WIDE OPEN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SET TO END TOUGH SNOOKER SEASON
It's nice to be back! Unfortunately, due to some personal reasons, I've had to be away from the blog for a few months. I've changed companies in my daily job and the start in the new one has been a rush! But it's nice to be back writing.
Three months away from the blog hasn't meant three months away from snooker, though! I've been following the tour closely as always, and now I'm looking forward to the final event of a - very - tough season in many ways!
Having been in Sheffield last year for the World Championship, it's quite a different feeling to be watching it from home now. But I'm sure the Crucible will be buzzing as always, even from the telly! Now, before I go through my many contenders for this year, I just want to adress a few topics that made the news this season and will certainly be spoken of during the broad coverage of the championship's 17 days:
Tournaments cancelled and lost of sponsorship
Since the pandemic not just snooker but sports in general are still not quite at 100% pace. Events in China have not made their way back to the calendar yet, and due to "lack of funding from promoters" the Turkish Masters was cancelled, despite its successful debut last season. To come with that, the company "Cazoo", which had a deal to sponsor a number of events on tour this season, went through finnancial troubles leaving the ITV series sponsorless until the last minute, when the online casino "Duelbits" came in as new sponsors - reason of even more controversy.
Well, these are definitely problems that are out of World Snooker Tour's (WST) control, but there was a containment plan, in a way. Ok, the new sponsor didn't please many, but the ITV series were still successfully held without any impacts in prize money.
As for the Turkish Masters, the "WST Classic" came in as a replacement. It was an enjoyable tournament, just a bit too similar to what we've seen in the lockdown events to make it special.
Too many invitationals
A target of many player's complaints this season have been the high amount of invitational events on tour, making the calendar too scarce.
This season the "World Mixed Doubles" and the "Hong Kong Masters" joined another three invitational events we have on tour. Along with that we have the three events from the ITV Series which are exclusive to a small number of qualified players, the World Championship where the top 16 are pre-qualified and the UK Championship which adopted the same tiered system.
Since most of the other ranking events hold qualifiers as well, there's been massive gaps between matches for the lower ranked players at some points.
Of course when we can get tournaments back in China this will improve, but I think that the tiered systems will become a trend in WST events. Flat formats, especially with matches being best of 7 or 5 frames cause too many early upsets, and although I don't question the ability of the lower ranked players, from a marketing point of view it's very important for the public to feel identified with the players they're watching.
We've just seen at the Tour Championship in Hull the impact that the absence of players like O'Sullivan, Trump and Robertson had for a poor crowd attendance. Even at the great Tempodrom in Berlin, the event has been very prejudiced over the years for the lack of star players in its lineup.
And if you think the tiered system is unfair, does it make sense for the lower ranked players to play matches important for their tour survival against the top players instead of their direct rivals? Also, when you look at the World Championship in its long format, isn't it always the top players that make it deep anyway?
The flat draws are good fun now and then, but I expect changes in the overall structure of ranking events and I foresee the tiered draws becoming the norm again in the near future.
Match-fixing investigations
England's Mark King was the latest player to join a list of 11 suspended over match-fixing investigations. The list has other 10 Chinese players, including two top-16 and triple-crown event winners in Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao.
Not unlike some of the other issues mentioned above, match-fixing isn't a problem that's exclusive to snooker, but of course 11 players being found out in a tour of 130 players have hit the sport on the chin.
I'm still waiting for the result of the hearings to issue an opinion on this, but I just want to say that when a player has practiced as much as I'm sure these guys have done just to make it on tour, it's simply inconceivable to me why they would subject themselves to lose on purpose. I practice only a few hours a week for my local league, and yet that effort would be enough to make me feel offended if someone offered anything to me in order to miss a shot on purpose. That's why greed is the only reason there is in my opinion.
I hope that we have fair hearings and heavy sanction to players that are found out guilty. It's just a shame that the hearing of the Chinese players will be during the World Championship, which will bring even more attention to this unfortunate matter during our blue-ribband event, but it's good to know the issue is being looked after anyway.
Ronnie v Dawson
A few weeks ago the World Champion and World Number 1 Ronnie O'Sullivan had one of his most controversial interviews ever (and that's saying something), claiming that snooker was in its "worst place ever".
WST Chairman Steve Dawson followed that up with a very strong statement.
If you somehow haven't heard of these, both interview and statement are linked above. But to sum this up, I don't know exactly what to think about it other than that it was all very damaging to snooker.
Ronnie addressed some of the issues I've already given my opinions about in here, but he was very offensive and exaggerated despite not being totally wrong. Dawson, in his right, was the same.
I personally think Ronnie had to hear some of the things Dawson said, but did it have to be from the chairman of WST, and publicly? I'm not sure if that was adequate or smart. One thing I know for sure is that a lot will be spoken about that in the TV studios in Sheffield for the next few weeks, and we can expect the subject to be brought up again in the annual chairman's interview at the Crucible this year - that promises to be the most interesting one ever!
THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, from April 15th to May 1st.
Now that I've got everything else out of the way, the best part: let's talk about the action on the table!
I know we say that from time to time, but this year the championship does indeed look very wide open. And that's because none of our usual contenders (Ronnie, Selby, Trump and Robertson) have had standout seasons coming into Sheffield like they've had in the past. For exemple, last year Robertson was a cut above the rest coming into this event, and in the years prior to that it had been Judd Trump. Being the best player of the season doesn't mean you'll win it, in fact arguably it may even be a disadvantage, but it makes the life of the predictors a lot easier!
The most successful player of the season has been Mark Allen, who won the UK Championship, World Grand Prix, Northern Ireland Open, and was runner-up in the British Open. However, the player of the moment is Shaun Murphy - who won the last two events of the prestigious ITV Series (Players Championship and Tour Championship).
Has Allen peaked too early? Does Murphy have enough stamina to overcome his well-documented neck problems for 17 days? There's also Kyren Wilson, who's having a very good season but arrives in Sheffield under the radar - we know how good he is in these long matches.
With all that said, if I had to pick a player to save my life, I think the safer option is still Mark Selby. He's back playing near his best, and his granite style is built for the Crucible. But his section of the draw is the hardest, as he could cross paths with ether Kyren Wilson or John Higgins already in an eventual quarter-final, with both Allen and Robertson also on his half of the draw.
The Qualifiers are still being played though, and as usual some of the names coming through could change our perspective of the draw depending on where they land. Therefore I may combeack after the qualifiers or after Round 1 (if I get the time to) with further predictions. For now... Enjoy the Crucible!
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