a wonderful atmosphere for the players to play in. We have a Belgian world champion now, and a German Masters extended to seven days this year, so I think we are seeing some really positive signs for snooker on the continent.
Carter will return as defending champion, and the two-time German Masters winner will no doubt fancy his chances again. He’s a tough cookie, on and off the table, and he won’t be fazed by all the noise from his latest spat with Ronnie. It might well light the fire in his belly.
He won’t be the only big name desperate to do well in Berlin, though. Carter’s results have been good all season, but for people like Mark Selby and Neil Robertson, they will be very keen for a deep run somewhere, not just for the ranking points, but to try and gain some confidence and momentum ahead of a crucial juncture in the season.
We often talk about trying to peak for the World Championship, but Robertson certainly won’t be thinking about that. He needs to find some form now, and someone like Kyren Wilson, who has a terrific record in this event, is the same.
For Ronnie, you get the sense that from here on in, it’s all about Sheffield. I hope and think we’ll see him in the big ITV events coming up, but he has said he’ll be managing his workload from now until April and you can’t really blame him. Whenever we do see him, he’ll be the man to beat, but his focus appears to have already shifted to the Crucible.
There aren’t many things that Ronnie O’Sullivan hasn’t achieved in snooker, but winning all three Triple Crown events in the same season is one of those things. How utterly ridiculous that in what should be the final act of his illustrious career, he holds all the cards, most of the trophies, and a wave of public support that will mean 8, 8, 8 is never far from the minds of snooker fans from now until the spring.
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN CONTINUES TO FLIRT WITH RETIREMENT BUT WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO LEAVE SNOOKER, ASKS DAVE HENDON
BY DAVE HENDON
Eurosport’s Dave Hendon looks at when Ronnie O’Sullivan could retire from snooker after his World Grand Prix win, and what ‘The Rocket’ might do next in life if he did step away from the sport. O’Sullivan beat Judd Trump in the final of the World Grand Prix to continue his fine form this season. However, The Rocket has hinted at stepping away from snooker in the near future.
When is the right time to leave the party? On a high and still having fun or well past the time it’s ceased to be enjoyable?
Ronnie O’Sullivan has long pondered this conundrum. It’s a harder question for him because for extended periods of his career, he has been on top of the world and still looking for the exit.
He has now won the last three tournaments he has entered: an eighth UK Championship, an eighth Masters and, last night, the World Grand Prix with a comeback from 4-0 down to beat Judd Trump 10-7.
At 48, some 32 years into his professional career, he is arguably at his most dominant. Yet suggestions of retirement continue to swirl around him, stemming from his own comments and the wider views of the snooker world.
Last week Ken Doherty posited the notion that the game’s greatest ever player could bow out after winning an eighth world title this coming May, an audacious exit at the very top.
Such a scenario could be tempting, but if he can win eight world titles, why not a ninth? Why not 10? He could enshrine a legacy which may remain unreachable for generations. And he may miss it as much as his vast legion of fans would miss him.
O’Sullivan’s retirement threats have been constant and at times comical. His first was after losing to Doherty in the 1994 UK Championship. He was 18.
Many of us have been surly teenagers, so this premature reaction to defeat could be forgiven. However, the threats continued and continued over three decades as he got older.
The downbeat statements left many fans bored, although the media kept reporting his vows to walk away with a straight face. Surely this time he means it, right?
In 2012, it seemed as if he had finally made good on his words, although he stated he would be taking a year off rather than departing the stage for good.
What to do with all that precious free time? O’Sullivan spent a few days working on a pig farm but inevitably ended up watching snooker on TV and by January 2013 was missing the circuit so much that he turned up at the Masters to watch two old foes, Mark Selby and Graeme Dott, doing battle.
He returned to competitive action a few months later and, with a style and nerve only he could summon, retained his world title. He has played a busy schedule ever since.
So what is the reason for the constant flirtation with retirement? You don’t need a degree in psychology to recognise that O’Sullivan has a love-hate relationship with snooker. At times it entrances him. On Saturday night in his semi-final demolition of Ding Junhui he found the perfection he has long searched for. At other times it leaves him in deep depression. He doesn’t feel comfortable and his form deserts him.
The other side of the sport, dealing with media and fans, the expectations of outsiders and demands on his time, the scrutiny and judgements, have always been something O’Sullivan has found hard to tolerate.
It was noticeable how freely he played at the 2020 World Championship, staged almost entirely behind closed doors because of Covid. With hardly anyone around wanting a piece of him, he won a first Crucible crown in seven years.
Two years later he secured a record-equalling seventh world title. His reaction was not one of joy but an outpouring of emotion after a mentally gruelling 17 days. Even after making history he was still left wondering why he was putting himself through this.
There is no playbook for when a snooker player retires. In physical sports, your body decides for you. The green baize game allows for longevity, although aches and pains are still common for players who have spent most of their lives bent over a table potting balls.
Many a snooker player has threatened retirement, usually in the aftermath of defeat. They invariably come to their senses, not least because most have little else to fall back on having been focused on nothing but the table since their childhood years.
Ali Carter is a qualified pilot so he could take to the skies, but the thrill of competition is too compelling to turn away from while he is still playing the sort of snooker that took him close to the Masters title earlier this month.
Hardly anyone actually walks away of their own volition. They are usually dragged off kicking and screaming, often ending up back in Q School trying to start all over again.
Terry Griffiths, the 1979 world champion, dropped out of the elite top 16 in 1996 and retired a year later at the age of 49, but he had a position lined up as head of coaching for snooker’s governing body.
Stephen Hendry, seven times the Crucible king, made the shock decision to retire in 2012 at 43. Like Griffiths, he had dropped out of the top 16 and was finding it hard to accept losing to players he would once have swatted away. But Hendry also had a lucrative job waiting for him, promoting pool in China.
More recently Alan McManus called it a day in 2021 but by then he had long established himself as a brilliant TV analyst. Fergal O’Brien, a professional since 1991, will retire at the end of this season with relegation from the circuit looming. He plans to coach and has joined the Eurosport commentary team.
Notice that all these retired players have remained within snooker. It’s what they know and love. Steve Davis became a musician and DJ but still pitches up at tournaments for studio punditry, as if the link is too deep-seated to be broken.
Hendry of course came back eight years later, accepting a wildcard for the tour. His old rival Jimmy White, 61, has no thoughts whatsoever about packing it in.
O’Sullivan is the world No. 1. He has won four titles this season, losing only three matches the whole campaign. He is closing in on £1m in prize money for the current term and is clearly still feared by the majority of the tour. Given all of that, it would be a huge decision to quit any time soon.
Time catches up with us all in the end. There will come a moment when O’Sullivan actually will retire. Most likely it will only be from professional competition. He can write his own cheques for exhibition, media, and ambassadorial work. He will remain a huge figure in the sport long after he is still chasing titles.
Snooker is O’Sullivan’s anchor. It defines him, whether he likes that fact or not. It is his means of making a good living, of expressing himself, of feeling fulfilled.
Like any long-term relationship, it has its ups and downs but he keeps coming back to it because that first spark of love he experienced when young is still in him.
So even if he does walk away, he won’t be walking far.
The situation in 2012 was a bit more complex than just making good of retirement talk. Ronnie had gone through three extremely difficult years. After splitting with his former partner – Lilly and Ronnie Jr mother – he had got in trouble with the authorities for missing several tournaments, withdrawing last minute or just not showing up. His game had suffered, he had no form, he was in a bad place mentally. Just before the 2011 World Championship, on advice from his then manager, Django Fung, he had started working with Steve Peters, who has helped him enormously ever since. The thing is, his private situation, at the time, was difficult. His former partner was showing no flexibility when it came to visiting his children. He was assigned fixed dated, often at short notice, and it often clashed with his snooker commitments. When he missed a visit, his former partner used it in court against him and he didn’t want to lose his kids. When he missed tournaments, he got in trouble with the snooker authorities. Also, he found the new WST contract too restrictive. So he decided to step away… only to find out after a while that he missed it, and that being idle brought back some bad habits too. Snooker is the only thing he knows, he said that again recently. As David wrote at the end of the piece … he won’t go anywhere far.
Judd Trump added four titles to his collection in 2023, Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy each collected three while the “formidable triumvirate” of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and John Higgins continued to shine at the highest level. Luca Brecel became world champion and Zhang Anda stunned to win the International Championship in what Dave Hendon believes is an “ultra-competitive era” of snooker.
The final balls have been potted on the World Snooker Tour for another year in which, once again, no one player dominated and the various titles were shared around.
For the record, Judd Trump won four tournaments in 2023, Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy each collected three trophies and Ronnie O’Sullivan captured two.
However, the inescapable truth is that the World Championship towers above every other event. Its unique challenge is set by the length of matches, its intimate venue and the enhanced scrutiny the players are under. There is no hiding place at the Crucible. This is where champions are made and pretenders to the throne found out.
Luca Brecel did not feature in much of the pre-tournament build-up. There was no reason why he should. He had never won a match at the Crucible in five previous appearances and had enjoyed a solid if unspectacular campaign as the Sheffield marathon approached.
Determined not to succumb again to pressure on snooker’s most hallowed stage, Brecel behaved as if none of it mattered. He didn’t practice properly, he went out with friends to play darts, got on the beers and generally eschewed conventional preparation.
He arrived feeling relaxed and soon found himself the main character in a snooker fairytale. In every round he could have lost. He won a decider against Ricky Walden, held off Mark Williams 13-11 and produced a remarkable display of potting and break-building to overturn a 10-6 deficit against O’Sullivan, winning all seven frames of their final session.
14-5 down to Si Jiahui in the semi-finals, he produced the Crucible’s greatest-ever comeback to win 17-15. In the biggest match of his life, he raced 3-0 ahead of Mark Selby. Leading 9-8 overnight, he started day two with four centuries in the six frames he won to pull away to 15- 10. Selby turned the screw, recovering to trail just 16-15, but Brecel ended the championship with another century to become the first world champion from continental Europe.
It was a wonderful, scarcely believable, achievement for a likeable and greatly talented player, although it feels like more has been seen of him on Instagram than the tournament circuit since. Brecel has travelled the globe enjoying his landmark victory – and why not? – but his form has suffered through lack of matches and he has failed to qualify for the prestigious Players Series in the new year.
Trump has no such worries. He won the Masters at the start of the year before his season tailed off and ended in a first round defeat to Anthony McGill in Sheffield. During the new campaign, though, he has been a revelation, appearing in five finals already and becoming only the fifth player to win three ranking titles in succession.
This was a remarkable four-week purple patch. It began with a recovery from 7-3 down in the English Open final against Zhang Anda. Trump flew the next day to Wuhan and won the new event there. A week off and it was a flight to Belfast where he battled to victory in the Northern Ireland Open.
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – OCTOBER 29: Judd Trump of England celebrates with the trophy after winning the Final match against Chris Wakelin of England on day eight of 2023 Northern Ireland Open at Waterfront Hall on October 29, 2023 in Belfast, Northern Image credit: Eurosport
By now, Trump may reasonably have expected to be recognised as snooker’s top dog, having seen off his older rivals, but they somehow continue to perform at the highest level. Williams, 48, won the British Open and O’Sullivan was successful first at the Shanghai Masters and then, in typically eye-catching fashion, at the UK Championship where he became that tournament’s oldest-ever winner 30 years after he had become its youngest.
The third member of this formidable triumvirate, John Higgins, has appeared in four semi-finals this season, winning lots of matches but just falling short of silverware, although he did capture the invitational Championship League earlier in the year.
Allen was the player of the 2022/23 season, winning three titles and reaching the World Championship semi-finals. Already in the new campaign the Northern Irishman has triumphed at the Champion of Champions and the Shootout, transitioning from dangerman capable of picking up the odd trophy to a consistent winner.
In this ultra-competitive era, it is hard for new champions to emerge, but Zhang Anda did exactly that in Tianjin by winning the International Championship, making a maximum in the final. He had beaten O’Sullivan in the semis.
Zhang had been ranked 55th in the first week of October. He began December placed 13th in the standings, an incredible turnaround in fortunes for an apparent journeyman.
Robert Milkins had been drifting into that status just a couple of years ago but his resurgence continued when he won the Welsh Open in February and with it the European series bonus prize of £150,000.
Ali Carter and Barry Hawkins returned to the top 16 with victories in the German and European Masters respectively. However, Neil Robertson failed to win a title in a calendar year for the first time since 2005.
The year ended with Gary Wilson rekindling his love affair with Edinburgh by retaining the Scottish Open, having struggled in the 12 months since his maiden success.
Snooker is a somewhat eccentric sport and there were some bizarre moments during the year. Murphy’s experiment of bringing three cues to each tournament has raised eyebrows and is yet to yield results. Hossein Vafaei trash-talked O’Sullivan in Sheffield and smashed the pack against him early in their second round match before being overwhelmed 13-2. Ding Junhui was docked a frame at the English Open for wearing the wrong-coloured trousers.
Like any sport, snooker has faced its fair share of challenges in the last 12 months. Most seriously, ten Chinese players were banned for match-fixing offences, a desperate and depressing scandal, but China enthusiastically embraced the World Snooker Tour on its return there four years on from the Covid outbreak.
Grumbles continue over the players’ contracts and freedom to undertake lucrative exhibition work, a situation likely to come to a head in coming months, but 17 ranking events plus several invitation tournaments points to a healthy calendar.
WST has been successful in boosting ticket sales by at least 10% for every event bar the Shootout, which moved venues. For the first time, all standard tickets at January’s Masters are sold out in advance. Eurosport’s viewing audience for the recent UK Championship was up 20% on last season. New young players are starting to emerge, including British teenagers Stan Moody, Liam Pullen and Liam Graham.
The consistently high standard the players produce and the distinct narratives surrounding them, plus better promotion and use of digital media, have led to increased interest in a sport strong on navel gazing but less good at celebrating its own achievements.
The fact is, as the New Year dawns professional snooker retains a formidable presence on television and digital platforms. It has weathered various scandals and controversies, all of which are secondary to the fascinations of the game itself.
Let’s end by remembering some of the year’s most dazzling moments: Selby’s historic maximum break in the World Championship final. Murphy’s 147 against the clock at the Shootout. O’Sullivan’s astonishing dash for the line from 7-7 with Ding in the UK final. Brecel cradling the famous silver trophy on the Crucible stage.
All golden memories still fresh in the minds of snooker fans, who eagerly await 2024 and all it has to offer.
Of course David works for British Eurosport, but it’s still a shame that he only names the British upcoming teenagers and doesn’t mention the other promising young players, from Asia and mainland Europe. He also avoids mentioning the terrible “live scoring fiasco”. Other than that, it’s a great article. Thank you David.
International Champion Zhang Anda registered a superb 4-2 win over player of the season so far Judd Trump and avenged a painful recent defeat to make the last 32 of the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.
Trump staged a stirring fightback win over Zhang in the final of this season’s BetVictor English Open. Having trailed 7-3 he notched up six frames on the bounce to emerge a 9-7 victor. This time Zhang prevailed after an imperious performance.
The aftermath of that defeat saw Zhang regroup and bounce back with a sensational maiden ranking crown at the International Championship in Tianjin. He beat the likes of Ding Junhui, Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan en route to the title match. There he scored a momentous 10-6 win over Tom Ford, which included a 147, to secure silverware.
Despite that, Zhang still faced a daunting task taking down Trump today, who he hadn’t beaten since the 2016 World Open. The Ace in the Pack came in to the encounter favourite, given his scintillating form which also saw him pick up silverware at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and the Wuhan Open.
Zhang put on a near faultless performance this afternoon, compiling breaks of 71, 114, 82 and 81 on his way to the win. Next up he faces either World Championship semi-finalist Si Jiahui or former Shoot Out runner-up Julien Lecrercq.
World Champion Luca Brecel came through a 4-3 victor after finding himself 3-2 down against Blackpool’s James Cahill.
Brecel has been living life dangerously so far this week, after his delayed flight nearly caused him to miss his opening round tie with Iulian Boiko. Staring down the barrel of defeat today, Brecel pulled off a brilliant clearance of 36 which culminated with a tough black along the top cushion to make it 3-3. The Crucible King then burst over the line in style with a sublime 133.
Victory puts Brecel in a strong position to qualify for the World Grand Prix, only the top 32 on this season’s money list will earn a place and Brecel would have missed out if he had lost today.
“I think yesterday I felt good and today I was much better. It was an improvement. I was one ball away from getting knocked out, I made a good clearance and then I had a good last frame,” said 28-year-old Brecel.
“It is going to happen all of the time. Nobody is going to win every game easily when they win a tournament. You saw it at the UK Championship when Ronnie O’Sullivan should have lost to Robert Milkins. I think Judd Trump does it all of the time, he wins a lot of deciders.
“The more you are up for it the more pressure you are going to feel. There are ups and downs to it. I’m enjoying it now and I’m up for the challenge. When I get a chance I feel good among the balls and I think my long game is pretty good as well. All things considered it has been quite a good start.”
Scotland’s Liam Graham secured his second match win as a professional, after defeating Ben Mertens 4-2 to make the last 32. Graham was handed a bye through the first round, when Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from the event. Today’s win sees Graham take full advantage and he now faces Sanderson Lam.
John Higgins earned his progression with a 4-1 win over He Guoqiang, while Jimmy White scored an impressive 4-3 win over Jimmy Robertson.
Zhang played extremely well in beating Trump indeed. That said Trump wasn’t at his best but the way Zhang was playing I’m not sure it was a factor.
Luca Brecel dodged a bullet again. Both him and James Cahill were far from their best for the best of the first six frames. It was overall an awful match. but then, all of sudden, with his back against the wall, Luca found something and finished brilliantly.
Liam Graham indeed won his second match as a professional, beating Ben Mertens whose recent lack of form worries me. Young Liam was all worked up about Ronnie’s “disrespectful” withdrawal, but maybe he should listen to what Shaun Murphy had to say and reflect on the fact that he’s now in the third round of a ranking event for the first time when he would probably be at home by now with empty pockets if a healthy Ronnie had showed up.
In that same piece, Shaun also hints at an unusual interest in the coming AGM and players wanting changes to the contract. Of course the recent “Macau” affair has something to do with it. I recently mentioned that WST isn’t consistent after they didn’t react to the recent exhibition in Finland … well I wasn’t the only one finding this “double standard” strange. Indeed Mark Selby spoke out … as reported by Phil Haigh.
Mark Selby says Finnish exhibition ‘blew my mind’ after Macau drama
Mark Selby played Neil Robertson in a huge exhibition in Finland on Saturday (Picture: Getty Images)
Mark Selby admits he is confused that he was allowed to play in an exhibition in Finland during the Shoot Out after he was among five players blocked from competing in an exhibition in Macau during the Northern Ireland Open earlier this season.
Selby was a late replacement for Luca Brecel in the exhibition in Tampere, Finland on Saturday, taking on Neil Robertson in front of a crowd of nearly 2,000.
It looked to be a superb event and showed that there is great interest in snooker in the region, but Selby couldn’t work out why it was allowed to go ahead when another event caused such a fuss.
WST said the five men would be in breach of the players’ contract if they played in Macau, which ended up being a decision they didn’t have to make as the event was postponed until December.
They did lose out, though, as they had already withdrawn from Northern Ireland and so spent that week neither playing in Belfast nor Macau.
However, Selby and Robertson were happily able to play in Tampere on Saturday and the Jester from Leicester admits he doesn’t see the difference as a ranking event was going on in Swansea at the same time.
Asked if there were any issues with being allowed to play in Finland, Selby said: ‘No. Which is strange. It absolutely blew my mind, you know, because it was still clashing with the Shoot Out, which was no different to what we were doing with Macau, but apparently it got passed.
‘I don’t know. I’m fed up of caring about it, to be honest.’
World Snooker Tour were approached for an explanation on the situation but declined to comment.
It was suggested by six-time world champion Steve Davis on the BBC during the coverage of the UK Championship that Macau was a non-starter because it was due to be televised, which would unquestionably be in breach of the players’ contract.
However, part-organiser of the Macau event Victoria Shi told Metro.co.uk that the exhibition was never intended to be televised or streamed.
There is certainly some confusion among players over what they can and cannot do outside of professional events and that is causing unrest.
…
In cheerier news for the sport, Selby said the Finnish exhibition was a great success and hopes that it can encourage more events and bigger tournaments to be staged in the country.
‘The venue was amazing with 2,000 people,’ he said. ‘There’s great appetite out there in Scandinavia.
‘I was speaking to Robin Hull, who put on the event, he was a former player himself and he was saying he was surprised it’s taken so long for snooker to go out there.
‘With Eurosport helping, it’s been very popular over there for years. Some of the boys are going out there in May for an eight-man event and hopefully we can get a tournament out there at some point.
‘They’ve got the crowds which is good. What we’re trying to do is hopefully the launchpad for getting a tournament out there. We’re trying to promote it out there and if WST see the crowds that we’re getting then they can get a tournament on there and it could be another Germany in the making.
‘We’ve been to Germany for the last four or five years and the crowds are always great there so hopefully Finland can be another one.’
As you can read it was by no means a “small” exhibition. Last year I went to Bulgaria for a couple of exhibitions with Ronnie and Jimmy and it was the same: massive crowds.
WST isn’t making enough efforts to bring more events in mainland Europe. Of course, Brexit – that Hearn supported – has made things even more complicated and difficult. Still it’s a crying shame.
Following the release of the latest episode of the OneFourSeven podcast, David Caulfield has published a very interesting piece on his blog.
Amongst other things he shares Shaun Murphy’s views on Ronnie’s withdrawal
“I’ve seen lots of things written about this,” Shaun Murphy said on the latest episode of the OneFourSeven Snooker Podcast.
“I’m curious. I want to understand and gauge the temperature and opinion of the snooker fraternity.”
“I think there’s quite a bit of misunderstanding here. No one is obliged to play in anything.
“Obviously he and I don’t see eye to eye on many things – everyone knows that – but he’s not obliged to play in anything.
“He’s well within the rules to withdraw from any event that he wants to. The reasons he gives? That’s a different subject.
“But he actually hasn’t done anything wrong by the letter of the law from WST’s point of view, so I’m confused where the narrative comes from.
“I think there is a nuanced difference between someone like Stephen Hendry, who has a tour card and chooses not to enter tournaments, versus someone who enters tournaments and withdraws last minute.
“Those two things are slightly different, and if you look at it from the point of view of the first reserve in this case, who is Anthony Davies’ son Alfie, he got the call to go to Edinburgh four or five hours before – it was completely undoable.
“Now, if O’Sullivan knew he had no intention of going and withdrew last minute, that’s not very good, because that obviously spoils the opportunity for young Mr. Davies.
“But you have no option in these cases but to take the player at their word.
“O’Sullivan has again cited health concerns, and I go back to what I said in the podcast a few episodes ago, he has had it really bad in recent times.
“He has been really poorly. He has been really ill, and to be that ill and to pull out of that many events on medical grounds, and then still turn up and win the UK Championship is incredible really.
That coming from Shaun, who admittedly often disagrees with Ronnie, does put things in a different light. Most of us only see the players on television, or from afar in the arena. But players like Ronnie and Shaun, who have been on tour for over 25 years and regularly meet at events, it’s different. They see each other close-up and away from the cameras. If Shaun says that Ronnie has been in ill health in recent months, then surely that’s true. They are not close friends, why would he lie about this? Of course, it’s worrying and it makes Ronnie’s UK victory even more extraordinary. So, yes, get well soon, Ronnie, or at least better, fingers crossed!
Shaun also speaks about what is at stake as the new board elections are about to take place
Murphy was also asked about his opinions on the ongoing saga between the World Snooker Tour and its players concerning contracts, players’ rights, and the possibility of a breakaway tour.
“This thing isn’t going to go away – the serious battle between the players, and the WPBSA players’ body that represents them, and WST with their players contract.”
“This isn’t going anywhere. It’s only going to increase in velocity and in seriousness, because these two parties are going to clash over this.
“I’m not sure which way it’s going to go. It’s a big week this week in snooker politically. We’ve got the AGM of the WPBSA and the elections to the WPBSA Players Board.
“Such is the interest in this – normally you have to crowbar players into these meetings and nominations – there are three spots available and there are seven candidates.
“That’s the first time in history that there are more candidates than spaces.
“Depending on who gets through the candidacy and the nomination process, if certain members find their way onto that board, that could cause WST a headache going forward.
“I know a few of the players who have put themselves forward have this as one of their key mandates to try to get a fairer and better deal out of WST.
“You know, we want a review of the contract. We want it looked at, we want to sit down and talk. It’s going to be interesting.”
So … it’s not just “some spoiled celebrities” … it’s the WPBSA representing the players vs the commercial body, WST. Note that Shaun, who is by no means an anarchist, uses the words “fairer” and “better deal”. That suggests that even him, known to be respectful of the authorities, finds the contract too onerous and too restrictive.
Interesting times ahead for sure …
David Caulfield on his blog always tries to be fair and expresses balanced opinions. I can only recommend any snooker fan to follow it, especially if they are Irish.
I’m grateful to David and a few others who regularly write about the most interesting topics discussed in the numerous snooker podcasts that are now available to the snooker fans… provided they aren’t partially deaf 😉 THANK YOU!
International Champion Zhang Anda registered a superb 4-2 win over player of the season so far Judd Trump and avenged a painful recent defeat to make the last 32 of the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.