Snooker Rankings Update (End of Season 2019/20)

The last (and first) time I did an update on the overview of the rankings was back in February whilst we were in the middle of the Welsh Open. We are now at the end of the season and despite the challenges the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign had to deal with, the snooker did go on as we observe some movements among the rankings from where we last left off.

Due to it being the end of the season and the rankings following a two-year rolling total structure, it’s quite simple to follow as there are no 2017/18 prize funds to worry about anymore – meaning we can now just look at the totals from the past two seasons. So what’s changed since February?

It’s probably easier to start with what hasn’t changed, and that’s the World No. 1, Judd Trump’s position. It was clear even back then that Trump would remain at the helm of the rankings given his very strong performance this season. However, he continued to add to his successes with victories in the Players Championship and Gibraltar to further add to his tally. This only extended his already significant lead in the rankings from the rest of his fellow competitors. It would only take multiple major wins from the rest of the field to be able to close the gap.

Although, Ronnie O’Sullivan – formerly World No.6, now World no. 2 – has made a formidable effort in reducing the arrears with his historic win at this year’s World Championship. His efforts saw him overtake Robertson in the rankings as Robertson’s position remained fairly stagnant for the rest of the season. O’Sullivan’s ranking position was looking fairly bleak since we last saw it, particularly with the deduction of his earnings from his impressive 2017/18 season. However, his current standings would have welcomed this injection of ranking points from his venture at the Worlds.

The difference between 2 and 3 is approximately £150,000 while the gap between 3 and 4 stands at just over £200,000, meaning that the top three respectively, are running away with their rankings, leaving the others to try and catch up. Mark Selby is one of those individuals who will try and accomplish this as he returned to form at the WSC; a performance which saw his ranking improve three places to No. 4, as he gained an extra £100,000 in ranking points.

Previously, I warned that some players could stand to lose a substantial amount of ranking points should they not perform at the WSC. Kyren Wilson, who could have potentially fallen to the lower end of the Top 16, raised his own bar by reaching the final of the WSC – which not only protected his position, but improved his ranking by two places as he becomes World No. 6.

On the other hand, Mark Williams (winner of WSC 2018) lost around £375,000 in ranking points as his winnings from two years ago are subtracted from his rankings, subsequently dropping him from No. 3 to No. 10. Furthermore, Barry Hawkins who I previously mentioned could fall out of the Top 16 now resides at No. 17, as the ranking success that came with his string of WSC semi-finals have expired. Also, something worth noting is that Joe Perry (current No. 16) has £276,500 in ranking points and I consider those within £100,000 reach of him as viable threats to that ranking position. Therefore, those up to Top 32 have a good chance of catching up to this threshold.

Other notable changes worth mentioning include Noppon Saengkham rising ten places to No. 32. Despite his earnings from the WSC only netting him £21,000 in ranking points, this jump in placement shows just how close rankings are around this part of the table. This is similarly true for Kurt Maflin, who jumps sixteen places to No. 27 and Anthony McGill, who rose seventeen places to No. 22, following their noteworthy performances at the Worlds.

I think the upcoming season will act as motivators for specific individuals. Players like Mark Allen, whose position had been protected by his solid performance a couple of seasons ago, will see those points chipped away as the new season gets under way. As will someone like John Higgins although, he will have until the end of the season before drastic deductions are made to his rank. Also, those that reside from No. 7-16 will see some fluctuation in their rankings throughout the following season as they aim to protect their elite, Top 16 status.

Personally, I can’t wait for the upcoming 2020/21 season to commence with the Championship League – which has been upgraded to ranking status for this season as the first event of the calendar. Who do you think will be the climbers in the rankings? And which players, if any, do you think will lose their top positions? Let me know in the comments!

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Like this Short? Click here to read: Snooker Rankings Update (February 2020)

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The Trials of a World Snooker Champion

There have been 21 winners at the Crucible (not including this year’s ongoing championship) and any one of those individuals will tell you the painstaking and arduous journey that’s required to reach that mountaintop. Most will already know this information but sometimes it’s worth reinforcing the voyage that players must undertake in order to, as Dennis Taylor says, ‘reach their ambition’.

Duration

The World Championship spans the course of 17 days in order to accommodate the longer form matches. Considering almost every tournament in the snooker calendar lasts the duration of one week, players have to find a way to hold their form and temperament for such a length of time.

Matches

The winner of the Worlds will have to overcome 5 opponents/matches in order to lift the coveted trophy. For the rare cases in which the individual happens to be a qualifier (much like Shaun Murphy in 2005), you can add at least another three matches to this total.

Frames

As we all know, WSC matches are significantly longer than the events that come before it. Winners need to best their opponents with 10 frames in Round 1; 13 in Round 2 and the Quarter-Final; 17 in the Semi-Finals; and 18 in the Final. Simple maths will tell us that 71 frames are needed to win the WSC. Again, in the case of a qualifier, you can add at least another thirty frames to this number.

Audience

The Crucible seats an impressive 980 spectators and for snooker’s largest tournament, you can expect it to be a packed and lively atmosphere. Some players can cope better than others, but the crowd certainly play their part in WSC matches. Not to mention the millions that watch from home, particularly on final day.

Late Nights

Due to the length of matches and structure of the tournament, you can expect some sessions to run into the late evenings, sometimes even past midnight. If you’re up against a player that is on the verge of being eliminated, you can be sure that they’ll do everything they can to stay in the event. So plenty of coffee and rest!

Fiercer Competition

The nature of the WSC means that you won’t get an easy route to the final, as it whittles out the weaker competition and the best performers remain. In certain iterations (such as this year) there will be significantly harder halves of the draw, meaning you will always have to face top players in order to reach the summit. And when it’s the World Championship, you can be certain that they’re on the ball.

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Like this Short? Click here to read: Should The World Snooker Championship Only Include Top 32?

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Ronnie O'Sullivan's Brutal Honesty - Is There Any Truth Behind It?

Following his second round triumph over Ding, Ronnie O’Sullivan took to the microphone in his post-match interview with Rob Walker to voice his honest assessment of the current standard of play. O’Sullivan stated his opinions on younger players and those lower in the rankings which received an uproar of a response on social media as he trended for some time afterwards. But is there any truth to what he said?

For those who didn’t catch the interview or are reading at a future date, O’Sullivan made the audacious, and perhaps excessive, statement involving sentiments such as ‘they’re not that good’ and ‘they would make half decent amateurs’. This was concluded by the jest of him saying that he would probably need to ‘lose an arm and a leg’ to fall out of the top 50. While he expressed a harsh reality, I think there may be a little misinterpretation (believe it or not) in how many understood his words as debates were sent flying regarding various establishment issues.

Here’s what I think O’Sullivan was trying to put across. I think his main point was that there aren’t any young prodigies that are comparable to what he, Higgins, Williams and Hendry introduced to snooker. By the time they were 25, they had all achieved each of the Triple Crown titles, whilst having to compete against each other. Following this Class of ’92, no one has come close to replicating these feats*. Players of this current generation tend to peak a little later on in their careers, during their late 20s/30s and hardly any of them introduced a game-changer similar to the aforementioned above.

A further underlying point I think O’Sullivan was trying to clarify was that he perhaps expected the likes of himself and Williams/Higgins to be forced out of the game by this point of their careers. And the fact that they are still playing to this level with the ranking positions they hold show that the standard isn’t as good as it should be. But I think this is more to do with how well they are competing in what is considered the most competitive era.

The natural evolution of sport is that athletes tend to improve over time and I think being able to perform highly whilst they age is part of that, which is what we’re seeing from the Class of ’92 (among others) and I expect many of the current top breed of players to do the same. Let’s not forget that in the pre-Crucible days, the average age of a snooker player was quite high in comparison to today.

The aftermath of O’Sullivan’s interview ignited a number of discussions pertaining to things such as the flat-128 draw, ranking system, tour cards and amateur scene. Things that are outside of O’Sullivan’s direct control. Now, was what he said harsh? Yes. But why are people acting so surprised? This is the same person that referred to everyone as ‘numpties’ before this. It’s all a part of his persona and character, something that still severely lacks in snooker today. He was definitely just having a bit of fun, as he stated in that very interview about his ability to easily switch off away from the table.

If anyone has the accolades to support saying statements like this, you would think it’s O’Sullivan. It doesn’t make it right, but it’s not even about that. The problems that were being talked about following this interview all related to the running of the snooker tour. And I reckon those at the helm would have loved seeing Ronnie O’Sullivan trending on Twitter along with the numerous headlines that came along with this expression of thought.

*There will be a future Throwback Short post looking at the successes of the Class of ’92 during the 1990s. Stay tuned!

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Like this Short? Click here to read: Ronnie O'Sullivan and the World Championships

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Should The World Snooker Championship Only Include Top 32?

I was asked recently whether it made sense for the World Snooker Championship to only include the Top 32 players and while it seemed to be an obvious answer, I thought I would attempt to see if there was any justification that could potentially support this idea. Whether it’s based on the official rankings or the one-year list, is it viable for the biggest tournament to house only the biggest players?

My guess for the logic supporting this idea is that since the World Championship is the most coveted prize in snooker, it’s only deserving that the Top 32 are the ones to contest for the top prize. In theory, it should result in the highest quality matches and provide the fans with familiar faces each year. Furthermore, considering the WSC hasn’t seen anyone outside the Top 32 win for the past twenty years (at least), with the exception of Shaun Murphy, then surely it makes sense to only include these players since the event whittles out the lower ranked players anyway?

Another factor that really disrupts the idea of qualifying for the WSC is the Coral Cup. The Coral Cup series of events (Tour, Players & Grand Prix) are ranking tournaments based on the one-year ranking list whereby the top performers of the current season are eligible to compete. And these are some of the most popular events of the season, among players and fans alike, which have the top players racing to try and reach the threshold that would allow them to compete in the next event of the series.

So if the most favoured tournaments follow this kind of format, and the winners of the WSC are the higher ranked players anyway, why shouldn’t the World Championship adopt a similar approach? Well, it comes down to the reasons we all love the WSC in the first place. The WSC isn’t just any event that is similar to the rest of the tournaments that reside in the season. The duration of the contest as well as what’s at stake changes the landscape of the environment, and the mentality of those competing.

While it would be a somewhat interesting ‘Race to the Crucible’ or ‘Race to Top 32’, only including these players would completely alienate the rest of the professional players on tour that fall outside of this ranking but deserve a shot at the World Championship. There would be no incentive for players that are perhaps outside of the Top 64 to continue their efforts if it won’t lead to anything. Of course they can continue competing in the already existing flat-draw tournaments but everything in the season is a build-up to the WSC, which is an opportunity every professional player should have a shot at earning.

Also, the sheer unpredictability of the WSC is what makes it so intriguing to watch in the first place. After a rigorous qualifying process (link to post below), the first round matches can often provide the biggest shocks as the tournament gets under way. I mean, look at this year as Noppon Saengkham surpassed Shaun Murphy, who is one of this season’s top players; and Jamie Clarke as he toppled Mark Allen in the first round. Disallowing 75% of the tour from competing in the WSC would deny moments such as these.

There may be some sound basis for the idea of only including the Top 32 players for the World Championship, but ultimately wouldn’t make too much sense to impose such a game-changing dynamic. While there are some tournaments which involve a unique format such as the Coral Cup - which personally, are among my favourite events – its distinctiveness and link as a group of events shouldn’t be diminished by populating the season with tournaments that exclusively follow this format.

But tell me, what do you think? What are some of your favourite events and do you think the World Championship should remain unaltered, as the constant for every season?

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