There are those who are having withdrawal symptoms relating to snooker. Some cry about it on Twitter. Some keep it to themselves. One person decided to turn into an agony aunt and help other people with their condition. Like this person below. Seriously, go through #snookersupportgroup – it’s hilarious! Or you can write a snooker article. I did two of the above. Which I think it is fair enough.
Are you feeling at a loss? Do you feel like a part of your life is missing. Was 10am hard for you this morning? Are you feeling sad and at loose end? Well don't worry the snooker support group is here to get you through the withdrawals
— Charlotte #hopeshelikessnooker (@hitandhope0) May 8, 2018
Since we have all been rejuvenated by Q School, it’s a good time to look back at the 2017/2018 with smiles and frustrations in our minds. What do you think of the below.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE SEASON – JACK LISOWSKI
Jack Lisowski seems to be a completely different animal compared to when he first entered the Crucible back in 2013. There seems to be a trend in young professionals that it takes them a while to reclaim the limelight after they burst onto the scene. Luca Brecel and Michael White being prime examples.
Having started at No. 54, he seemed to be on the brink of relegation. However, he reached the quarter-finals of the English Open while beating an in-form Mark Williams and Judd Trump (they are friends, in case Dennis Taylor didn’t tell you already). He then followed up with a semi-final place in the Shanghai Masters, only to be halted by Trump again. He is also one of the most consistent players, losing just three opening rounds in nineteen tournaments and No. 17 in the one-year ranking list. That is very impressive.
His transformation was confirmed when he breezed through qualifying and played brilliantly when I saw him in the English Institute of Sport against David Grace and later against the very experienced Alan McManus, smashing in five centuries throughout the qualifiers. He defeated former World Champion Stuart Bingham 10-7 where Jack failed to do much wrong and overpowered Bingham. However, he could do nothing against Higgins and avoided a whitewash by losing 13-1. However, it still doesn’t ignore what a terrific season he’s had and it’s great to finally see his potential and work paying off in comparison to previous seasons, raising up to a career high of No. 26 in the world.
Nominations: Xiao Goudong, Li Hang, Gary Wilson, Noppon Saengkham
ROOKIE OF THE SEASON – XU SI
This is for those who just finished their first ever season as a professional. Since Lyu Haotian had a professional stint before the 2017/2018 season, he can’t be here.
You may be thinking that I plumped for him because he recently won the recent “Rookie of the Year” at the World Snooker Annual Awards. Thankfully, I had already listed him here, though because I was disorganised and not able to send this out last week. Oops.
🏆 Xu Si wins the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award! pic.twitter.com/PrjeADgnCH
— WST (@WeAreWST) May 10, 2018
The obvious reason is because he is the highest ranking rookie at No. 91, earning £29,500 ahead of fellow rookies Yuan Sijun, Li Yuan and Ashley Hugill. He made an instant impression on the tour in the Indian Open, beating Michael Georgiou in the opening qualifying round and went to beat Ricky Walden in a decider and whitewashing David Gilbert to reach the semi-finals. The World Under-21 champion put up a decent fight but lost to eventual champion John Higgins 4-2.
In a Q&A, he said that he wants to “win as many matches as possible and get to the later stages of ranking events more often.” Weirdly, it took until the UK Championship to win again, defeating Mark Davis in the opening round 6-2. He followed up decent performances by reaching the Last 16 of the Scottish Open and the Last 32 of the Gibraltar Open. It will be very interesting to see if he can carry on this performance next season, as he will move up the rankings next season once those who failed to make the top 64 after two will have either dropped out of the tour or had their totals reset to zero.
Link: http://www.worldsnooker.com/xu-si-qa/
Nominations: Yuan Sijun, Li Yuan, Ashley Hugill
SHOCK RESULT OF THE SEASON – LEO FERNANDEZ bt. DING JUNHUI
‘OH THAT’S JUST CARELESS‘ MOMENT OF THE SEASON – BARRY HAWKINS
There aren’t too many careless moments this season. Last year we saw Mark King forget his cue in the UK Championships the event after he won his first ranking event. my favourite is when Jamie Jones went to the wrong country for a PTC event one time. Is that right? May have been a dream.
This year is down to the help of The Old Green Baize: https://theoldgreenbaize.com/2018/02/26/barry-hawkins-goes-to-snooker-practise-and-forgets-his-cue/
Yup, Barry Hawkins completely forgot his cue when driving to practice and two days earlier, forgot his suitcase with his clothes in it before playing in the Welsh Open. What a silly billy!
I would’ve been tempted to go for Liang Wenbo missing a straightforward black to score the second 147 in a single match against Rod Lawler in his first World Championship qualifier, but that would’ve been a tad harsh considering he scored a maximum in the first place!
Meanwhile, here’s a compilation of bad shots of 2017!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb8VcaWmBVc&t=624s
Nominations: Linag Wenbo missing an opportunity to make a second 147 in a single match on the final black
MOST ANNOYING MOMENT OF THE SEASON – RONNIE O’SULLIVAN’S NUMPTIES
I’ll be honest, I initially found Ronnie O’Sullivan’s ‘numpty’ comment to be hilarious. Mainly because the word ‘numpty’ is such a lovely and hilarious way to insult anyone.
For those who have forgotten, this ‘Numptygate’ came about when he claimed that the majority of the snooker tour were initially ‘no hopers.’ 70% of the tour in fact.
I used to think I was a bad player hahahha the snooker tour is now 70 per cent full of no hopers.. all wasting everyone's time #getjob
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) September 30, 2017
As we all know, Ronnie is a critic of the flat 128-man draw event. This is because it is a waste of time, money and practice to play an inexperienced, low-ranking pro when they are very likely to beat them while his opponent is more likely to suffer since he won’t be earning any money either because he keeps being drawn to the top players or they just aren’t very good. Since then, “numptygate” took up the sport by storm, much to the disapproval of other players and Barry Hearn, who found the comments disrespectful:
You love going to Preston Wigan and Barnsley for the qualifiers .. can't beat it mate.. you love playing them numptys https://t.co/7R4OfBq3ld
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) October 2, 2017
Let me know how many numptys you can spot in Belgium this week.. we should have a numpty ranking list 😋 https://t.co/ESffUOjNy3
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) October 2, 2017
Couldn't cope with playing a numpty at Barnsley to qaulify. And promoter didn't offer 💰so stayed at home to do some pilates instead https://t.co/t0Ot8RBK1P
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) October 2, 2017
There is nothing wrong with bringing up a major flaw with the ranking system and format, of course not. But calling your fellow pros numpties is insulting, which isn’t the main reason why I find it annoying. Since then, Ronnie has flung the ‘numpty’ word like confetti, mentioning it in joke videos, bringing it up in various interviews for different tournaments such as the Players Championship and even he talks about ‘numpties’ when he’s commentating a match! It’s just flung around like the sake of it and I’m quite tired of it. It was very useful to highlight issues with the game but now it feels like he’s flogging the word like a dead horse where it becomes nothing but rude and disrespectful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZduft4VgnU
vcxz
MATCH OF THE SEASON – MARK WILLIAMS VS. JOHN HIGGINS
