2018 World Championship

[JimMalone]

That's another debate, but O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams are easily the best 40 somethings of all time. Whilst Higgins and Williams might not be playing at their absolute career best, they are certainly nowhere near their worst. For example, Higgins looks better now (on the table) than he did in his late 20s or late 30s. You can't compare snooker to tennis. In athletic sports the older player always has a clear physical disadvantage. There are no physical reasons that would prevent a healthy old player from playing snooker well, and the fact that Higgins still has the mental stamina to kill off a long match in a decider proves that.

In my opinion, one of the reasons that the top players tend to become worse in their 30s and 40s is because they lose their hunger for the game and just don't practice enough. I suspect that this is to a large extent what happened to Hendry and Davis. However, these days the snooker calendar is so full it is effectively forcing everyone into being match sharp, and so the class of 92 are still near the top of their game when one would have expected them to decline dramatically.

Fitness doesn't play such a big part in Snooker as in other sports, but it still is a factor. Because it also goes hand in hand with concentration. And today most athletes - and I include snooker players here - in their 30s or late 30s are fitter than they used to be two decades ago. It's the same in tennis. In the 90s players who hit the 30 just vanished. Some, like Sampras, were so physically damaged, there was no chance to play on. Of course there were rare outliers like Connors or Agassi, but they were rarities.

But of course your last paragraph is absolutely correct as well.

[narl]

Weve been over this time and time again. Your crappy club table has old worn out cloth, whilst pros play on brand new cloth with table heaters. Has nothing to do with the size of the pockets. If youve ever played on a star or owned a table of your own you would understand this very clearly. The argument isnt wether the pockets are bigger or not, its wether they play more generously which they do to some extent. That being said you would still struggle on a star with brand new cloth over a club table simply because the pockets are much tighter and you (im guessing) dont play to a pro standard. On pro cut tables, the slightest variance off centre pocket looks like a wider miss simply because of the camera angle relative to the small pocket opening in coincidence with cloth sheen.

Oh so you've played on my club table? Nice of you to get all you said about it totally wrong. Assumptions eh? Gotta love them.

[The Rook]

Fitness doesn't play such a big part in Snooker as in other sports, but it still is a factor. Because it also goes hand in hand with concentration. And today most athletes - and I include snooker players here - in their 30s or late 30s are fitter than they used to be two decades ago. It's the same in tennis. In the 90s players who hit the 30 just vanished. Some, like Sampras, were so physically damaged, there was no chance to play on. Of course there were rare outliers like Connors or Agassi, but they were rarities.

But of course your last paragraph is absolutely correct as well.

I find it interesting seeing how the class of 92 have developed over the last 25 years, because the players I see today just seem different to how I remember them many years ago.

O'Sullivan doesn't seem to be quite as consistent at long range as before, but I think his shot selection, patience and temperament have improved. Also, his cue ball control is as good as ever.

Higgins seems more prone to lapses of concentration and missing easy balls, but IMHO this never say die attitude is something that he added to his game in his 30s. I think that the Higgins of 98 would have more likely faltered when 7-3 down (especially after losing a respotted black), but on the flip side he was more clinical then so was less likely to find himself trailing.

Williams was easily the best potter I'd ever seen in the late 90s, he didn't seem to really need to play for position. These days I think his long game stands out less, but he's such a solid all rounder now, and no one seems to be able to boss him tactically (including Selby). Obviously Williams still has his trademark laid back attitude.

[JimMalone]

I find it interesting seeing how the class of 92 have developed over the last 25 years, because the players I see today just seem different to how I remember them many years ago.

O'Sullivan doesn't seem to be quite as consistent at long range as before, but I think his shot selection, patience and temperament have improved. Also, his cue ball control is as good as ever.

Higgins seems more prone to lapses of concentration and missing easy balls, but IMHO this never say die attitude is something that he added to his game in his 30s. I think that the Higgins of 98 would have more likely faltered when 7-3 down, but on the flip side he was more clinical then so was less likely to find himself trailing.

Williams was easily the best potter I'd ever seen in the late 90s, he didn't seem to really need to play for position. These days I think his long game stands out less, but he's such a solid all rounder now, and no one seems to be able to boss him tactically (including Selby). Obviously Williams still has his trademark laid back attitude.

Agree on most points.

Ronnie has definitely found his patcience. He doesn't pot as excellent as once, though I've got to say his long potting was never that special for me.

I remember Higgins didn't always have such a mental strength. You really could see sometimes how angry he was when things didn't work the way he wanted.

Williams is the one who has changed the least I think, His potting was incredible (it still is, though not on the level as before). And he still is a bit careless with the cueball sometimes.

[thai_son22]

Really feel for Judd this time in his post match conference. Starting to warm up to him

[Porter]

I agree, I'm really hoping for Kiran to win this! I am a big fan of his. And IMHO he wants it the most and I hope he plays well enough to get it.

[Dark]

Higgins won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wilson should be able to push Higgins all the way even if Higgins beats him which makes me question whether Higgins will be able to go the distance in the final after what looks highly likely to be two very tough matches. Higgins will also find it harder to comeback against Wilson than Judd so cannot afford to have any bad patches in the match.

Williams is more experienced, had a better season and his best is better than Hawkins but Hawkins has been playing very well. It could very easily go either way, but when Hawkins has lost at this stage previously it has been by a large margin, 17-8, 17-9 and 17-7. His only win was against Walden, and Walden is not the same quality as his other opponents. Perhaps Hawkins has learnt or improved or something and we will get a close match but maybe Williams will beat him by a margin again.

[Hal]

Any reason why the concluding session of Hawkins - Williams is scheduled to start half hour later than usually at 7 pm? I just checked WS website and it states the start of their last session is at 7:30. Don't remember this in previous editions. Maybe for precautionary reasons if the second semi went full distance? Can't think of anything else.

[blahblah01]

Really feel for Judd this time in his post match conference. Starting to warm up to him

Similar here: Higgins won, whereas Judd usually cracks when the hammer goes down.....

Selby\White were saying that Higgins looked tired yesterday (before the Evening Session, I think). Given that this contributed to the Selby come back (although no overnight drive to somewhere this year?) I doubt that he will win it.

[Mark187187]

Similar here: Higgins won, whereas Judd usually cracks when the hammer goes down.....

Selby\White were saying that Higgins looked tired yesterday (before the Evening Session, I think). Given that this contributed to the Selby come back (although no overnight drive to somewhere this year?) I doubt that he will win it.

I don't think Judd cracked yesterday. Out of the two he probably missed less balls under pressure, penultumate frame highlights how well he held it together. Another day he would have won. I don't think Wilson will put Higgins under as much pressure, and he'll be buzzing after the win, so I'm not expecting a close semi. Fingers crossed for a Higgins vs Williams final.

[blahblah01]

Exactly my point re Judd: he usually does, but didn't yesterday - although that Safety may be questioned by some....

[crocodile]

I'd be happy to see any of these players win, but I'd like to see a Higgins-Williams final. What an achievement it would be for a 40 something to win it.

Well, I'd like to see Hawkins-Wilson - 1) because Hawkins has been deserving of the title for years and has the ability and composure to deal with any opponent on his day 2) because it'd be a first for Wilson.

For me, Williams-Higgins would be a case of the old guard reasserting itself.

That said - no doubt it'll turn out to be Hawkins-Higgins or Wilson-Williams ....

[mcsilks]

I strongly think it'll be a Hawkins-Higgins final, a real one for the connoisseurs of the game.

Hawkins and Williams have surprisingly never met in one of the larger snooker tournaments but just form alone at the crucible suggests to me that the bookies have got the odds wrong in this match-up and I make Hawkins a narrow favourite here.

Higgins destroyed Wilson at the Crucible last year 13-6 and while Wilson may have improved a little since that defeat, Higgins just has too much experience for Kyren and I don't see that match being terribly close.

[gavpowell]

I'd just like Wilson to get through - the other side of the final wouldn't bother me then.

[Odrl]

I'm looking forward to the next couple of days. It's not the exact line-up I expected in the semi-finals, but you can't say there are any real surprises. :smile:

Wilson has often been compared to Mark Selby in recent times, and this semi-final reminds me of when Selby played Higgins in the World final back in 2007. I think the circumstances are very similar, we have a fairly young player who is strong in every aspect of the game, he fights for every ball and every frame, and he has played some excellent snooker up to this point in the tournament. On the other side we have the good old Higgins, a great champion with nothing left to prove in the game, tremendously experienced and still very solid under pressure. I think this could be a very close and exciting match, but since Higgins is not quite as sharp as he was back in 2007, I predict a different result this time. I think Wilson will compete at the business end of the match better than Trump did, so I will go for him to win 17-13.

The other match should be a close one as well. For all of Hawkins' runs to the semi-finals in recent years, he hasn't actually enjoyed much success at this stage, losing three times with virtually a session to spare. He'd always had really tough matches in the previous rounds though, whereas this year he got to the SF fairly comfortably, so he should still have some good snooker left in him. I think he is up there with Wilson as the best player of the tournament so far, so I would make him a slight favourite. Williams knows how to win these matches though... Like he said himself, he was throwing a few frames away here and there against Carter, but still came through quite well. I think he will need to tighten up against Hawkins though, because his mistakes will be punished more severely. We'll see if he can do that, but I'll go for Hawkins to win 17-14.

Bring it on. :smile: