2019 World Snooker Championship

[Mark187187]

i was mind blown by the generosity of the pockets throughout the entire tournament

I don't think they were any different to what we have seen through the last few seasons. They certainly played generous at the beginning of the tournament when newly fitted, but that's always the case with new cloth etc. I don't remember seeing many really wide pots going in during the later rounds.

I would agree that the standard of the final may have made the pockets seem bigger......I always find it incredible how much smaller the pockets get when people are playing badly

[kayen147]

So much for not moving on the shot eh

Some say he has developed a safety game to go with his prodigous potting, I say he now actually bothers to play safe, something Alex and Ronnie did but Jimmy didn't.
Pockets too big IMO, that deep screw down the cushion from baulk and back was hit as hard as he could and went in off the jaw, centre pocket yes but off the jaw at that pace isn't right.

i was mind blown by the generosity of the pockets throughout the entire tournament

[Mark187187]

Pockets too big IMO, that deep screw down the cushion from baulk and back was hit as hard as he could and went in off the jaw, centre pocket yes but off the jaw at that pace isn't right.

Don't know about pocket sizes etc, but surely, a pot at that angle can't go in other than off the far jaw. It's not like it hit the near jaw and went in.

[vmax]

So much for not moving on the shot eh

Some say he has developed a safety game to go with his prodigous potting, I say he now actually bothers to play safe, something Alex and Ronnie did but Jimmy didn't.
Pockets too big IMO, that deep screw down the cushion from baulk and back was hit as hard as he could and went in off the jaw, centre pocket yes but off the jaw at that pace isn't right.

[herbie]

"Despite playing all day and evening he still had endless enthusiasm and energy for the game..."
Thank you for telling us this interesting story. Yes, he definetely deserves every success, dedicating his whole life to snooker.

[vilkrang]

So is O'Sullivan, though that may be tactical: "Trump's best game is better than Hendry's best, better than Higgins' best, better than my best." To which the Internet cried out in unison "Cobblers!"

The reaction to this final has seemed quite hyperbolic. I don't know what the final stats were but the last time they flashed up the pot success on the screen both players were sitting on 92% (can't remember if it was early in the evening session or late in the afternoon session when I last saw it). It's possible Judd got to 93 or even 94 after that and it was a magnificent performance but I would disagree that it took snooker to a new level the likes we've never seen before. They seem to say that every time Ronnie puts in a great performance and I feel like they are doing it with Judd now but in reality there have been performances like this in different finals over the past 25 years.

Not taking anything away from Trump, it was right up there with the best performances I've seen particularly in a crucible final and I'm glad he hasn't gone the way of Jimmy White as we need someone to replace Ronnie with the flair game once he's gone. I just disagree with the "new level of snooker" tag. Off the top of my head Ronnie's performance in the 2005 Masters springs to mind, 97% pot success rate achieved for that. I'm sure that Hendry had finals where he has been similarly dominant (the UK final mentioned above for example).

Why does every great performance need to be "now the best ever snooker we've seen!"? It's feels like obvious media exaggeration to stir up interest, which I don't mind but for hardcore snooker fans who watch most tournaments I'm surprised I've seen so many people taken in by it.

[peterpackage]

Great win by Judd, great for the game

[Ronnington]

It's definitely up there in one of the best performances in a World final for sure. But lets not forget, Hendry made 7 centuries in 10 frames in that mega UK Championship final which was a best-of-19. That was even more impressive

[gavpowell]

I recall Steve Davis suggesting Trump might be taking the game to a new level back when he won the UK title. Now Henry is saying similar, but I think they're projecting their own experience onto Trump.

So is O'Sullivan, though that may be tactical: "Trump's best game is better than Hendry's best, better than Higgins' best, better than my best." To which the Internet cried out in unison "Cobblers!"

[BarryH]

I recall Steve Davis suggesting Trump might be taking the game to a new level back when he won the UK title. Now Hendry is saying similar, but I think they're projecting their own experience onto Trump. Part of Trump's appeal is his unpredictability. If he started winning all the time he'd be boring, like Davis and Hendry were! (They make great commentators though)

[Ronnington]

Fair play to Judd. That was a relentless, focused effort and he executed that so well with killer instinct. The only way Trump stood a chance against Higgins in the final was to barrage him in the first half and build a big enough lead, which he did. To be fair to Higgins though, he was solid in the first and third sessions, but the (few) chances he got in the second session he made mistakes and looked drained; that's what cost him.

I used to play in junior tournaments at the same club as Judd growing up and he was head-and-shoulders above the rest of us young ones (to be fair, he started playing on a full-size table at 7 years old and had coaching/mentoring from the owner until he was 17-18). But he clearly was a very quick learner and had talent for the game.

When I was 12yo and he was 10yo, our club junior team played a Portsmouth club (iirc) and he beat their top junior players who were 14-15 at the time. By the time all our matches finished, it was knocking on for 10pm and me and Judd decided to play a few frames. Despite playing all day and evening he still had endless enthusiasm and energy for the game, and proceeded to knock in a 94 break against me, at that time of night, at 10 years old…

His hard work and his family’s dedication and support cannot be underestimated. Most weeks they were taking him to tournaments and that snooker club was his second home throughout his childhood and teenage years. They deserve every ounce of success. Lovely stuff

Where are those posters from a couple of years ago saying he needs to change his technique?... hehe

[snookerball]

Are you interested in tips they may offer or just good reading? I think I still have a copy of Running by Ronnie - never read it as I was told it had nothing new to say. If I have you're welcome to that. If you haven't already, read Behind the White Ball, Jimmy White's first autobiography - it's absolutely riveting!

Just good reading to be honest. But at some point I'll look for tips ones I guess so suggest those as well. I'll definitely give Jimmy's a read.

I think I poured through one of Ronnie's in a Waterstones once and put it back, maybe one day.

[herbie]

Congratulations to Judd Trump, I am glad that he won the WC. What he showed on Sunday evening has never been seen in the Crucible before, hasn't it.
It was fantastic 17 days, I am glad I can watch BBC in my little Hungarian village. Now I must slowly find back to normal life - what a change!

Odrl, you wrote a good summary of this season`s climax, thats mostly how I saw it too.

[Mark187187]

Are you interested in tips they may offer or just good reading? I think I still have a copy of Running by Ronnie - never read it as I was told it had nothing new to say. If I have you're welcome to that. If you haven't already, read Behind the White Ball, Jimmy White's first autobiography - it's absolutely riveting!

Second for the Jimmy Autobbiography. He also did a coaching book called Snooker Masterclass. Stephen Hendry also released a Snooker Masterclass which I prefered, it contains some interesting stories as well as the coaching stuff. Steve Davis- Successful Snooker has some decent tips and practice routines. I have Stephen Hendry's recent autobiography on audiobook which I'll post a review of one day. It's read by Hendry and he does a decent job. Probably more interesting having him read it than reading it yourself. Excellent for sending you off to sleep at night.

[gavpowell]

I've thoroughly enjoyed the tournament but a couple of things have slightly spoiled it:

There were too many runaway sessions that meant it wasn't worth the risk of going to the remaining frames - I barely saw anything of Murphy because his first match was over before it began and his second was on the other side of the match I was watching, so I watched him sit in his seat for most of it.


Also, and I can't remember this happening previously, Rob Walker's insistence on giving away the day's results when warming up the crowd for the evening's session - I can't sit and watch a recording if I know the result in advance, so I barely watched any highlights this year.