World Snooker Championship 2022

Ronnie arguably playing as good, if not better now than years ago.

Age seems to be no real decliner for him. He still must have the keen eyesight.

He just is at home when playing. He could well win no more, or 5-6 more. I cannot see any skills reason why he cannot win more.

Yeah think 2004.

I agree. But that's part of being the greatest...having your head screwed on. And I'm still not sure that the more composed Ronnie would beat hendry in his peak days.

The fact that O'Sullivan is 7-4 up on Higgins in a tournament format that most would agree suits Higgins says it all...

Its ok for Selby or Eldon etc to show emotion, sure it’s passion but suddenly it’s a problem when Ronnie does it. The last crumb of comfort all the Ronnie haters had was that he didn’t hold the record for the most World Championships, he has every record worth having now. He has his flaws but which genius doesn’t.

Higgins and Williams had the same opportunities to win word titles as Ronnie but they couldn’t manage to do it as often. Higgins has contested eight finals and lost four of them but has zero weaknesses apparently. Williams only reached four finals winning three, Ronnie has won seven finals out of eight. No one has to wonder who wins, the history books tell us.

Why weren't you using Aertel?

Well that just shows exactly how much you know about snooker.

Interesting one: of all the crucible finals, what winner (year) would you choose to have the best chance beating all the other winners (years)?

A few stand out for me: Higgins 1998, Davis 1989, Johnson 1986, Hendry 1993, Williams 2003 and Ronnie 2020.

Joe Johnson in exalted company there. He hit a patch in 86 and 87 and did beat peak Davis easily, but somehow I'd not expect him to live with the others.

Agreed. There are more players globally now than ever. Chinese players galore, and all playing to a top standard.

Inspiration for taking up the sport has been seeing a steady growth for the past 20 years or so and I've no doubt that competing professionally with the amount of good quality players you have today is immeasurably harder than it was 10 or 20 years ago.

Ronnie is one of a kind and definitely the superstar of his generation. And still going strong.

Would've used them all.

Why is it that every single thread you participate in you have to cause friction. Numerous threads where you make a point of rubbing people up the wrong way. Barred from the 'Russia' thread and warned in others. Your post history is very disturbing and should be recommended reading for any Boardsies before they enter conversation with you.

My opinion is that professional snooker is more competitive and it's harder to win tournaments these days as the standard is higher. This is based on facts, not assumptions.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion as well... even if it's wrong.

Maybe it "peaked" then but you have a lot more depth to the game these days. Check out the numerous good quality professional Chinese players now, and other parts of Asia. How many were there 20 or 30 years ago? People took up snooker many years ago as the glamour appealed to them (the money was abysmal). These days it's for the money as the sport is awash with it. Hence you've a lot more honing their skills and turning professional.

2011??? Totally irrelevant.

There are 128 players on the World Snooker Tour and it's testament to the strength and quality of most of those players that not many new players are able to break through. Not for any bizarre reason you've thought up. Outside of those 128 there are thousands bubbling under.

Ronnie says a lot of things. He's always been outspoken. None of the other professional players supported him in that statement, and many rebuked it so that tells you everything. A lot of players such as Higgins, Maguire, and ex-players such as Davis and Parrott have all previously remarked on how tough the competition is these days. But of course you know better.

Now don't bother replying to me as I'm not interested in your drivel. Go and bother someone else.

The standard is higher now than 15 years ago because there are far more tournaments and top players are generally sharper. They had become part time players between the mid 00's and early 10's. The standard in that era was down a bit on the turn of the millenium. The lack of tournaments I think sped up the decline of certain players like Hendry and Doherty. Even with that I think O'Sullivan has been a pioneer in longevity and maintaining a high standard which has been followed by Higgins and Williams who both looked on the way out around 2014 but have come back strong.

The downside is that it's left Snooker with a fairly static top 16. Looking at this years seeds there were eight of them who have seeds at every World Championship in the last decade and that doesn't include the likes of Williams or Bingham who have been all but one or two years.

I thought Shaun Murphy's 2005 Final display was up there for near unbeatable!

How is Dott an "also ran"?