Watching the championship last year as we entered the last wk there was a sense of inevitability about Selby winning the title. This time around that feeling was there for Ronnie from round1 ball 1 ,He had looked focused, determined & confident for much of the season, but here he just looked on a different level & if we’re honest, apart from an anxious afternoon session yesterday, his progress to the title was as serene as he could wish for.
More about our champion later though. Here are a few other things I took away from the championship.
Our runner up Judd Trump can also feel rightly proud of his efforts here. It has been a difficult season for Judd who, despite lifting two trophies, never reached the heights of recent seasons. Here we saw what a tough all round competitor he has become.A Summer with the cue put away for a while will do him a world of good & I expect him to come roaring back next season.By the way what a gracious interview after the final as well!
Our defending champ Mark Selby fell in Rd2, but after his recent troubles he can be rightly proud of his defense. Hopefully he’s back to his best next season. The rest of the old “class of ‘92” did themselves proud as well reaching the semi finals with Higgins showing his usual battling qualities & Mark Williams playing superbly throughout the tournament before falling to Trump in a decider. As for the pre tournament favourite Neil Robertson, I think we just have to accept he’s not going to be the multiple world champion his talents deserve. Of our younger stars , Zhao Xintong showed he still has a bit to learn over the longer distance, but Yan Bingtao looks like a champion in waiting, with a style that just seems to be tailor made forThe Crucible. He’s going to be a handful here for many years to come.
After all the stories during the season the topic of the world championship continuing here past the end of its current contract in 2027 was always going to be a subject of debate.The BBC did a piece which included a few desenting voices, but I think on the whole after the last 17 days the feeling is that we should never leave here. Even Judd changed his mind on it!!
I found the coverage overall to be excellent.Hazel again cemented her place at the top of tree when it comes to sports broadcasting & the BBC team as a whole were really good , with Jack & Joe continuing to get better all the time.”JV” was also at the top of his game in the commentary box. He really will be irreplaceable when his time ends.
I didn’t see as much of Eurosport’s coverage, but Jimmy & Alan are always worth listening to & Radzi is settling into his position better all the time. Rachel was also as great as ever when tasked with the unenviable job of interviewing the losers.
Finally though let’s return to our champion.The one thing every sport fan realizes as they go through life is that every record can be broken & feats that seemed at their time like they’d last forever are often bettered far quicker than we expected. That said though I think with Ronnie we have an exception to all those rules. Not only is he the winning most player the games ever had, he has achieved this status while simultaneously being the face of his sport & its most beloved character.On top of all this he has done it all with a style & natural flare that the rest of us can only dream of. He is an absolute one off & I think the greatest genius sport in general has ever seen. Long may he reign.
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