Two months from today, on April 16th, all eyes will turn to The Crucible theatre in Sheffield, as the curtain is raised on 17 days of snooker drama, that in the end will crown the 2022 world champion.
So with this much of the season played, what have we learnt so far? ,who are the real contenders? & who are the potential dark horses?
Well at this stage, the man undoubtedly at the top of most peoples list is our most recent title winner , Neil Robertson. That win was Neil's third success of what has been a disrupted season for him, but it'd be a brave man to say that'll be his last. He just looks at the moment like someone completely at ease with his game, but in assessing his chances this year, can we really discount his Crucible campaigns of the last decade? Time & time again over that time, Neil has got to the Crucible as one of the favourites, but after flattering to deceive in the first week, he has fallen apart in week two. The reasons for this seem to be as much a mystery to him as the rest of us, but if I was to give him my cents on the problem, I'm of the opinion that he tends to slip into overthinking mode & the further he gets into the tournament, the more in his mind it becomes about trying not to lose, rather than pushing on to win. I actually think this was the same the year he won it, but the difference that time was we ended up with a last four who were all of that mindset & he managed to be last man standing. Unless he can address this issue ,I fear we'll see him get bogged down again & be left scratching his head as to how history has repeated itself.
The favourite still in many bookies lists is Judd Trump, but this can only be based on his efforts over the last few seasons, not on anything we've seen this year & certainly not on his Crucible record. Despite winning the Champion of Champions earlier in the season, I'm struggling to think of the last time we saw Judd play at his absolute best. A few times this season he's looked like he may be ready to catch fire ,but it just hasn't happened yet. It could well be, that despite his protestations that he see's every tournament the same, he has geared his season this time around peaking for Sheffield & we'll see a new Judd over the next few tournaments, but we're going to have to, if he's add to his world title tally.
If the above two mentioned have questionable Crucible records to overcome, that certainly couldn't be said of our defending champion Mark Selby, who seems to have a game & temperament tailor made for the Crucible.He simply dominated the tournament last year & looked the likely winner from a day one.This season has of course been very different for him & his brave decision to go public with his mental health struggles has helped shine a light on a problem that frankly needs more public understanding. We all hope the help he is now receiving will see him get back to good place mentally. This year for him that'll be the priority, but needless to say if that were to happen by the Crucible, he would again be a hard man to beat.
Elsewhere the "Class of '92" continue to defy father time & all three have again lifted titles this season. At times they have all produced fabulous snooker, but have each on occasion struggled to back up a good performance again in the next match. Now there are two schools of thought as to how this would play out in a multi session match.The first is, no matter how long the match, one bad session can end you. I'm of the second school of thought, that see's this an advantage, but only if you have the ringcraft to limit the damage. If you can make your bad session a 5-3 or 4-4 instead of a 6-1 or 7-1,then you can certainly turn any game around. These great champions certainly fall in to that category.
At the other end of the scale we have the young pretenders.. Zhou Xintong , Yan Bingtao, Hossein Vafaei & Luca Brecel, have all been flying the flag for the twentysomethings & have all now established themselves as top players. The question is are any of them yet ready for the "marathon of the mind" that is the Crucible. At this stage you would have to say that Yan is potentially the best suited, with a steady temperament & willingness to get down & dirty in matches, but such is the exuberance of the other three, you could certainly see them make waves even if in the end they were to ultimately fall short this time.Their day is not far away though.
Elsewhere there a few I'd put into the "needing every light to be green" category. These would be players like Barry Hawkins, who has played superbly in reaching two finals in the last month, only to run into Robertson on each occasion & that in a nutshell has always been Barry's problem at the Crucible.He has beaten the biggest names in the sport there, but still fallen short in the final shake up. Mark Allen is another who is capable of anything & with his legal problems seemingly behind I fancy him to challenge for another trophy before the seasons end, but I just don't see it being the world crown. Also here I'd put Shaun Murphy, after all, he fell only a few frames short of the title last year, but has been blighted by injury this term. If the coming months see him find some form,he could make another bold bid to add to his 2005 success. Another often touted for Crucible success is Kyren Wilson, but he has produced little this season to suggest that this will be his year either.
Two months is a long time in snooker terms & a lot could change between now & the Crucible, but at this stage if i was to be pushed of a prediction, I just have a feeling we could be toasting a member of the "class of '92"again. Now which one,,,,,,,,,,,,,
