Snooker Players To Watch In The 2020s

At the end of this year and decade, we have perhaps seen a glimpse of what is yet to come going forward on the snooker scene. Many speculate who is going to be the next person to dominate the game, but I think there are a few players that we should keep our eyes on going forward. Surprisingly, this list won’t just be filled with younger talent.

Judd Trump

Finally forming into the complete player and performing in a manner which many had hoped he would, Trump has excelled in the past year and a half in a way which many reckon put him up with the greatest. The question is whether he can continue this going forward and claim this next decade as his own?

Mark Selby

Probably my player of the decade – despite having a spotty couple of years, Selby has ushered in and contested a new wave of competition at the very top while being one of the most successful players this decade. Ending the year and decade strongly, will the next few years prove to challenge the 3-time champ? I think the first half of the decade will be an interesting watch.

Class of ‘92

It is likely that 2/3 or even all of the alumni of 1992 will retire during this decade which is why we should make the most of them while they appear. Even though they have resided comfortably in the Top 8 for quite some time, it is common conception that Williams, Higgins and O’Sullivan have a few years left in them.

Yan Bingtao

At the infancy of his career, Bingtao has claimed his first ranking title last July at the Riga Masters. He is 19 years old and already has experience performing on the Triple Crown stage – including a respectable semi-final run at the UK this year. Many professionals predict substantial success for this young prospect and at such a young age, he, along with other young Chinese talents (such as Yuelong/Xintong) have the time to mature into future champions.

Jack Lisowski/David Gilbert/Gary Wilson

Three players yet to secure a maiden ranking title, Lisowski, Gilbert and Wilson are competitors that were able to end their decades on the ascension. With just a few areas to work on and through gaining more exposure in ranking finals, they could prove to become very successful winners as they venture into the coming years.

Of course, there are many other players that deserve to be included but I think that this should highlight the competitiveness of the snooker environment. Barry Hawkins said after Trump’s WSC win that there may not be another player that dominates the game (in a way comparable to Hendry and Davis) due to the level of competition that exists.

I think this is pretty fair given how many tournaments there are and it’s a more realistic prediction to suggest that snooker at the very top will follow a more oligopolistic approach. Contextually speaking, this means that few players will win a few events per season as opposed to one person winning everything. This seems to have been the pattern the past couple of seasons; that is, until Trump emerged.

So, what do you think? Which players are you looking forward to watching in the coming decade? Do you think there’s a particular player that could reign at the top? What else do you expect to happen in the coming decade to the snooker environment? Perhaps more international coverage? Feel free to let me know!

WPBSA/World Snooker - Jason Ferguson/Barry Hearn. What's The Difference?

We don’t hear too much when it comes to the top level executives of snooker. They mainly operate behind the scenes to make sure the tournaments and televised events that we watch run smoothly and cater to the audience/players. And on occasion, they appear to award a winner with their trophy and earnings at the closing ceremony of an event. Jason Ferguson and Barry Hearn are the names we hear most but what do they do exactly?

Although they work within the same sport, both chairmen work for differing organisations. Firstly, we have the WPBSA – World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The WPBSA is the sport’s governing body. They set the rules and regulations that need to be followed to ensure the protection of the integrity of snooker. They also settle any disputes that can arise between players or if the need arises, dispense disciplinary actions – which can happen in situations of disallowed match betting.

The WPBSA also aim to promote snooker to the general public and as well as act in the interests of the players. It was more formerly used as a players’ union but has since made strides in exposing the sport in different countries as well as setting up a number of initiatives to encourage participation. The board currently consists of Jason Ferguson (Chairman and former player), Ken Doherty (player); Mike Dunn (player); Peter Lines (player) and Nigel Mawer, (director).

Jason Fergusons role as Chairman is to effectively oversee the activities of the WPBSA. Since his (re)appointment in 2010, Ferguson has spread word on snooker and established relationships with governing bodies around the world, particularly China. He was also present during the major changes that occurred in 2010 – namely as World Snooker and WPBSA established distinct roles going forward. However, Ferguson remains a non-exec at World Snooker so that he can still put forward a significant voice relating to snookers commercial activities.

World Snooker was formerly completely owned by the WPBSA but in 2010, a controlling interest of 51% was taken over by Barry Hearn’s sports promotion company, Matchroom Sport. World Snooker is the commercial branch of the sport, tasked with organising and promoting all snooker events on a global scale. Since this change, snooker has seen its ranking events and prize money multiply tremendously. One of the most significant, recent impacts made by World Snooker was its involvement in keeping Sheffield and The Crucible home to the WSC until 2027.*

*This was originally written in October but during the UK Championship, it was announced that Saudi Arabia would be hosting a £2.5m prize funded ranking event where £500,000 will go to the winner.

Barry Hearn, similar to Ferguson, ensures the smooth running of World Snooker Limited. Even though he may not be as directly involved in the sport, considering his sports promotion empire, Hearn will often be involved in major contract negotiations with commercial partners and potential sponsors (like his attempts at getting snooker more involved in the Middle-East). Hearn aims to maximise snookers coverage through effective advertising and arranging tournaments that draw the biggest stars.

Despite seeming fairly similar, WPBSA and World Snooker have unique responsibilities. WPBSA concerns itself with the development of the sport while enforcing the governing rules set. They do not aim to profit, but with a 26% stake in World Snooker allows for reinvestment into WPBSA to further this goal. World Snooker is like any other profit-driven company but without significant interference from WPBSA on commercial matters, allowing them to operate efficiently. WPBSA can focus on improving the sport of snooker, while World Snooker emphasises their efforts on running the busy event-filled calendar.

Snooker in the 2010s – Decade Highlights (2010-19)

The decade has come to a close and since 2010, snooker has seen tremendous growth as well as the emergence of young talent who has since thrived over the 10 year period. Let’s take a look at some of the notable moments throughout the decade.

2010

The Thunder from Down Under makes his mark as he wins the World Championship. This was the start of his successful venture this decade as one of snooker’s best where he claimed 12 ranking titles. This year also saw Barry Hearn take over the commercial arm of snooker (there will be a post about this) where total prize fund has multiplied and the number of ranking events soared.

2011

Enter Judd Trump – perhaps the most promising of young talent to emerge; Trump went on to make the World Championship final as well as win the UK title. We were also introduced to ‘naughty snooker’ – a style of exhibition shots where you try and guess how many cushions are used to get into position.

2012-13

Ronnie O’Sullivan becomes 5-time Champion of the World. This included arguably his best performance at WSC in 2012 then taking a whole year off and, in his own words, stealing the World Championship again in 2013. 2012 saw the retirement of 90s king: Stephen Hendry.

2014-17

Selby’s era – winning 3 World Championships in four years, 10 of Selby’s 16 ranking titles this decade came from this four-year period alone. One of the shining standout players of this decade, Selby reigned at rank No. 1 for a length of time that is comparable to Hendry and Davis.

Robertson makes 100 centuries in a season in 2014. In 2015, Stuart Bingham was also able to secure a memorable win at the WSC as he became the oldest winner since Ray Reardon. The Home Nations was branded in 2016 and this year saw the retirement of Steve Davis after a 38 year career.

2018

The Class of ’92 show that age is but a number as Higgins makes his second consecutive World final and Williams wins his third world title, 15 years after his second. During this time, O’Sullivan has had some of his best seasons with multiple ranking titles – this included winning a record 7th UK Championship, 19th Triple Crown and levelling with Hendry at 36 ranking titles. A lot of players started using a new type of chalk called ‘Taom’ which is supposed to reduce kicks.

2019

O’Sullivan makes 1000 centuries and Trump turns into the player we all knew he was capable of – this included 5 ranking titles and 2 Triple Crowns. Yan Bingtao wins first ranking title at age 19. The Coral Cup Series is introduced (Grand Prix, Players and Tour Championship). Selby takes over 6 minutes on a single shot.

The increase in the number of ranking events can be aided by snooker’s growing popularity in China, which now houses a number of high ticket ranking tournaments. With this high popularity, we have seen an emergence of young talent from China (more so in the latter half of the decade) which most expect to dominate the game going forward. Given this prediction, it won’t be an easy task – 13 out of 20 ranking events in 2018/19 were won by players in the UK (all from England) and only 1 from Asia (but that doesn’t count because it was the Shootout). This number was 16/20 in 2017/18.

These are all just to name a few. What have been your top highlights from the past decade? And what are you looking forward to/hoping will happen in the next 10 years?

Why Were Snooker Centuries Not As Common Back In The Day?

You wouldn’t think that century breaks were far fewer back in the 1970s and 80s; and even if you did, you wouldn’t expect how significantly less these occurred. The whole of the 1970s saw a total of 173 centuries. This rose to 706 in the 1980s. The numbers then skyrocketed to 1678 in the 1990s and 1857 in the 2000s. So far, according to CueTracker, the top 4 century makers alone this decade (2010-19) have accumulated more than 2000 centuries between them. Why has this changed so much?

It mainly comes down to two things: the change in attitude towards the game and changes in playing conditions over time. In the 1970s and 80s, according to Steve Davis it was considered bad sportsmanship to continue on a break where the frame was clearly won and it was unnecessary to make the century. Another reason that came into it as well was that players often liked to intentionally end their break once they have already made enough points and continue to the next frame to try and keep their rhythm going.

Enter Stephen Hendry. I won’t delve too much as I will be writing a post in the near future about how Hendry changed the game but it’s safe to say one of the key ways he did this was with his table clearing mentality. I doubt Hendry was thinking about century records during his dominance however, he always had the mind-set of wanting to pot every ball on the table. This approach has since been emulated and to this day is maintained as the popular way to play snooker. More competitors matching this playstyle, combined with the forever increasing standard of competition = more century breaks.

Considering how Higgins, Robertson and Trump are closing in on Hendry’s tally, it really is overshadowed how impressive Hendry’s total actually was because of how fewer tournaments/frames there were back in the 1990s. The players mentioned above haven’t had the career-span of 27 years that Hendry had so imagine the numbers they will achieve once their careers are closing.

The chief ways that playing conditions have changed the frequency of century breaks made are down to finer cloths and lighter balls. More so the former than the latter. Back when it may have been more difficult to get the cue ball to travel across a table will have contributed to the number of centuries made. This would have made it so there wasn’t a lot of one-visit snooker. Finer cloths also make shots like breaking into the pack a lot easier as well. There’s still an argument as to the nature of pocket sizes and if they have become more generous over the years but that’s a whole different debacle.

When people argue that there isn’t an increased standard of play in the post-Hendry era only need to look at the centuries per tournament stats where the 1990s exhibited an approximate of 7.4* centuries per tournament, 9.8* in the 2000s and has only risen since. Centuries are something that are targeted a lot more nowadays, with commentators often mentioning a player’s ton total as they make them. This is a style of play that won’t be going away especially as players are gearing towards records to make a name for themselves in this era.

*Figures look at top 10 century makers and their ratio to available tournaments