By Elliott West
“Unbelievable. It’s a dream, it really is a dream”.
Luca Brecel
Introduction
Much has been said of in snooker’s about a pivotal changing point, the moment when the Class of 92 joined the main tour and revolutionised the game. Players such John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams brought new life to snooker, a time when many of the familiar faces were beginning to fade and gradually retire. At the time, such players would never imagine that they would be still competing in their late forties today. It was a flashpoint and definitely helped develop snooker into the well-oiled machine that it is today.
The Dawning of a New Era?
Recently there definitely has been something brewing in the tournaments of this season. I think it started when the British Open was returned to the main tour with its controversial best of 11 formats. This made the top 16 vulnerable and although we saw Mark Williams lift the title in the end, there were plenty of lower-ranked players that made it through to the latter stages with a few shock defeats on the way.
The season then returned to a traditional footing with many of the usual suspects winning trophies but the burning question has risen its head again in the current tournament, the UK Championship. Every top 16 player has been defeated in this tournament, even Ronnie O’Sullivan who was odds on favourite when it looked like all his opposition had been dispatched. Yet the competition hasn’t stuck by the script and left us with Luca Brecel currently ranked 40th and Zhao Xintong, ranked 26th. Zhao hasn’t won a professional title and Luca, a finalist at the 2016 German Masters and winner of the 2017 China Championship but whoever wins will guarantee a new name on the UK Championship.
This isn’t a fluke or coincidence that Brecel and Xintong have got to this stage. They have been the best players in this tournament, playing snooker from the gods and a standard that others players were unable to match in the end. They are the young guns who will become the lifeblood of snooker but it remains to be seen whether this is another blip due to the format and venue of it is a genuine turning point in this cue sport? There have been glimmers in the recent past of a change such as Yan Bingtao winning this year’s Masters and Jordan victorious against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2021 Welsh Open but neither player has won another since with Brown producing poor form and Bingtao unable to make it over the winning line.
Perhaps normal service will resume after the dust settles on the UK Championship but there is definitely a whiff of change in the air. Snooker has been crying out for new stars for a while and surely it is only a matter of time before these well-known players crash and burn. It happened with Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry and despite a return to the tour from retirement, Hendry hasn’t been able to produce any of his former glory and continues to lose to lower-ranked players.
It is true that Ronnie O’Sullivan does take defeat graciously and is always highly complimentary of his winning opponent. However, when he lost to Kyren Wilson, he was clearly hugely disappointed because he this tournament as a potential win. Perhaps he will continue playing until his fifties but my guess is that he will want to retire gracefully and will probably move to coaching and punditry on a permanent basis with the odd exhibition in between.
Summary
This has the dawning of a new era written all over and it is potentially an exciting moment. However, we must remain calm and level headed. This moment might pass or are these younger players on the tour just too good to let this moment slip? You have to be rational with this bold and controversial statement because by making it you are lighting a snooker firework. John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan are the men to beat at the moment but the glimmers of light from their dominating wall are becoming brighter. That wall is crumbling but how soon will it fall?
These younger players don’t show their nerves. They have the safety game as well as the attacking potting. They almost bully their opponent into submission and always attempt to kill the frame off in one visit. If you are on this receiving end of this snooker steamroller, you are in for a psychological nightmare, tying you up in knots and spitting you out from this metaphorical mincer. A type of game that leaves you superglued to the baulk cushion. They are highly dangerous and lethal when at top form. There is still plenty of time in the season to shine but I definitely have a good feeling about this rumbling snooker revolution. It has two outcomes, to either fire on all cylinders or to crash and burn. I am quietly confident it will be the first option with many of the young faces finally coming to fruition.
