Snooker season 2020/21

Joe_ Public · 10-02-2021 11:17am

Fergal v Aaron Hill in first round of Welsh Open next week. Interesting match, both will be desperate for a result with season running out of events. Looking forward to it. Ken up against Kurt Maflin.

zuutroy · 10-02-2021 12:57pm

Ronnie playing Carter and Selby in the same day. Surprised he didn't just withdraw!

zuutroy · 10-02-2021 10:58pm

Watched Ronnie and Selby there...3-1 Ronnie with 3 centuries. Best I've seen him play in about 2 years. No stats and I only joined halfway through the first frame but he missed one ball in live play.

mrunsure · 10-02-2021 11:00pm

zuutroy wrote: »

Watched Ronnie and Selby there...3-1 Ronnie with 3 centuries. Best I've seen him play in about 2 years. No stats and I only joined halfway through the first frame but he missed one ball in live play.

I've seen all of Ronnie's four matches today and he's been impressive in all of them.

waynescales1 · 11-02-2021 10:47pm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Fergal v Aaron Hill in first round of Welsh Open next week.

Dunno what to make of that, bit frustrating I think. An Irish player guaranteed to be knocked out in the first round. I'd like to see Aaron show us what he can do at this stage, a lot of 1st round exits lately.

Joe_ Public · 11-02-2021 11:41pm

waynescales1 wrote: »

Dunno what to make of that, bit frustrating I think. An Irish player guaranteed to be knocked out in the first round. I'd like to see Aaron show us what he can do at this stage, a lot of 1st round exits lately.

No, not ideal, doubt they'd be ecstatic about it themselves, then again its a sight better than drawing judd or robbo so it is what it is! There was a piece on aaron on the world snooker site recently, said he's been doing a bit with ken lately, tough season but sounded confident and like he's enjoying the experience anyway. Important he doesnt drop the head. Hopefully we get a stream on one of the betting sites, think its a match they'll both fancy they can win.

Joe_ Public · 14-02-2021 10:21pm

RIP Doug Mountjoy, one of the seminal figures of the game from the peak of its 1980s popularity. An old school pro who made the journey from coal pit to pro snooker, famously toppled Hendry to win the Uk title in 1988. So sad to lose him on the eve of the Welsh Open at the age of 78.

Arthur Daley · 14-02-2021 11:26pm

Yes Doug came back to win in 88 ten years on from his win at the UK in 78. It was a real rebirth of his career. He then went on to win the next tournament as well the Mercantile Credit Classic to prove it wasn't a fluke.

Might have won the World Championship in 1981 if he hadn't run into the nugget emerging at full steam.

Hadn't seen him in years I think he had a go at some early seniors tour events about 10 years back.

Joe_ Public · 15-02-2021 12:02am

I think he was still coaching up to pretty recently and was very well regarded. There's just something about the 80s guys that sets them apart, like beloved characters from a popular soap opera. I remember doug for his frilly shirts and the brown outfits - one time he played thorburn and the headline was "cliff grinder v doug brownsuit". But he was a fine snooker player, 3 successive centuries in that final against hendry at a time when centuries werent so common or easily scored. They could really churn out the pros in the valleys back in those days!

Arthur Daley · 15-02-2021 12:59pm

I was watching Doug's interview after he beat Hendry in the UK in 1988. He was 46 and said 'you don't expect to win things at my age'.

With the obvious exception of Ronnie, who is a freak of nature, it made me wonder if the class of 92 (or anyone else hitting their mid 40s) will win anything more. Ronnie has just turned 45, between them Higgins and Williams haven't won a sizeable ranking event since Williams won the World Championship in 2018, when they were turning 43. I was a bit surprised at that, as Higgins has been in a good few finals, including last month's Masters, but actually he hasn't won a ranking event since the 2018 Welsh Open.

I suppose if anyone can buck the trend it's those three, but we might assume they'll win plenty more, and we might find they too are having to give into father time now.

zuutroy · 15-02-2021 1:52pm

I think all 3 are close to gassed now. Ronnie was able to pick off a few events without even trying before the ascendance of Trump and return to form of Selby and Robertson but he's proven that his b-game gets ripped apart by them now. That said, it seems like he has been putting in the work this year and has looked good in the Masters and Championship League, so maybe he might have a good couple of months now. Beyond that he might stumble to the odd win if the aforementioned trio are dispensed with by someone else early on.

Joe_ Public · 15-02-2021 3:07pm

Wouldnt write anyone off. If Anthony Hamilton can win a ranking title at 45, then it wouldnt surprise me to see ronnie or higgins win one at 48. And higgins wasnt far off being crowned masters champion just last month. If a couple more yan bingtaos were to emerge, i think it would hasten their end much more quickly but, as it is, the top class competition is relatively thin enough imo.

robinwing · 15-02-2021 4:40pm

Think Ronnie is the only one of the class of 92 who could still win a ranking title/ As Zuutroy says theyre close to being gassed out . Might be enough gas in Ronnies tank for one more big one. He suffered a lot from mood and running has helped him a lot. Would love to see him win another world Championship at his age but odds probably against him. We will not see his like again

Joe_ Public · 15-02-2021 5:10pm

Aside from his other qualities, ronnie has an aura, like so many of the great champions. I'd say judd, robbo, selby, of the "younger" set, all but immune to it now, but plenty of others - murphy, ding, hawkins etc - still liable to be intimidated by his very presence. Did kyren wilson ever look like he truly believed he could win that world final? Long as it lasts, think ronnie will always have a chance.

zuutroy · 15-02-2021 5:16pm

Trump playing absolutely awful today!

waynescales1 · 15-02-2021 8:35pm

Welsh Open deserves its own thread.

Arthur Daley · 16-02-2021 6:44am

Should be Jimmy v Ronnie in the last 64 after Jimmy got the w/o

robinwing · 16-02-2021 3:49pm

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Should be Jimmy v Ronnie in the last 64 after Jimmy got the w/o

Exit stage left Jimmy . Fergal playing young Aaron Hill at the moment

sligeach · 17-02-2021 4:56am

Stephen Hendry: Seven-time world champion to make comeback at Gibraltar Open

https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/56092494

I hope this comeback goes well. Hopefully he's put the practice in required.

cudsy1 · 17-02-2021 11:18am

any way to watch aaron hill later?

Joe_ Public · 24-02-2021 1:53pm

Hendry drawn against Matt Selt for his comeback in the Gibraltar Open.

Judd has his say on it here. Not much encouragement for Hendo from the world No.1.

https://www.eurosport.com/snooker/gibraltar-open/2020-2021/gibraltar-open-2021-it-is-a-strange-one-judd-trump-doubts-stephen-hendrys-comeback_sto8146422/story.shtml

Joe_ Public · 24-02-2021 2:02pm

Other first round matches of interest:

Leo Fernandez v Ian Burns
Ken v Matt Stevens
Fergal v Iulian Boiko
Aaron v Brandon Sergeant

And seeing as it missed out in wales last week, the fates conspired to put Ronnie v Ali Carter again. Assuming Carter ok healthwise, thats quite the first round draw for a full 128 event.

waynescales1 · 24-02-2021 3:45pm

Ken Doherty and Matthew Stevens. Are those 2 ever not drawn together? Their head to head must be 100-100.

Joe_ Public · 24-02-2021 5:45pm

waynescales1 wrote: »

Ken Doherty and Matthew Stevens. Are those 2 ever not drawn together? Their head to head must be 100-100.

Played a few times over years of course, including some big memorable crucible battles, but only 4 meetings in past 5 seasons which is enough i guess when you consider they don't often go deep in tournaments anymore. Have to make stevens firm favourite really, has retained more of his old ability than ken for whatever reason.

waynescales1 · 24-02-2021 11:09pm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Played a few times over years of course, including some big memorable crucible battles, but only 4 meetings in past 5 seasons which is enough i guess when you consider they don't often go deep in tournaments anymore. Have to make stevens firm favourite really, has retained more of his old ability than ken for whatever reason.

Hmm... I must have imagined a large number of recent meetings. Ken’s sharp drop has always interested me. Around 36/37 years of age his ranking plummeted. Nowadays you’re still in your prime at that age.

Joe_ Public · 24-02-2021 11:58pm

waynescales1 wrote: »

Hmm... I must have imagined a large number of recent meetings. Ken’s sharp drop has always interested me. Around 36/37 years of age his ranking plummeted. Nowadays you’re still in your prime at that age.

Yeah, have had a lot of discussions about that over the years. I dont know is there any definitive reason why it happened, suspect ken maybe at a loss too. Just one of those things that happened. I do think the 2003 world champs could be part of the answer, not winning that after all he'd been through must have been a hard blow. I dunno, but i dont think he was ever the same player after, maybe had one more decent year but never challenged at the worlds again. Perhaps he'd lost some belief, or a bit of hunger. Great career regardless, just a shame that happened.

Only other caveat I'd enter is after the 92 generation you had a host of young talent filtering through, likes of murphy, hunter, lee, selby etc. It was a very competitive period.

El_Duderino 09 · 25-02-2021 9:13am

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Yeah, have had a lot of discussions about that over the years. I dont know is there any definitive reason why it happened, suspect ken maybe at a loss too. Just one of those things that happened. I do think the 2003 world champs could be part of the answer, not winning that after all he'd been through must have been a hard blow. I dunno, but i dont think he was ever the same player after, maybe had one more decent year but never challenged at the worlds again. Perhaps he'd lost some belief, or a bit of hunger. Great career regardless, just a shame that happened.

Only other caveat I'd enter is after the 92 generation you had a host of young talent filtering through, likes of murphy, hunter, lee, selby etc. It was a very competitive period.

I wonder if there is a change in the level of professionalism. The class of 92 are a bit special but I think things changed a bit after them.

I was also shocked recently when I heard players talking about their cue. Neil
Robertson and Mark Allen both changed cues in the last year. Robertson felt the old cue had “lost some of the power” -not sure what he meant by that or if it was psychological. But he said he couldn’t get the same action on the cue ball.

Then it switch to Ken who said he’s had the same cue since he was a teenager. I thought that was crazy. Surely a piece of timber will change over the decades having had hundreds of thousands of impacts with the ball.

robinwing · 25-02-2021 11:58am

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I wonder if there is a change in the level of professionalism. The class of 92 are a bit special but I think things changed a bit after them.

I was also shocked recently when I heard players talking about their cue. Neil
Robertson and Mark Allen both changed cues in the last year. Robertson felt the old cue had “lost some of the power” -not sure what he meant by that or if it was psychological. But he said he couldn’t get the same action on the cue ball.

Then it switch to Ken who said he’s had the same cue since he was a teenager. I thought that was crazy. Surely a piece of timber will change over the decades having had hundreds of thousands of impacts with the ball.

The like os Stephen Maguire and Dominic Dale change their cue very often ( as do lots of guys now) Incidentally Maguire was playing Dale recently and Dale was using a cue he bought from Maguire ! Maguire won

robinwing · 25-02-2021 12:02pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I wonder if there is a change in the level of professionalism. The class of 92 are a bit special but I think things changed a bit after them.

I was also shocked recently when I heard players talking about their cue. Neil
Robertson and Mark Allen both changed cues in the last year. Robertson felt the old cue had “lost some of the power” -not sure what he meant by that or if it was psychological. But he said he couldn’t get the same action on the cue ball.

Then it switch to Ken who said he’s had the same cue since he was a teenager. I thought that was crazy. Surely a piece of timber will change over the decades having had hundreds of thousands of impacts with the ball.

To give Robertson has due, he had his cue for a very long time, many years, it had taken a lot of power shots and long pots , and felt his new cue generated more power .

Joe_ Public · 25-02-2021 12:50pm

robinwing wrote: »

To give Robertson has due, he had his cue for a very long time, many years, it had taken a lot of power shots and long pots , and felt his new cue generated more power .

I'm no cue expert but i'd say correct, i doubt it would be a decision he'd have taken lightly but felt it was necessary. Lots of players chop and change but a cue can still be a very personal thing, when mark davis temporarily lost his last year, he spoke about retiring if he didnt get it back. If you have an old cue and look after it really well, there's no reason i think you cant get years out of it. But todays players are playing lots more tournaments, travelling loads more and i suspect that would lead to more wear and tear, accumulation of moisture etc, which is what i think leads to reduction of power. Playing more in humid far east conditions another factor.

I dont believe its a factor in the course of kens career anyway. A smashed cue was often held up as an excuse in hendrys decline, though, and i never really bought into that one either.

Snooker season 2020/21

Comments