2024 Champion of Champions

[Cue crafty]

You could see it slowly dispersing through the lights when they switched to the wide shot. Odd. Maybe they have Uriah Heap on to sing a quick song during the ads.

They'll have Roger Dean in next to paint the advertising sidings....

[Cue crafty]

no... it just consists of...

LOL

Ha ha, yes definitely the latter. 🤪

Reminds me of when a dearly missed Spike Milligan called then Prince Charles a grovelling B'stard 😂😂

[vmax]

Tale of two stories this afternoon with Kyren V Luca, it's easy to see the work Wilson's been putting in because his cue ball is great right now. Luca on the other hand made quite a few elementary mistakes with his control of the white.

Maybe he's just a bit out of love with it right now....?!? Shame, love watching him play well.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Luca giving snooker an extended break pretty soon, maybe altogether as it seems he has found something else to do with his time if he's not practising like he says.

[Ginger Freak]

It wouldn't surprise me to see Luca giving snooker an extended break pretty soon, maybe altogether as it seems he has found something else to do with his time if he's not practising like he says.

Just speculating here, but isn't that one of the ways Autism presents itself? All or nothing? He's achieved his goal of being world champ, and now that's all snooker is to him, nothing.... hence his turning round to try Ironman, he needs something else to focus on?

Hopefully he will give it another proper go, he is too good a talent to lose forever!

[Billy]

So glad to see Williams beat Wilson last night. Bed beckoned at 5-5 and I must confess I turned in expecting Wilson to run out the winner. Wilson is a big talent, but I don’t care for his style and don’t particularly enjoy watching him play. If asked I’d say his WC win has resulted in him being a tad overrated.

As for Luca, it is what it is. One thing I’ve learned in life is that if you have an interest or talent for something, but then lose interest or give up on it, people around you will very quickly lose interest too, and I mean lose interest in the fact you’ve given up. In short, no one truly cares if you choose not to pursue a talent, as it’s no skin off their nose.

[fkhan]

Looks like a mouth watering contest tonight between Judd and Neil.

[fkhan]

Quite a few dead weight rolll-ups onto reds by both players. They would certainly think twice if it were a Star table IMO.

[cueman]

Another poor performance from Trump. Started the match well but once Robertson went in front, there only looked like one winner. Trump had plenty of chances but his scoring seems to have deserted him. Not sure living abroad helps his chances in the UK based events either, the different climate and travelling will take it out of him too much. It's his life though and if he's happier based outside the UK then maybe he'll find a way to be successful. it's a big gamble at what should be the prime years of his career, he should be cementing his legacy and trying to add more world titles. I think he'll be lucky to get another triple crown event, let alone another WC.

[vmax]

Another poor performance from Trump. Started the match well but once Robertson went in front, there only looked like one winner. Trump had plenty of chances but his scoring seems to have deserted him. Not sure living abroad helps his chances in the UK based events either, the different climate and travelling will take it out of him too much. It's his life though and if he's happier based outside the UK then maybe he'll find a way to be successful. it's a big gamble at what should be the prime years of his career, he should be cementing his legacy and trying to add more world titles. I think he'll be lucky to get another triple crown event, let alone another WC.

I think Robertson simply bored the focus out of him with those two overlong frames of nearly an hour. Never mind the average shot time, that's not a fair examination of gamesmanship, it's the fact that he looks at obvious shots four or five times before playing them that does it. Trump sitting in his chair knowing full well what shot Robertson has to play and inside he's screaming, 'BLOODY WELL GET ON WITH IT' and even if Robertson misses the damage has been done.
Hearn said a few years ago now that gamesmanship was tantamount to cheating and something was going to be done about it but nothing has apart from scrutinising average shot times plus the fact that the directive to referees to always stand behind the player is slowing down the faster players and upsetting their flow, and don't get me started on the referees song and dance routine when placing the pink as near to its spot as they can and the endless foul and a miss calls

[fkhan]

Xiao played out of his skin from 3-0 down. I thought he was out but not so.

[SnookerfromtheThatcherEra]

plus the fact that the directive to referees to always stand behind the player is slowing down the faster players and upsetting their flow, and don't get me started on the referees song and dance routine when placing the pink as near to its spot as they can and the endless foul and a miss calls

I also think referees faff around far too much these days - making a meal out of replacing balls (couple of them seem to love that, and relish the attention), walking 360 degrees to get out of line of shot - it was much faster in the 1980s, when just stood to one side.

[fkhan]

How did the cue ball go in-off there????

[philip in china]

Why on earth are they using a smoke machine at a snooker tournament??

I agree. A bubble machine would be much better.

[Nifty50]

Xiao Guodong is becoming my new fav Chinese player. Used to be Liang Wembo before things went tits-up. I was also a big fan of Mark King after meeting him at The Crucible. Hope I don’t jinx Xiao lol.

[Nifty50]

Well done Xiao. Wonder what his secret is. Seems to have found a bit of form from somewhere.