Well. Since the 2020 World Snooker Championship has a date set in stone from July 31st to August 16th at the Crucible Theatre, we can talk about more lovely things.
There was a published article where Ronnie O’Sullivan said he plans to dedicate himself in snooker at full throttle over the next two years. He said, “give it one last shot and see if I can get my game to a level where I’m confident of winning“. Of course, he is capable of winning everything, especially when he is a well-oiled player. Look at the 2018/2019 season: he won 5 titles and reached 2 other finals. This included winning the UK Championship and winning the inaugural Coral Cup and of course, hitting his 1000th century.
But what about the World Championship? It’s something he would love to win, like everyone else. For him, it’s just one step closer to Stephen Hendry’s record of 7 World Championship titles. O’Sullivan has 5. But since he lost the 2014 final against Mark Selby, he failed to reach the one-table setup since. Not even the semi-final stage!
No, he won’t
You could argue that the 2014 final took a lot of wind off O’Sullivan’s sails. Losing 18-14 when he was 10-5 ahead was unfortunate enough. But he wasn’t best pleased to lose to a patient, tough, competitor who he later dubbed as the ‘torturer‘. Being a loser in the 17th and last day of the competition, O’Sullivan would’ve probably lost motivation to want to go through the gauntlet again. Especially when he mets someone like Selby.
Apart from not reaching the single-table stage in five years, O’Sullivan has lost to players who he has far superior H2H records with. They are Stuart Bingham (2015), Barry Hawkins (2016), Ding Junhui (2017), Ali Carter (2018), amateur James Cahill (2019). O’Sullivan had thrashed Bingham and Hawkins in previous World Championship matches. Aside from the Championship League, O’Sullivan never lost to Carter until 2018. In fact, the Rocket hasn’t lost a first-round match since 2003 until Cahill turned up.
Yes, he will
So his recent track record isn’t promising. But should we write him off completely? No, we shouldn’t.
Look at his fellow members of the Class of 92. Mark Williams won the World Championship in 2018, 15 years after his previous one. John Higgins may have failed to won a World title since 2011 but has reached three finals in a row between 2017-2019. It’s pretty amazing, considering he was tempted by retirement in recent years.
If he comes into the World Championship with the form from 2013 for example, hardly anyone will stop him. But there’s a new kid on the block. Judd Trump is on phenomenal form at the moment. After his first Masters and World Championship win last season, he became the first person to win six ranking titles in a single season. Everyone now is expecting him to win many more World titles. Who know if he would have broken the Crucible Curse if the lockdown hadn’t happened?
In an ideal world, I would love to see O’Sullivan and Trump in the final both at their best. If the seedings stay the same, it will be a possibility. If O’Sullivan went full throttle the entire season, it will also be a question as to whether he will have enough left in the tank for the final gruelling gauntlet. Personally, I don’t think he will win another World Championship but I would love to see him try – I won’t be complaining, nor will the viewing public!
