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Who are the Big Names

for 2014/15?

The Era of Ronnie O`Sullivan & Mark Selby. Isn't it?

We reached in the end of another brilliant season of snooker, and for the first time in 3 seasons, the player called World Champion entering in the arenas won't be Ronnie O`Sullivan, so we just have to see how our Champion of the World, Mark Selby, will play over the "pressure" to be favorite for every event.

Mark Selby, Ronnie O`Sullivan, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui dominated snooker in 2013/14, and they have all to do the same in 2014/15. Let's have a look of what we can hope from each player:



Ding Junhui played the best snooker he've ever played, but the Chinese still showed a difficult in the mental part of the game (when he lost to Allen on ET5 and when he lost to Ronnie in the Champion of Champions) and the Chinese Star did not won any Big Event this season, but I can see an advantage for him here, because he will be more hungry, and I'm pretty sure he will win a Big Event, more probably the UK Championship.

UK CHAMPION

Neil Robertson just completed a career of a Genius, putting his name on the History of snooker being the 8th player to complete the Triple Crown - with his victory in the UK Championship - and was the first man to make 100 century breaks in a single season.
Now, he can play relaxed and everything is a bonus, he knows he is one of the greatest ever in the game, and he will play confident, he will play as a legend, knowing it.

MASTERS CHAMPION

Ronnie O`Sullivan is playing the best snooker of his life, and like he said he had never been in such a good place. Ronnie is still motivated to play as he wants to break some of Hendry's record. He is regular, winning one (possible 2 this season) Big Event per season since 2011/12, much of this thanks to his work with psychologist Dr Steve Peters.
He won 4 events this season, lost 2 finals (both against Selby) and 1 Semi-Final (against Higgins).

Ronnie in seasons:
93-94 UK Championship

94-95 The Masters
97-98 UK Championship

00-01 World Championship
01-02 UK Championship

03-04 World Championship
04-05 The Masters

06-07 The Masters
07-08 UK Championship
07-08 World Championship
08-09 The Masters

11-12 World Championship
12-13 World Championship
13-14  The Masters

CHAMPION OF THE WORLD

World Champion Mark Selby is living the most successful moment of his life, he reached in the final of all the 3 Big Events this season, winning the Big One, over Ronnie O`Sullivan, who was loser for him in the ET7 Final as well.
Selby maybe is playing his worst snooker ever, but why can he win so many titles? That's simple, when Selby is potting well, he is aggressive and sometimes don't play intelligently, but if he isn't potting well - how he does now - he drive the frames scrappy, as he knows how to attack his opponent's deficiency and he is a safety expert.
Selby just completed his dream, and he will be more hungry than never now, let's see what he can do when announced World Champion. I don't think he will feel the pressure, and this title was a big up for him.
If we look back for the last 3 years, we can see we are living the era of Ronnie O`Sullivan & Mark Selby.





There's another players on the tour who could make something interesting:

Luca Brecel is an excellent snooker player, but somethings make him play more tournaments inside his country. Anyway he have such a big potential, and he shows it every time he plays an international event.
If Luca play more events this season, he could really win his first Ranking Title.


Michael White have show for us how good he is, it's just a bit of time until he beat Top Players more often, when he do it, he will be very hard to beat, and maybe he can enter as favorite for the 2015 World Championship already.


Barry Hawkins is still sub-estimated by many, but he have won Ranking Titles twice and reached to World's Final last year, and Semi-Final this year. He must be more confident and he could beat everyone.

Ken Doherty have said he won't stop to play soon, most of it because he wants to encourage Ireland's to play again, but he's done everything he should do. He showed good form in this World Championship, and maybe can win an event - even an European Tour - to finish his career in style.

John Higgins is struggling to find some good form, but he is being more happy with himself now, and he could win a few more titles, he is still a big name in snooker.

Stuart Bingham has changed his game a lot, he is more aggressive and he can win more frames in a single visit now. He could finally start to win titles, and be a top player.

Xiao Guodong had really a very good season, he is now ranked 23 in the world, and should put his name on the top 16 soon, I won't be surprised if I watch him in the next Champion of Champions.

Kurt Maflin has been in a very good form too. He beats Selby once this season very well deserved, playing the snooker of his life. Personally I could like to see him becoming a top player, maybe in few years.


For the 2014/15 season, former world champions will win a card to play on the tour again(or stay on like Davis), but Barry Hearn have said "It depends how much the player want to practice and give for the game".
There will be 16 places for them, if we don't get 16 former champions hungry to play again (what will surely happen) the places will have players from countries emerging on snooker. The tour will have 144 players.
Personally I think the 128 format is nice for snooker, but the city, the arena and the calendar time needs to support the event well, it worked well in Welsh Open but worked badly in the UK Championship for examples.



What will make this season more thriller, is the players like Stephen Maguire, Mark Williams, Graeme Dott, Matthew Stevens, Peter Ebdon, Judd Trump and some others trying recover their places at the top.


World Rankings here.

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