The Crucible Quiz: Favourite Player
1st Place: Ronnie O`Sullivan
Well, just want to congratulate all the players who got into the top 3, as the number of votes were exactly the same! Yeah, the percentage was absolutely the same, so all the 3 players are champions, and the Snooker fans are very divided.
As a criteria to decide who's third, second and first, I decided to put in front the player with most titles at the Crucible (or matches if there's 2 who won the same number of title, or didn't even win), so again, congratulations to all the 3 who'll be commented about here, truly people's champion (haha:).
Check how it worked.
Check how it worked.
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| 22,7% of the votes |
His season so far
In the last couple of years, we had players who didn't play an extraordinary season but ended up winning the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible. Firstly, Ronnie O`Sullivan made history winning in 2013 after a season off, and then Selby became World Champion in 2014 after a poor season. It's not a tradition, but this shows you that the Crucible is all about preparation of mind, getting yourself psychologically ready for the challenge, and just with all that okay, you can care with your game. And Ronnie O`Sullivan is really a specialist at this, most of the various times he's won at the Crucible he didn't had the best seasons.
But it's not the case for him, this season has been a success for him, reaching to three finals and winning 2 of them.
He made a late start to the season and won 3 matches in the Paul Hunter Classic 2014 (European Tour 2) including one of his best matches throughout all the season, a 4-1 win over Barry Hawkins scoring breaks of 58, 114 and 87, match which I personally think was the best that any player had played in the season.
But in a very disappointing way, The Rocket, who was defending the title he conquered in 2013, lost 2-4 against Tian Pengfei, who had been doing a very poor season so far.
Ronnie O`Sullivan then went to China to play the Shanghai Masters but despite scoring a 139 Break, he lost the last 3 frames of his 1st Round clash with Alan McManus to lose 3-5.
At the 2013 International Championship O`Sullivan started showing his great form as he beat James Cahill, Ben Woollaston, Anothony McGill and Li Hang to reach the Quarter Finals, making 4 centuries, including one of them in a 6-1 win over Scottish McGill. But his form wasn't enough yet to Mark Williams, who won in the deciding frame with a 50 Break.
O`Sullivan then was given the mission of defending his Champion of Champions crown, and didn't made it bad as he beat Stuart Bingham 4-1 with two centuries, Marco Fu 6-0 and Ding Junhui 6-4, with two centuries including a 125 Break in the first visit when the match was 5-4.
The Final came down into a classic match against Judd Trump, who had previously won the Australian Open earlier in the season.
That Final had the highest standard in a Best of 19 match that I (or even Snooker) have ever seen, as O`Sullivan started with a 137 in the opening, made a 139 total clearance from nothing really as the position of the balls were very tough, and made a 134 in the very next frame to build a 8-3 lead. But Judd Trump just kept waiting and when his time came he showed his form was there in the tank as he made back-to-back centuries to trail only 5-8 and then made Breaks of 69 and 90 as he outplayed Ronnie to get close to 7-8. But again O`Sullivan showed why people call him the better when it matter as he made a 63 to stop Judd's run and then finished in style with the sixth century of the match, which had an average of 1 half-century per frame.
O`Sullivan of course fractured his left ankle ahead to the UK Championship. It was a broken painful ankle which forced him to get in plaster and play with special shoe.
He easily passed the first 3 Rounds making 2 centuries, and started to cope with the ankle, just in time for his last 16 match against in-form Matthew Selt. I personally thought it was going to be a tough match and not as easy as people expected but Ronnie just remembered the World who he is as he opened a 5-0 lead with 76, 61, 52 and 89 Breaks and then fired into a 147 Break, the 13th of his career, of course a record.
But Ronnie was never going to find any easy again as Anthony McGill pushed him hard as he did a 103 Break in the 9th frame of the Quarter Final to close on 4(11)5, but O`Sullivan again finished in style, with a 97 Break this time. And of course he looked lost when he came 4(11)5 behind on Stuart Bingham in the semis but compiled an amazing 117 Break to force a decider and win it with a 94 Break.
For a second consecutive time O`Sullivan had Judd Trump on his way, but took the better of a slow start from Judd and them when Judd did settle it looked too late as Ronnie built a 9-4 lead top scoring with a 133 Break. But just as he did in the Champion of Champions, Trump made a back-to-back and won 5 frame on the trot to force a decider, decider which O`Sullivan played a great safety and made a 51 Break from to win the Final which many tag as the best of the UK Championship's history.
Ronnie played the Championship League but gave up from it despite being runner-up in the group he played and then made a good Masters with 6-4 win against Ricky Walden and 6-1 win against Marco Fu breaking Stephen Hendry's century record, but then he was outplayed in a painful semi-final against Neil Robertson, 1-6.
In the German Masters, Ronnie might played the best he did in the season as he did 5 centuries on his first 4 matches, including three in a row in the first Round, but then missed an easy match ball against recent Masters winner Shaun Murphy in the decider of the Quarter Final and cameback home.
At the Welsh Open, O`Sullivan didn't felt fine with conditions in Cardiff (nobody did really) and threw away his match against Matthew Stevens in the third Round.
Then his last event was the inaugural World Grand Prix, and he did great there really scoring wins against Rod Lawler, Robert Milkins, Graeme Dott and Stuart Bingham never facing any trouble on his way to the Final, which had to be a third time against Trump.
The Final was very unusual from the pair as they never showed the form they did in the UK Championship and the Champion of Champions. Anyway Ronnie used Judd's poor mindset to build a 7-4 lead top scoring with a 105. But we all knew any player who had a slight improvement there should be favourite, and it happened when Ronnie's safety game disappeared and Trump got confidence from a 142 total clearance and won the last 6 frames in a row to beat Ronnie 10-7 for the first time in a Final.
Earlier this week our exclusive chat with Jason Ferguson was posted here in the blog, where we share ideas of how Snooker can grow even more around the World.
That Final had the highest standard in a Best of 19 match that I (or even Snooker) have ever seen, as O`Sullivan started with a 137 in the opening, made a 139 total clearance from nothing really as the position of the balls were very tough, and made a 134 in the very next frame to build a 8-3 lead. But Judd Trump just kept waiting and when his time came he showed his form was there in the tank as he made back-to-back centuries to trail only 5-8 and then made Breaks of 69 and 90 as he outplayed Ronnie to get close to 7-8. But again O`Sullivan showed why people call him the better when it matter as he made a 63 to stop Judd's run and then finished in style with the sixth century of the match, which had an average of 1 half-century per frame.
O`Sullivan of course fractured his left ankle ahead to the UK Championship. It was a broken painful ankle which forced him to get in plaster and play with special shoe.
He easily passed the first 3 Rounds making 2 centuries, and started to cope with the ankle, just in time for his last 16 match against in-form Matthew Selt. I personally thought it was going to be a tough match and not as easy as people expected but Ronnie just remembered the World who he is as he opened a 5-0 lead with 76, 61, 52 and 89 Breaks and then fired into a 147 Break, the 13th of his career, of course a record.
But Ronnie was never going to find any easy again as Anthony McGill pushed him hard as he did a 103 Break in the 9th frame of the Quarter Final to close on 4(11)5, but O`Sullivan again finished in style, with a 97 Break this time. And of course he looked lost when he came 4(11)5 behind on Stuart Bingham in the semis but compiled an amazing 117 Break to force a decider and win it with a 94 Break.
For a second consecutive time O`Sullivan had Judd Trump on his way, but took the better of a slow start from Judd and them when Judd did settle it looked too late as Ronnie built a 9-4 lead top scoring with a 133 Break. But just as he did in the Champion of Champions, Trump made a back-to-back and won 5 frame on the trot to force a decider, decider which O`Sullivan played a great safety and made a 51 Break from to win the Final which many tag as the best of the UK Championship's history.
Ronnie played the Championship League but gave up from it despite being runner-up in the group he played and then made a good Masters with 6-4 win against Ricky Walden and 6-1 win against Marco Fu breaking Stephen Hendry's century record, but then he was outplayed in a painful semi-final against Neil Robertson, 1-6.
In the German Masters, Ronnie might played the best he did in the season as he did 5 centuries on his first 4 matches, including three in a row in the first Round, but then missed an easy match ball against recent Masters winner Shaun Murphy in the decider of the Quarter Final and cameback home.
At the Welsh Open, O`Sullivan didn't felt fine with conditions in Cardiff (nobody did really) and threw away his match against Matthew Stevens in the third Round.
Then his last event was the inaugural World Grand Prix, and he did great there really scoring wins against Rod Lawler, Robert Milkins, Graeme Dott and Stuart Bingham never facing any trouble on his way to the Final, which had to be a third time against Trump.
The Final was very unusual from the pair as they never showed the form they did in the UK Championship and the Champion of Champions. Anyway Ronnie used Judd's poor mindset to build a 7-4 lead top scoring with a 105. But we all knew any player who had a slight improvement there should be favourite, and it happened when Ronnie's safety game disappeared and Trump got confidence from a 142 total clearance and won the last 6 frames in a row to beat Ronnie 10-7 for the first time in a Final.
His chances at the Crucible
Ronnie O`Sullivan just like always missed a lot of tournaments this season, but for me he's got a consistency nobody did this season, he won 2 events, was runner up in 1, semi-finalist in 1, quarter-finalist in 2 and only lost once before the Last 16 stage (at the last 32 to be exact), and his preparation for this seems to be happening as he just announced his withdrawn from the China Open after reach the final in Llandudno for the World Grand Prix.
At the Crucible, there won't be a player who has won more titles than him (unless Steve Davis wins his three Qualifying matches), so his experience there, having reached to 6 finals and of course the "Ronnie-Factor" will run along him.
I also think the format there suits Ronnie a lot, he's been the best player in the World for the last season and he's gonna play a qualifying in the first Round, which means he'll probably play an opponent who's never played a best of 19 before in the season, the he'll face a low ranked in a Best of 25 in the second Round, and so in the Quarter he's already sharp. But, each match is a match and this season has been proving it time after time, so let's just enjoy and support!
Of course, I want to thank everyone who voted or participated reading this quiz, really appreciated to do this and can't even believe how close we're from Sheffield now, hope we have a great tournament there. I also hope to be back with this Crucible Quiz next year and compare what people think now and will think in the next year, but for now every focus on the Crucible!
Of course I loved to do all those special posts for the World Snooker Championship in the Blog's Crucible warm-up, and I will comeback here during the championship, but to be sure you will have live updates from the Tournament, give our Facebook Page a like!
Earlier this week our exclusive chat with Jason Ferguson was posted here in the blog, where we share ideas of how Snooker can grow even more around the World.
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