Who's Gonna win the Worlds

[JG91]

I think its between 3.. Ronnie, Maguire or Ebdon:snooker:

[MrMartens]

I'd love seeing Hendry win for the 8th time or Perry for the 1st. If Ebdon is in the same mood as in China he's a big favourite imo.

[noel]

Could this be Maguire's year? I think it can!

Payback!!!

9-10 Stephen Maguire v. Jamie Burnett *



=o)

Noel


* Betfred (currently) Maguire 1.14 Burnett 5.50

[spike]

If Mark Williams doesn't end up winning then my old mate Gerrad Greene will be World Champ instead this year!

[tony9ball68]

Gerrad Greene, is he related to Gerard, Mr R!!!!!!!!!!

[Looki]

i have a vision in my mind of who's going to lift the trophy aloft.......i can see it now it's a man and that man is get ready for it...."drum role" please

MARK J. WILLIAMS

Word. Williams is going to take it.

[1lawyer]

heard in another thread that Neil Robertson had injured himself coming up to the finals in Sheffield so I google'd it and its true look for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-bYw...eature=related

[Odrl]

I was in the middle of typing a long post about possible contenders last night when there was a blackout and I had to operate in the dark for 30 minutes.

So, here we go again:

At the first step, I'd rule out the players who don't have the quality to win the WC and therefore have no chance. That's Gould, Higginson, Greene, Burnett, McLeod and Holt.

Down to 26. Then there are the players that could have a run, but are not going to win the tournament:

Bingham, King, Hawkins and Bond will not realistically be the ones that play the best snooker in the tournament.
Swail has had the best result of his career this season but was overwhelmed when he had to play Carter at his best. I don't think he has another gear.
Lee is not physically fit enough to last the 17 days.
Davis has had a good season so far, but never looked like winning an event. He doesn't score well enough anymore.
Cope lacks the tactical game to be a contender this year. And he hasn't shown enough form to be able to win it in "Murphy 05" style.

Down to 18. Whom else can we rule out?

Liang? Similar to Cope but he HAS shown some form this season. His game was good enough for the QF last year but I don't think he's improved enough to get any further.
Allen is another player of this type. His ranking suggest that he's currently the best of this trio but I'd still rule him out for the same reasons.
Day is not a great tactician either and he lacks the mental strength to win it. Could have a run though.
And finally Perry. He has played his best snooker over the last two seasons and has rarely featured at the business end of tournaments. He was good enough for the SF last year. Does he have another gear? I don't think so.

Down to 14. That's the number of this year's contenders in my opinion. Outside chance:

Stephen Hendry: I don't think he'll win it, but I didn't want to be the idiot that ruled Hendry out. He got through Allen, Ding and Day last year, so Williams, Ding/Liang doesn't sound too harsh. He would need to be at his best to match an in-form Murphy or Fu in the QF though.

Ricky Walden: Can't rule out winners of this season's events. He has the game for this tournament, very versatile. He's more likely to frustrate his opponent than get frustrated himself over a long match. The problem is he hasn't really featured in any event since his win. I don't expect him to beat Selby but you never know.

Ding Junhui: Hasn't been past a QF for a long time. When he plays a top player, he looks defeated before the match even starts. The guy won finals against O'Sullivan and Hendry, perhaps he just needs a bit of inspiration. Liang is a tough opponent for him but he didn't get scared of playing Fu last year.

Graeme Dott: Got to a QF after a long time in the China Open. If he's back to his best, he's an outside shot again. It would take a good player to knock him out in a long match, but he WILL meet good players. Selby, Walden, Higgins, Hawkins... tough for Dott to get through this quarter.

Mark Williams: It took a very good Carter to knock him out of the UK Championship. I thought he was going to push on from there, but since then, he's had two 1st round defeats. He could find a bit of form in the long matches again, but will need to play well against a motivated Hendry. If he gets through the 1st round, he could have a run.

Marco Fu: When he's at his best, it's tough to find a weakness in his game. The problem with him is actually being at his best for a couple of matches in a row. The tough draw with Swail and Murphy might work in his favour, he seems to get himself up for matches like those. I think he would have prefered to be in the same half as Higgins and O'Sullivan though.

Ali Carter: As with Walden, you can't rule out the winners of this season's events. Very consistent this season, four SF appearances in eight events. He has the firepower to dominate matches but his mental strength is still questionable. Another concern for him is that he might be spent after a great season, like Selby was last year.

Peter Ebdon: He would be the oldest winner since Reardon in 1978. Players his age haven't even been close for the last 20 years. In fact, wasn't Hendry the oldest semi-finalist for some time last year? The good thing about Ebdon is that the strongest elements of his game are not really affected by age (maybe even positively affected). He proved that his A-game can still win tournaments in the China Open, but winning the last event before the WC is like a curse in recent years.

Neil Robertson: At his best, he's not an easy player to bully. That's why I'm looking forward to his potential match with Carter in the 2nd round. He's extremely tough to knock out when he finds a bit of form (or maybe it's inspiration?). He's had a perfect season for a WC contender, not really going out in the 1st rounds, but not really peaked either. Stephen Maguire is a bit of a bogey player for him, he'd be lucky to avoid him in the QF.

And we're down to the last five immediate contenders. In random order:

Stephen Maguire: His chances are discussed in detail here: http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ad.php?t=17320 He has a very reasonable draw up to the QF. He hasn't played his best this season, which could work in his favour. His weakness is his temperament. A lot of time to get frustrated over a long match. But I guess you don't get frustrated when you're playing well, so it's all in his hands.

Ronnie O'Sullivan: The reasons for him being the tournament favourite are obvious, as are his weaknesses. He has the game to overwhelm anybody. His problem this year is the draw. Every chance of meeting Ebdon, Dott and Higgins, the players that beat him in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Every chance of meeting Selby as well, and we know Selby likes to use controversial tactics that wouldn't suit O'Sullivan. In 05, 06 and 07, he's arguably lost the Championship in one session (1-7 to Ebdon, 0-8 to Dott, 1-7 to Higgins) and 17 days is a long time for a session like that to happen.

John Higgins: He's had a good season, which is not always a good sign for his WC chances. He's not gone out in the 1st round in any event (excluding Bahrain) and I think he has an extra gear we haven't even seen this season. He'll be tough to knock out, as always, but Selby seems to get him every time recently. I'm looking forward to that potential match. Another thing worth mentioning is that Higgins and O'Sullivan were already the oldest winners of the WC for a number of years in 07 and 08, and would be this year as well, obviously.

Mark Selby: He's a player whose mediocre season could work for him. He had nothing left for the WC last year, but I think he has plenty left this year. He only appeared in one ranking SF, way back in October, and the Masters final. He has a great game for this tournament. He scored eleven centuries in the 2007 event, and he's as good as anyone in the scrappy frames. He's also a great mind games specialist, which is a good asset for the longer matches. His biggest problem is the nasty draw, the worst case scenario being Walden, Dott, Higgins and O'Sullivan.

Shaun Murphy: Very quiet season. The only tournament he's really featured in was the UK, which he won, the opposite of last season's series of SF's. I have a feeling he'll be up for this tournament. He's reasonably fresh, his personal problems are behind him and the draw is not too bad. He won't want to catch Fu on a good day though. His B-game is one of the best and I can only see him being knocked out by someone's A-game.


All things considered, I'll vote for Selby. But feel free to mock me if someone I've ruled out wins.

[RocketRoy1983]

John Higgins.

[crucible77]

John Higgins.

i agree


also great post odrl

[alex_5525]

john higgins will go far, i really really hope he wins, i also think gould, higginson and mcleod will go far as well.

maybe annother for davis or hendry lol

ronnie might be cocky in the first few rounds and end up loosing them
anyones game really, which makes it all the more exciting

[JiangYu]

All this expectation on Higgins. Perhaps, we'll see a first round defeat to Holt? All this talk about him or Ronnie etc just makes it easier to play Devils Advocate

[RocketRoy1983]

heard in another thread that Neil Robertson had injured himself coming up to the finals in Sheffield so I google'd it and its true look for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-bYw...eature=related

Ha ha mal. thats a very bad shaun murphy!!