By Elliott West
“I have to make my health and well-being the priority. It’s been a tiring and challenging season for me so far, despite how it may seem with the tournament wins”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Introduction
Anyone who has been to the German Masters at the Tempodrom in Berlin will know how special this tournament is. I went in 2019 for four days and will forever have fond and lasting memories of this wonderful event in a beautiful city that is steeped in history. This week players have returned to this German powerhouse to battle it for this much-sought-after prize of the Brandon Parker trophy but there are a few who won’t be there. Former winner, Ronnie O’Sullivan has decided to take a break, replaced by Barry Pinches in the match against Julian Leclercq. Martin Gould who won here in 2015, has pulled out here for the Welsh Open on medical grounds and Hossein Vafaei will sadly miss out due to visa issues.
However, there are some true jewels in this year’s tournament. Lovely to see Marco Fu making a reappearance against Mark Selby and the home hero Lukas Kleckers appearing for the first time after successful qualification, his first since getting his tour card. He plays Judd Trump. Seven top players will appear at the Tempodrom and keep a careful eye on last year’s winner Ali Carter who is up against Michael White in the first round. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sanderson Lam beats Neil Robertson, factoring in his recent woes in form. Another crowd-puller will be the match between David Grace and Mark Williams. A Welshman who loves coming to Berlin and last won the title in 2018.
New Format
“They could have stuck to their guns and kept it the way it was, but they knew a mistake had been made. It’s definitely better for everyone”.
Mark Allen
This year the German Masters has a schedule rejig after concerns were raised by a number of players last year. The tournament is extended by two days from five to seven days and thankfully only one qualifying round was played in England at Ponds Forge in Sheffield last December with the rest from the first qualifying brought to the Tempodrom. One such critic, Mark Allen, breathes a sigh of relief that there won’t be a repeat of the massacre in the qualifiers from last year which resulted in only four of the top sixteen featured at the main venue in Berlin. A tournament that Allen still struggles with due to the multi-table set-up, and high lighting which leads to shadows on the table and the fact that the audience in many of the early matches are directly above you but are watching another match. A tournament where Mark’s best success was a semi-final place in 2022.
Prize Money Woes
“The process is ridiculous, and how long it takes is a joke”.
Shaun Murphy
Much has been said by a number of players that they are not happy about the amount of time it takes to receive their prize money after competing in a tournament. A few are still waiting for their cheque in the post, a bitter pill to have to swallow. A problem highlighted by Shaun Murphy in the recent International Open where non-Chinese players were still waiting for their money 11 weeks later. I hope it hasn’t gone to someone else, the same as what happened to Mark Williams many moons ago when his cheque was sent to another Mark Williams. Thankfully he alerted the snooker authorities, a reason why he now uses the J for James in his name is to avoid any further postal administration errors. There was also another instance at the 2016 UK Championship when the £165,750 prize money that Mark Selby won for the title after beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-7, was sent as a notification to Mark Williams who only reached the quarter-finals. Although the money was never released to Williams’ account, snooker officials were left pink with embarrassment.
