There is a lot to look forward in the 2019/2020 season. Will Ronnie O’Sullivan stick to his claim that he will miss the UK Championship, Masters and the World Championship? Somehow, I doubt that but there are many things that could happen. If they are not careful, Ding Junhui, Luca Brecel, and Shaun Murphy could see themselves out of the Top 16 this season!
The 2018/2019 season has been a phenomenal season and there is no reason why this upcoming season would be any different. As usual, changes to the rules were made and new players are coming into the fray. For me, there is a lot to talk about and below are the biggest talking points of the 2019/2020 season!
6. Is greater seed protectionism a good thing?
Barry Hearn made two announcements near the end of the 2019 World Championship. During the first announcement, the Top 32 players, not Top 16 will be seeded into the Home Nations draw. Then in his second announcement, Barry Hearn announced that the World Championship qualifying round will be revamped for the first time since 2015. It seems that World Snooker is reverting it back to the old format, where a player’s ranking will determine the number of matches they play to qualify for the Crucible. You can find more details of it by clicking here.
I favour this completely. I feel this is fairer on those who are ranked between No. 17 – No. 32. It also reduces the possibility of players receiving a much easier draw in comparison to other players, regardless whether they are an amateur or not. You can read my rant by clicking here. It is also interesting to see the Home Nations to be seeded too. It is quite nice to know that your ranking has more meaning than in just the UK Championship and the World Championship, especially if you are No. 17 – No. 32.
On the other hand, we are less likely to get greater shocks or surprise draws. Under the new format, would we still see the likes of Eden Sharav and Joe O’Connor in their first ranking semi-finals? Does that mean it is harder for lower-ranked players to reach the Top 64 now? It is a few steps away from earn’s philosophy of a level playing field and the lack of seed protectionism. Will the players be happy with this new arrangement? It’s an interesting talking point.
5. How will the most exciting European youngsters get on in the professional tour?
A lot of people have talked about the ‘Chinese revolution’ of young snooker players. Yan Bingtao, Lyu Haotian, Zhou Yuelong, and Zhao Xintong come to mind. These same people bemoan that particularly in the UK, with a decreasing number of snooker clubs, there isn’t enough talent coming through in comparison to their Chinese counterparts. Also, they would complain that there isn’t a significant amount of depth in continental Europe, either.
Enter Jackson Page, Kacper Filipiak and James Cahill.
Jackson Page
Page is rated as the most exciting and talented British prospect for a good while. Taken under the wing of Mark Williams, Page has flourished in the amateur circuit. Since 2016, he has won the European U-18 Championship twice, the World U-21 Championship, the Welsh Amateur Championship and most recently, the European U-21 Championship. He is just 17 years of age. Now he is on the main tour, it would be intriguing if he can cope with the pressure and the higher standard of the professional game.
Kacper Filipiak
Filipiak is an interesting case, despite being 23-years-old now and only been a professional in the 2011/2012 season. After winning the 2011 European Championships, he beat several professional players in the Snooker World Cup. Ronnie O’Sullivan touted him as a future World Champion and John Higgins likened him to a young Stephen Hendry. Despite this, he didn’t impress and failed to maintain his tour card. Since then, he reached five finals of the Polish Amateur Championship between 2014-2019, winning two of them and featured regularly on the international amateur circuit. Now he has a second chance after winning the 2019 European Snooker Championship, joining compatriot Adam Stefanow on the tour.
James Cahill
Everyone is well aware of what James Cahill can do now. After dropping out of the professional tour, Cahill was very close to hanging up his cue. But last season, he beat the likes of Liang Wenbo, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, and Alan McManus and that was before the World Championships! He made history by becoming the first amateur to qualify for the World Championships and caused one of the greatest shocks in the Crucible by beating No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-8. He did lose the decider against Stephen Maguire, but he demonstrated a lot of bottle and resilience. Cahill is also back on the professional tour for a second crack via the One Year Ranking List!
It is rare for such highly rated youngsters to turn professional at the same time. Hopefully, in the next few years, they will cement their places in the Top 64. They will have to do that in order to challenge their Chinese rivals or they will dominate incredibly quickly.
4. What will be done to combat slow play?
To be honest, this is one of my least favourite things to talk about in the wonderful land of snooker. Since the Average Shot Data (AST) data was released, it gave a lot of people plenty to talk about. Basically, AST measures the speed of a snooker player. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is the fastest player, with the Thai playing at a rapid 17.11s per shot. On the other end of the scale, Lee Walker is the slowest at 32.94s. All the data is here.
This is to combat deliberately slow play or slower than necessary. As Barry Hearn announced last season:
“Slow play will be closely monitored. The introduction of Average Shot Time on our website has helped speed up play. There are only a handful of players now consistently over 30 seconds a shot across the season. We will continue to monitor the situation and we are keeping our referees up to date with those players who are still lagging behind.”
I don’t really like the constant witch-hunt for players who end up with an AST of 30 seconds or over. I don’t like seeing those players punished for simply playing their safety-laden style. Snooker would be boring if every sportsman played similar speeds. If the balls are in awkward places on the table, it’s not anyone’s fault they are slow. A lot of attention was drawn to a particular match in Q School below. This match went on for almost six hours. There’s pressure in every Q School match because there is much at stake. But where do we draw the line?
Will there be any punishments for slow play? How will someone be reprimanded? Lastly, will these measures actually work?
3. When will the Chinese finally start to win titles?
In 2016, Barry Hearn once said that China will dominate snooker within the next decade or so, especially the Top 16. He also said that it is inevitable for the country’s hero, Ding Junhui, will win the World Championship.
However, China’s progress in the sport seems to have halted slightly. Just Lyu Haotian reached the final of any ranking event last season, losing 5-3 to Matt Selt in the Indian Open. This is surprisingly poor showing from China. It is even more amazing that the last time any Chinese player won a ranking event was when Ding (of course) thrashed Kyren Wilson 10-3 in the 2017 World Open. Almost two years is a very long time. Ding is still searching for his World Championship and lots of fans are worried if time is running out of him, particularly after such a lukewarm season by his standards.
On the other hand, it looks less likely that Ding will be the single major Chinese threat. Six Chinese players qualified for the 2019 World Championship, which is the most on record. Lu Ning, Tian Pengfei and Zhao Xintong have a very good chance of breaking into the Top 64 next season. Lyu rose 35 places up the rankings. Zhou Yuelong reached the second round of the World Championship for the first time. It’s a brilliant foundation from which to grow. After Yan Bingtao lost in the 2017 Northern Ireland Open final, their home fans have been dying to see another winner other than Ding. Is this the season where we finally see a breakthrough?
2. Who is next to win their first ranking title between David Gilbert and Jack Lisowski?
There are a few players who improved leaps and bounds last season. The players who shot up the ranking table include Lyu Haotian, Martin O’Donnell, Noppon Saengkham, Indian Open winner Matt Selt and World Championship semi-finalist Gary Wilson. But there aren’t two players who made the greater impact more than Jack Lisowski and David Gilbert.
Both players had the best seasons of their careers to rise fifteen places up to No. 11 and No. 12 respectively. They reached two ranking finals each last season and incredibly consistent. It almost seems inevitable that both players will win their first ranking title, but who will beat the other to it?
If I had to choose one, it would be Gilbert. Lisowski has a habit of losing his concentration during the big matches – his Masters debut vs. Ding Junhui and his UK Championship match vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan being two main examples. Gilbert, on the other hand, had two very good chances to win one. But with Gary Wilson and Lyu Haotian on cracking form, maybe they can hijack this race and beat them to it?
1. Will Judd Trump finally start to dominate?
Judd Trump is the 2019 World Champion. What a wonderful sentence for me to write! Not only that, but he is a Triple Crown winner, after clinching the 2019 Masters crown, a long time after his 2011 triumph. All of this before the age of 30 years old. This comes after a season where The Ace In The Pack racked up 83 centuries and won two more ranking titles. The way he dismantled Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins in the Masters and World Championship final respectively was incredible.
This leads the biggest question of the season for me:
This is a start of a “new era of dominance” from Judd Trump?
Before anyone writes off that possibility, we all know that this has happened before. Mark Selby won three World titles in four years, but it was nothing compared to the periods when Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, and Ronnie O’Sullivan won everything. With his seemingly bottomless potential and his current work ethic, we could see a new era of dominance from Judd. He has the potential to do that. But it is easier said than done against a great depth of talent. We don’t know if Judd will be playing with freedom now he is a Triple Crown Champion or playing with heaps of pressure by being the defending world champion and being heavily scrutinised in the media spotlight.
There is another question as to whether Judd’s rivals will up their game in response to his recent success. Neil Robertson hasn’t reached a Triple Crown final since 2015. Ding Junhui is still searching for his first World Championship triumph. Kyren Wilson would feel he needs to win more tournaments to keep up with the achievements of his recent adversary. They will see this as a perfect opportunity that they will not be rolled over by Judd and giving them a much-needed kick up the backside.
What do we think chaps and chappettes? Can’t wait for this season to start!
Great article! I’m really with you on the slow play thing, although I do like having the average shot times measured, I find it very interesting to see if they are much faster or slower than normal in different situations. But in terms of the slow play rule, how do you enforce it?