Snooker Rankings in 2019 - My Predictions

I read Matt at Pro Snooker Blog’s piece on who he thought would be at the top of the game in five years time and it got me thinking. So I have come up with my own list & in five years I will hopefully revisit it.

1.    Ding Junhui

In Five years I can see Ding being a multiple World Champion and sitting third in the all time century list. His expert cue ball control and added years of experience will make him a formidable opponent. Once he gets over the Crucible hump he could well dominate the game and be pushing himself into the Snooker Mount Rushmore (An American sports thing, basically the top 4 of all time).

World Titles = 2
UK Title’s = 1
Masters = 1
Ranking Titles = 8

  2.  Judd Trump

Judd is in an interesting situation, unlike previous snooker era’s where players have come through in groups Judd is currently the only player in his age group that is established at the time of writing this. As he matures I can see his game becoming more complete & him winning more major titles. I don’t think he will be the most consistent player, however with the new money list it would only take a few big wins a season to maintain a high ranking – something I think he will achieve. Along with Ding I can see Judd joining the elite list of players to have completed the triple crown. 

World Titles = 1
UK Title’s = 1
Masters = 2
Ranking Titles = 6

3.     Mark Selby

The recent World Champion is the best safety player in the game and has consistently shown the ability to win whilst not playing his best. This is the one of the most important strings to his bow; whilst his peers could have a bad day and be defeated, he usually comes through. With the new flat 128 draw at the majority of tournaments, there will be more off days for players. I think he will add another World and UK in the next five years.

World Titles = 1

UK Title’s = 1

Masters = 0

Ranking Titles = 4

4. Mark Allen

It still amazes me that Mark hasn’t had more success by this point of his career. I expect he will become more consistent in the future and win more tournaments. On his game he is almost unstoppable; however we’ve infrequently seen this outside of the Haikou World Open. He will be 33 in five years and I expect him to have reached a World Final in that time while capturing one or two of the other big three titles.  

World Titles = 0

UK Title’s = 1

Masters = 1

Ranking Titles = 4

5. Neil Robertson

Usually as players get older one of the first things to go is their long potting. This leaves proficient long potters in a situation, without change you can gift your opponent frame winning opportunities – something Stephen Hendry was doing a lot in the last few years of his career. Now I expect Neil to continue to develop his Safety game which could counteract a potential drop in his long potting proficiency.  Even at the age of 37, I expect him to be at the top of the game, he is just too good a player to drop out of the top Eight & I anticipate he will be winning more of the triple crown events over the next few years.  

World Titles = 1

UK Title’s = 1

Masters = 1

Ranking Titles =6

6. Xiao Guodong

At this time he is the only young player who has impressed me consistently. At this time he is sitting 23^rd in the rankings & I predict by the end of the 2014/15 season he will be in the top 12. I don’t have him winning any of the major titles in my predictions, however in five years time while some of the others on this list will be right at the end of their proficient title winning career, Xiao will be coming into his peak and could then be landing some of the major trophies. 

World Titles = 0

UK Title’s = 0

Masters = 0

Ranking Titles =3

7. Michael White

I’ve always been impressed with Michael White; he is a fearless player who backs his own ability at the most important phases of a match. So far his progress up the rankings has been disappointed and he looks to have stalled. However when he has reached the flagship event, the World Championship’s he has shown real quality. Once he take’s that quality to every event he enters he will shoot up the rankings and will win a few titles. 

World Titles = 0

UK Title’s = 0

Masters = 0

Ranking Titles = 2

8. Anthony McGill

Scotland’s next big hope is Anthony McGill; he is an exciting young talent who shows maturity beyond his years and an understanding of the game. You can see little bits of Graeme Dott, John Higgins and Alan McManus games imprinted on McGill. At this point of his career I feel he lacks a little confidence in his ability, however when he breaks through I can see him being one of the toughest players on tour to defeat, therefore his high ranking. 

World Titles = 0

UK Title’s = 0

Masters = 0

Ranking Titles = 2

A few others to look out for in the next five years: Jack Lisowski, Kyren Wilson, Liang Wembo, Shane Castle, Ben Woollaston, Kurt Maflin & injury dependent a resurgent Jamie Cope.