2019 World Snooker Championship

[jrc750]

Desperation. Can you blame him?

You have to know it's the end, however hard it is to take

[blahblah01]

This one is over for me. I don't see Wilson coming back from 10-14.

I have been wrong during this tournament a few times though...

Judd is more than capable of thinking this is all over and losing the first few frames and then..

[snookerball]

Nice one Judd, keep it going tonight
Not sure why Gary carried on there at the end, 3 snookers required with just 3 balls left, never going to happen

Desperation. Can you blame him?

[JimMalone]

This one is over for me. I don't see Wilson coming back from 10-14.

I have been wrong during this tournament a few times though...

[jrc750]

Nice one Judd, keep it going tonight
Not sure why Gary carried on there at the end, 3 snookers required with just 3 balls left, never going to happen

[DeanH]

BBC cutting short - for repeats of DIY shows shows that could have been rescheduled with no one noticing!

swap over to ES

[snookerball]

It is on I Player...

It's not on red button though. So I have to watch it from computer (meaning can't use PC for other stuff) or get the internet to work from telly (often do this anyway but many people don't have internet enabled TVs) - I'd understand cutting away if it was being shown on red button, or was the earlier rounds. But it's niether.

[blahblah01]

It is on I Player...

[snookerball]

So they've just left the semi-final of the World Snooker Championship on BBC2 whilst still showing horse racing on the single red button channel, despite being in the last frame of the session. I love the way they treat the sport sometimes - not.

[DeanH]

this must the tournament of flukes!

[JimMalone]

It's weird that losing three finals in a row could have a such a psychological effect on a player, especially someone who wasn't even one of the big favourites in any of the last three Championships. We talk about Hawkins' great record at the Crucible in recent years, which is basically a series of SF defeats, but somehow losing in the final on a consistent basis isn't seen in the same kind of positive light, especially by the player himself.

Even if Higgins does go on to lose the final, which is just one of several possibilities at this point, he has to remember the circumstances in which this has happened. He wasn't the favourite who threw good opportunities to win the title away, he actually exceeded the expectations of most snooker fans by putting together three good runs, while most of his rivals underperformed. For me, the players who should be way more devastated by their performances at the Crucible over the last three years are O'Sullivan, Robertson, Murphy and Allen. Not a single SF between them. :wink:

That's not how those champions think though. If you are sooo close, only one match away from the title you are bemoaning your fate. "God, soo close." And it's not as if Higgins was an outsider at those championships. As a four-time-world champion, who still was among the top 6 in the rankings even before the 2017 final, he definitely was a contender.
It's like you need to get to the pharmacy in time to get a vital medicine. You miss the bus, get into an fight with some stranger, but despite this hurdles make it in time - just to find out they don't have the medicine you need there.

If Gilbert loses the final here, it will be different. He really couldn't and didn't expect this in any way. It's already a dream for him. And even he might feel a little sting first. "Couldn't I have won one more match?"

[Mark187187]

Wilson has to win the last two you'd think

[JimMalone]

To be honest I think Higgins future game would be best served by going out in this match.

If we wins the final he equals Ronnie's record, and you can be damn sure Ronnie would want to get that 6th title more than perhaps he has in the past few years since he really wanted to win back in 2012/2013 to join Davis and Hendry and leave Higgins slightly behind. (not personally at Higgins, but record books speak). It would make the next few years getting to the final tougher with a Ronnie who really cares about the worlds again.

If he loses in the final I can genuinely see him retiring. He's already talked about how he's had much more respect for Jimmy White now he's lost two finals in a row and can't understand how he didn't quit the game having lost 6. The difference between Jimmy and John is that John already has a decent record of winning the worlds, having won 4 finals. Whilst I'm sure players don't care about this stuff as much as us, going from 4 time winner to 4 time winner and potentially 4 time runner up would be a bit of a knock.

Losing in the semis probably wouldn't hurt so much in the long run, it would give him enough confidence to know he can still compete with the best without falling at the final hurdle again and all the conflated issues.

Ronnie wants to win it every year. He doesn't care how many titles Higgins has. He wants to equal or better Hendry's seven.
Sames goes for Higgins. He wants to win it every year.

[snookerball]

Hadn't realised Hillsborough hapenned during the tournament.

[Odrl]

Finally a decent frame of snooker, the other three were just awful. :smile: