The professional world snooker championship 2022

[AlimOzturk]

Higgins in this form is very difficult to beat. His all round game is just amazing and it would be great to him and Ronnie to at it at some stage in the tournament. 
 

The fact the 90s players are still the best shows both how good the crop of players were and how bad the current crop

are. Trump, Selby, Allen, Robertson and Murphy and co should have really replaced them as the dominate forces in the game. But despite some success from them the 90s players have still hung in and still have a lot of successes. 
 

 

[151]

1 hour ago, AlimOzturk said:

Higgins in this form is very difficult to beat. His all round game is just amazing and it would be great to him and Ronnie to at it at some stage in the tournament. 
 

The fact the 90s players are still the best shows both how good the crop of players were and how bad the current crop

are. Trump, Selby, Allen, Robertson and Murphy and co should have really replaced them as the dominate forces in the game. But despite some success from them the 90s players have still hung in and still have a lot of successes. 
 

 

 

Interestingly, Higgins said yesterday the standard now is ridiculous and there is no way he was as good as he is now when he was winning titles and world number 1. 

 

Said he has had to change his cue length and he should have done it years ago as it has suited his style more and is reaping the rewards.

[AlimOzturk]

12 minutes ago, 151 said:

 

Interestingly, Higgins said yesterday the standard now is ridiculous and there is no way he was as good as he is now when he was winning titles and world number 1. 

 

Said he has had to change his cue length and he should have done it years ago as it has suited his style more and is reaping the rewards.

I would say the depth of talent is bigger than it was especially with the game becoming huge in Asia. However I’d still say  the top guys like Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams and possibly even Steve Davis/Jimmy Whyte would have a field day in their pomp’s with this generation. 

[Victorian]

Never liked Higgins but he's some machine.  Can't stand Kyren Wilson either so I was hoping for a 13-0.

 

ATM it's difficult to see Higgins being beaten,  but the same can be said of O'Sullivan,  Allen and maybe McGill.  It's always difficult to imagine Selby being beaten when he's near his best.  Whoever wins this will have to have played some of the best ever snooker at the World Championship.  Cannot pick a winner from those above.

[BlueRiver]

1 hour ago, Victorian said:

Never liked Higgins but he's some machine.  Can't stand Kyren Wilson either so I was hoping for a 13-0.

 

ATM it's difficult to see Higgins being beaten,  but the same can be said of O'Sullivan,  Allen and maybe McGill.  It's always difficult to imagine Selby being beaten when he's near his best.  Whoever wins this will have to have played some of the best ever snooker at the World Championship.  Cannot pick a winner from those above.

 

Good summary. Especially tough to call as a Higgins or Selby in top form can nullify a strong Ronnie! This week is going to be good watching.

[Victorian]

11 minutes ago, R9. said:

You just wonder if Hendry regrets retiring when he did, and if he took a break from snooker and came back like Ronnie has done. I wonder if he would of still been dominating like Ronnie John and Mark Williams have been able to do in the last 10 years.

 

There was no option for Hendry to carry on at that moment in time because he was a goner as a player.  He had completely lost his action and was literally a nervous wreck.  The daft thing about his retirement was that he packed it in after being blootered by Maguire in the 2nd round having himself played really well to blooter none other than John Higgins.

 

I tend to think that Hendry would have struggled to compete much if he had carried on in reasonable form.  He had become quite mechanical.  He never had any functioning safety game.  The scale and depth of top quality players was increasing all the time.  You only need to see how few majors have been won by Trump,  Robertson,  Murphy to see just how competitive it was and remains.

[BlueRiver]

20 minutes ago, R9. said:

You just wonder if Hendry regrets retiring when he did, and if he took a break from snooker and came back like Ronnie has done. I wonder if he would of still been dominating like Ronnie John and Mark Williams have been able to do in the last 10 years.

 

As good as Hendry was in the 90s I don't believe he had the overall skillset to compete with the players that came to dominate after him. 

 

Not to say he couldn't have put himself in the conversation from time to time but he became a shadow of the player he was. 

[Mikey1874]

4 hours ago, 151 said:

 

Interestingly, Higgins said yesterday the standard now is ridiculous and there is no way he was as good as he is now when he was winning titles and world number 1. 

 

Said he has had to change his cue length and he should have done it years ago as it has suited his style more and is reaping the rewards.

 

Been really high quality snooker this Championship.

[ri Alban]

5 hours ago, Victorian said:

 

There was no option for Hendry to carry on at that moment in time because he was a goner as a player.  He had completely lost his action and was literally a nervous wreck.  The daft thing about his retirement was that he packed it in after being blootered by Maguire in the 2nd round having himself played really well to blooter none other than John Higgins.

 

I tend to think that Hendry would have struggled to compete much if he had carried on in reasonable form.  He had become quite mechanical.  He never had any functioning safety game.  The scale and depth of top quality players was increasing all the time.  You only need to see how few majors have been won by Trump,  Robertson,  Murphy to see just how competitive it was and remains.

Not according to Ronnie. He said Stephen had plenty left to compete. Only the belief had gone. 

[ri Alban]

5 hours ago, BlueRiver said:

 

As good as Hendry was in the 90s I don't believe he had the overall skillset to compete with the players that came to dominate after him. 

 

Not to say he couldn't have put himself in the conversation from time to time but he became a shadow of the player he was. 

His cue snapped and couldn't get used to a different cue. 

 

[ri Alban]

Hendry in his prime, pummeled the lot of them.

[AlimOzturk]

I don’t think the cue snapping was the main cause of Hendry downfall. Didn’t he suffer the Yips?

[BlueRiver]

53 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

His cue snapped and couldn't get used to a different cue. 

 

 

I bloody wrote about never the same player after switching cue then convinced myself I had him mixed up with someone else and deleted it. 

 

It is hard for me to remember as I was fairly young but i do think especially after that final against Ebdon you could see he didn't have the same steel and belief in himself as he once had. 

 

Maybe I'm being harsh on him saying he didn't have the skillset to adapt to those after him. I just feel he was one of those that shook things up and then players after him built on his successes and improved on his innovations. 

[BlueRiver]

12 minutes ago, AlimOzturk said:

I don’t think the cue snapping was the main cause of Hendry downfall. Didn’t he suffer the Yips?

 

Was it not the yips after the cue switch though? 

[Craig_]

Surely McGill can't throw this away, can he? 

 

Mind you, Jack doesn't look much better! 

[Victorian]

McGill having a bad time but all he needs is one frame to move within one of winning.  That changes the calculus of the opponent who is then literally one bad shot away from not getting another shot.

 

But 9-11 would be a whole different can of worms.

[AlimOzturk]

Some amount of character from McGill there to win that frame. Nothing going his way but dug in with a tremendous bit of keeping calm and producing a wonderful safety shot. Would like an underdog like him to go all the way and win it. 

[Mikey1874]

They really need to stop talking about Jack Lisowski as this great player. He's an average player and there's no sign of that changing. 

[Victorian]

5 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

They really need to stop talking about Jack Lisowski as this great player. He's an average player and there's no sign of that changing. 

 

Definitely.  He's a show pony player.  Fluent and a heavy scorer but he's miles away from the full package.  Flash ***** plays with an Audemars Piguet on and he wears it on his right arm so that it's in shot with his bridge hand.  Dick.

[151]

Brecel is crazy fast. Always think hes going to miss due to his cueing style

[151]

3 hours ago, R9. said:

I like him and like his style of play there is far to many boring and slow players out there.

 

Same mate much better. Just always think he is going to miss because he hits it as soon as he's down.

[JudyJudyJudy]

Great opening game between Selby and Higgins . 

[JudyJudyJudy]

Come on Ronnie 

[Mikey1874]

Pretty ominous from O'Sullivan being 10-6 up not really playing that well today. 

 

 

 

 

[SecN]

2 hours ago, JudyJudyJudy said:

Come on Ronnie 

Fantasy?

[JudyJudyJudy]

4 minutes ago, SecN said:

Fantasy?

Nah prefer selby 

Edited April 25, 2023 by JudyJudyJudy

[SecN]

Would love to see the Scottish guys do well this time around although I’ve got a feeling that it may be Mark Allen’s year. He’s put a whole lot of effort in both in and off the table. 

[neilnunb]

Brecel has managed to get level with Ronnie 10-10. Be interesting to see if he can hold his nerve.

[Sooperstar]

O'Sullivan in big trouble now. Brecel about to go 1 frame from victory. 

[neilnunb]

Come on Luca! 😁

[Sooperstar]

Looking as good as over. 

[Sooperstar]

Bye Ronnie. 

[Mikey1874]

While O'Sullivan has generally been in good form, this does happen where he can't put a ball. 

 

Brecel blew him away. 

[neilnunb]

Yassssss! 

 

 

That'll shut the Ronnie louts up. 😁

[neilnunb]

Was kind of glad that Selby is still in the tournament as thought he'd be the only one capable of beating Ronnie...he can often get under Ronnie's skin with slowing the game down. Now need Higgins to overturn that game though and get Selby out  🤣

[Victorian]

Drat.  It's never quite as good without O'Sullivan.  Hoping to see Si come through that half now but it could be any of the 3.

 

Selby v Higgins coming off 2 frames short.  Start again at 7.00.  If Higgins can make this close then it could end at about midnight.  Selby looking good for 9-5 though.

[JudyJudyJudy]

oh well .  I like Ronnie. Hes exciting to watch. No more. So come on Selby then. 

[JudyJudyJudy]

although i do like the guy who beat Ronnie. I like his no nonsense style of place and his sense of daring. 

[PaddysBar]

I’ve been watching on Eurosport to avoid John Virgo. 
 

Does anyone know who the commentators are? Recognise their voices but can’t place them. 

[neilnunb]

17 minutes ago, PaddysBar said:

I’ve been watching on Eurosport to avoid John Virgo. 
 

Does anyone know who the commentators are? Recognise their voices but can’t place them. 

 

Dominic Dale is the one who never shuts up.

[PaddysBar]

33 minutes ago, neilnunb said:

 

Dominic Dale is the one who never shuts up.

Who’s the older boy who sounds a bit like Ted Lowe?

[neilnunb]

I think it might be Phil Yates with Dale on the Higgins/Selby game?

 

Doesn't sound like Foulds (might be wrong) and defo not Joe Johnson, who is usually the other one.

 

[milky_26]

On 21/04/2023 at 22:09, R9. said:

Higgins Ronnie final maybe 

that post aged well

[Victorian]

McGill's hit a brick wall here.  Looks drained.  Si is liable to miss but he's quite a talent.  A bit like a young Hendry.

[Mikey1874]

1 hour ago, Victorian said:

McGill's hit a brick wall here.  Looks drained.  Si is liable to miss but he's quite a talent.  A bit like a young Hendry.

 

That's a good comparison. He's totally fearless on the potting. Just struggles a bit with the positional play. Could be fireworks versus Bercel.

 

Good to hear him say in his interview that he's here to win it. 

[Mikey1874]

1 hour ago, Victorian said:

McGill's hit a brick wall here.  Looks drained.  Si is liable to miss but he's quite a talent.  A bit like a young Hendry.

 

That's a good comparison. He's totally fearless on the potting. Just struggles a bit with the positional play. Could be fireworks versus Bercel.

 

Good to hear him say in his interview that he's here to win it. 

[Craig_]

Feel like a bit of a change of the guard. Brecel-Si would have been a cracking final, hopefully whoever wins that game will destroy Selby (if he makes it).

[ri Alban]

The last thing snooker needs, is a Selby victory.

[Victorian]

It's a great mix of 4.

 

All time 'great',  4 world championships,  triple crown winner.

 

Established,  almost veteran under-achiever.  1st world semi-final in 14 years.

 

Fairly established player in first world semi,  4 session match.

 

Very young surprise package,  first world semi,  4 session match.  Youngest for about 27 years.  First debutant for 28 years.

 

All can score for fun and all have a good safety game,  Si included.

[ri Alban]

Stephen could lose another record here. A new youngest ever champion. I doubt it, but possible. China will go mental(in a good way) if he wins.

Edited April 27, 2023 by ri Alban