2014 World Championship - Discussion

[Dr_Doctor]

Not sure I can take some of the mean-spirited comments here anymore. I might just watch the rest of the tournament without my laptop open like in the old days.

[TornadoTed]

Me too, great idea.

[WelshPhantom]

They should have a few legends exhibition matches in the free middle session today, Hendry, Davis, Taylor, Thorne etc can each play a few frames

Id tune in to that!

[peterpackage]

They should have a few legends exhibition matches in the free middle session today, Hendry, Davis, Taylor, Thorne etc can each play a few frames

[tepe]

After Murphy and Hawkings matches his nickname should change from Rocket to Butcher.

[Wim]

Well kick wasnt Barry's fault. Everything seems to play for ROS at this championship, that sucks

You have to be blind not to see Osullivan is a class better than the rest, so obviously the opponents are forced to make more mistakes. A kick ? Just another miss by Hawkins, Miss.

[Wim]

Robertson has indeed some attitude problems and he is really full of himself. And the other players they know that, so it was justified of Trump to ignore Robertson with his stupid childish way of celebrating everything. Give us Selby in the final and let Osullivan win the title please.

[rich45]

Just watched the last frame of Robertson v Selby...amusing yet arrogant of Robertson to proclaim "what a dish that was" when he got back to the dressing room. For that reason alone, I will be supporting Selby later despite never being his greatest fan. Hopefully 17-16 to Selby, leaving him mentally drained so Ronnie can take advantage in the final.

[gavpowell]

Hendry still at his peak had some memorable matches with him, so, it's safe to say he was certainly one of the very, very few people who ever took him on at the top of his game, at the style he plays and still held his ground (in fact, only others I can think of are John Higgins and late Paul Hunter).

But even then, you're discounting the Reardon and Peters influences that contributed to make Ronnie essentially without weaknesses. I wonder if Dr Peters would have had any impact a decade ago, or whether O'Sullivan needed to experience the absolute lows in order to be receptive to whatever the good doctor is doing for him.

Either way, to paraphrase Barry Hearn "If I was any better, I'd have to be on drugs"

[The Twitching Pigeon]

I can see Ronnie winning 18-9 or 18-10 in the final against whoever gets there, he really is that good.

As for Ronnie vs Stephen, I've always been in the Stephen camp, but I have to concede you can't now say anyone but Ronnie is the one. Like him or not, he's the best ever, he just is.

From a Scot too, praise be!

[thevenue2]

Like him or not, he's the best ever, he just is.

Amen to that!

[Gerry Armstrong]

I can see Ronnie winning 18-9 or 18-10 in the final against whoever gets there, he really is that good.

As for Ronnie vs Stephen, I've always been in the Stephen camp, but I have to concede you can't now say anyone but Ronnie is the one. Like him or not, he's the best ever, he just is.

[vilkrang]

Don't know if I'd be so confident about Hendry's credentials as the best any more:

In his career, Ronnie has won a bigger percentage of frames than Hendry.
In his career, Ronnie has won a bigger percentage of matches than Hendry.
Ronnie has a positive record against Hendry in both matches and frames.
Ronnie has the record for number of 147s.
Ronnie compiles century breaks at a faster rate than Hendry.

Now for the future:

Most likely, some time next season Ronnie will surpass Stephen's century count.
It's entirely possible that Ronnie will equal or surpass Stephen's 7 World Titles, at a time when the playing standard is higher.
It's possible (though not probable) that Ronnie will equal Stephen's ranking title count.

I would add to that the fact that Ronnie has the highest percentage of winning final frame deciders than anyone else. Clutch player to top everything off.

[montoya10]

If the player is in the conversation, then that's the best they could achieve. I think Hendry said something like that. Now because I said that, I'd like to say that I once thought Mark Williams was going to be the next Davis/Hendry. I still think his best could equal Ronnie.

Late 90s-early 2000s MJW hit the ball as well as anyone in the history has ever done, and he won nearly the whole pieces of his trophy cabinet in that small time window.
I think Ding can continue his rise to the domination next season. There isn't a great amount of players who can stand a chance against his A-game at the moment.

[montoya10]

What's the point in having a discussion with someone who thinks world titles is the only benchmark to be judged against. Reardon better than Ronnie and Higgins then?

Well, Ray Reardon played at a different era compared to them all, so, I'm not sure if one can say he was better or worse. Generational comparison usually fails. The playing standards were different, the playing schedule was incomparably different, the table speeds were different and the ball reactions were different, after all.

I think, by what he has done in the past couple of years, Ronnie has cemented his place ahead of John Higgins as the best player of his generation, as well as the most successful one. It's not easy to compare him to Hendry, though. Hendry still at his peak had some memorable matches with him, so, it's safe to say he was certainly one of the very, very few people who ever took him on at the top of his game, at the style he plays and still held his ground (in fact, only others I can think of are John Higgins and late Paul Hunter).

In that sense, I usually refrain from "greatest ever" talk. His accomplishments, however, have far surpassed both Alex Higgins and Jimmy White, his preceding crowd entertainers, so, I'll go on and say, he's been the best ever at what he does (=