It seems that for the past few years there hasn’t been much change to the world rankings and to an extent, this could still be considered true. Although, there have been some considerable changes worth noting especially when compared to the end of last season. When you break the rankings down into specific segments, this becomes more apparent.
Top 4
Ronnie O’Sullivan entered the World Championship as World No. 1 and cemented his spot at the end of the season with a victory at Sheffield. This was useful because this effectively replaced the points he lost from his WSC two years ago, taking his total to £1.036m. Judd Trump trails O’Sullivan in No. 2 as the only other person to have over £1m in ranking points. However, Trump will need to be cautious as he stands to lose almost £600k in points as we enter the new season.
Mark Selby and Neil Robertson sit at No. 3 and 4, with both players accumulating over £900k in ranking points over the past two years. Selby will have until the end of next season to make up some ground in order to cover his WSC win last year. Out of his £914k tally, £820k was derived from two seasons ago.
Top 8
This is where the first significant disparity lies. Robertson, at No. 4, has £904k points while John Higgins, at No. 5 has £537k. Keep going down to the rest of the Top 8 and the rest lie in the £400k range. The noteworthy contenders within the Top 8 are Higgins and Mark Williams, still showing that they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. But also, Zhao Xintong who after a spectacular season ended his campaign at No. 6, after beginning at No. 26.
Top 16+
The further down the rankings you go, the more competitive things become because of how close the players are to each other in prize money terms. No. 8-16 are all within £100k of each other (more or less) hovering between the £200-300k range, where one ranking event triumph could mean a jump in the rankings by several places. Shaun Murphy needs to be wary as £260k of his total £316k will evaporate over the coming season.
The same can be said for those towards the Top 32 where players ranking totals lie around £150k. This is what makes the one-year ranking list so important, because it allows players who are eligible for the Coral Cup series to further progress their ranking positions should they qualify.
When you look at the ranking list, all of these players are several thousand points within each other which is what makes this section of the rankings so competitive. Given how easy it may seem to be for those at the very top to remain there for several seasons, it can be easy to forget how quickly the rankings can change for those ranked lower.
Players like Ding Junhui and Gary Wilson will need to make a resurgence as they currently reside in No. 32 and 33 and risk going further down unless they can find some form. Jordan Brown who sits at No. 22 will stand to lose his £70k Welsh Open points this upcoming season which could push him down to the 40s should he not boost his tally.
Like this Short? Click here to read: Snooker Season 2021/22 Overview – Shorts Thoughts
Have an idea for a Short post? Feel free to get in touch using the social media links below! Thanks for reading!