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.

Visiting the Crucible

Visiting the Crucible

View from the Top of the Crucible

I had been a snooker fan for as long as I could remember, well over 15 years but it took me until last year to finally visit the Crucible. Long had I waited, too long some might say and they would be right, but why?

For millions it’s an annual tradition to watch the World Championships on the BBC and since 1977 it has been at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Like Wimbledon and the Masters at Augusta it’s special because it’s the same unforgettable venue. Year after year new memories are created in the same small space. Fans remember Cliff pausing near the end of his memorable 1983 147 break to wipe his brow. On the same side of the arena O’Sullivan threw his chalk into the audience after his 5 minute 20 second maximum in 1997. In more recent years on the other side we've seen Mark Williams in 2005 and Ali Carter in 2008 make maximum breaks.

Crucible Front at night

After an amazing trip last year I had to come back and this year I did. I had tickets for both tables over two days of the quarter finals. I had booked the day they went on sale in July 2012, which was a ridiculous amount of time before the event. However this had allowed me to get two seats in row five on both sides, bang in line with the middle pockets.

Last year we drove from Edinburgh and this year we tried the train, coming from Edinburgh it’s an enjoyable train journey lasting just under four hours. The advantage we found was we were less fatigued and the train station is ideally located within a five minute walk of Tudor Square & the Crucible.

Winter Gardens and Cue Zone (Picture from 2012 WC)

BBC Studio in Winter Garden

Tudor Square (Picture from 2012 WC)

Tudor Square has been renovated a lot in recent years and looks the part these days with the Crucible at one end and the Winter Gardens at the other. The city centre is very nice and is home to several nice reasonably priced hotels, restaurants, bars and shops. The Winter Gardens is home to the Cue Zone. Where the BBC studio and pundits live during the day, you can look around and take pictures. It’s a nice building and good shelter if the weather turns, with a cafe at the far end.

Crucible Foyer

The View from the Front Row

Entering the Crucible for the first time is an exciting experience; the walls are wrapped in images of past champions and historic moments. The foyer is minimal, a few stalls selling programmes and a small bar area but there is a buzz before a session.

The first thing that hits you as you enter the arena and look down is how small it appears. Now I know everyone says this but it really is noticeable and you can’t imagine there are 900+ seats. The steep tiered seating means every seat has an excellent view.

The seats are comfortable and with ample leg room, although if it’s a long session you may want to stand up in between frames. I bought myself a headset to listen to commentary during the session, which is a little bit of struggle to get going at first and for the first few minutes you are scared you have it too loud, but it does improve the experience. A programme and a headset set me back £11 and I think a bottle of water was £1.75 so it wasn't too expensive.

Quick tip: Keep your headset if you plan to return as it’ll still work next year.

After Rob Walker warms up the crowd and the players come out the divide goes down an eerie silence descends on the arena. You then really realise how close to the action you are, people in the front row can literally reach out and touch the players. It’s this intimacy that really allows everyone to enjoy the enormous skill this great game of snooker requires and the little touches of genius the top players demonstrate in each frame.

Player Entrances from my seat. 

I would highly recommend making the trip to Sheffield for anyone who enjoys watching snooker, it really is a very enjoyable experience and the city has a great atmosphere during the Championships. 

Highlights of the Crucible trip: Willie Thorne eating breakfast alone in the hotel dining room while Parrott - who wore out the floor walking between his seat and the pastry table - and Hazel Irvine sat a few feet away. Who would have guessed that Thorne liked a full English breakfast? Oh and Ronnie wasn't bad either. 

A Few pictures from my trip.

Barry Hawkins v Ding Junhui 3rd Session

Hawkins is Victorious!

Michael White

BBC Studio