SSB - THE 2000s: PLAYER OF THE DECADE

[Odrl]

Your point is strong, so I really wonder your top 10 now

I think it's really tough to separate the players, especially the second half of the list. But I'll give it a shot.

1. O'Sullivan (already explained in detail)
2. Higgins
3. Williams

It's really tough to separate Higgins and Williams, with only one title between them, in Williams' favour. But what makes the difference for me is the fact that Williams won all but one of his titles in the first part of the decade, and then had little "presence" in the rankings and tournaments for the rest of the decade. Higgins on the other hand was always present and featuring in the business end of tournaments even when he wasn't winning.

4. Ebdon - Six titles, including the WC and the UK, and another world final. I can see the likes of Maguire, Murphy, Robertson equaling this, but not in a single decade (which is trivial of course, we might as well consider the best player from 2005 to 2015 ).

5. Hendry - Four titles, no majors. But his presence in the finals of tournaments throughout the decade, as well as in the rankings, is only behind that of the players I've already listed (probably even above Ebdon's).

6. Hunter - Three Masters titles, and another two ranking titles. He still had a lot of his prime ahead of him when he got sick, so I'm sure he could have added a lot to his legacy. But as it is, 6th sounds about right.

Now it gets really difficult...

7. Murphy - Four titles, including the WC and the UK, and another world final. Quite similar to Ebdon's record, but Murphy has only really been present in the second part of the decade. He is one of the players whose peak spreads over two decades, so he's probably not going to top either list.

8. Doherty - 4 titles, no majors, and a world final. That's the same as Hendry. And again, it's his presence in finals and in the rankings throughout the decade that puts him on the list.

And now I can think of four players for the two remaining spots. Robertson, Maguire, Stevens and Dott...

9. Maguire - He too did nothing until 2004, but since then he's been present near the top of the rankings. He won 4 titles, including the UK Championship, and got to 6 finals in total.

10. Dott - He only won 2 titles, but the World Championship is worth enough to put him at least ahead of the likes of Robertson (you could even put him right after Murphy). He was also in 5 ranking finals, one of them being another WC final. And he almost made it to world number one.

I look forward to seeing how much David's list will differ from mine.

[montoya10]

I liked your list, but I still think Hunter would have had at least a couple of shots at majors, so he could have surpassed Hendry..

Still, I think David will probably come up with something very similar

[Templeton Peck]

I think I would probably have Ebdon fourth followed by Murphy since they pulled off the championship double (Ebdon above Murphy by virtue of the fact he was facing Hendry down in his finals). I think Hunter was a better player than either of them and I think 2005-2006 would have been his breakthrough period in the big tournaments (and my gut instinct tells me that had his career run its course he would be at least fourth on this list now) but ultimately you have to put people who did achieve above those who might have.

So:

1) Ron
2) Williams
3) Higgins
4) Ebdon
5) Murphy
6) Hunter
7) Stevens
8) Hendry
9) Doherty
10) Stephen Lee/Graeme Dott

Everyone on that list has either won at least two majors, or been the provisional number 1 at some point this decade.

[steedee]

quite suprised no ones mentioned Ding Junhui in their top 10 lists.... 3 ranking titles and more importantly, he's given snooker a mass audience that may possibly be the future of the sport.

surely a massive contributer to the 2000's.

but yes ronnie and then either higgins/williams and ebdon deserves a shout to.

[Alex0paul]

Hendry has been in a World final 2 UK Finals and a masters final, won 4 Ranking tournaments and in total been in 12 Ranking finals this millenium more than any player bar Ronnie,Higgins and Williams and there is no way on this plannet id have Stevens,Dott or Murphy above him this decade.

Surely as you akways point out that winning is more important than just reaching finals. Stevens won more majors and had more world finals than Hendry so he has to be above him. The same with Murphy.

[wildJONESEYE]

Surely as you akways point out that winning is more important than just reaching finals. Stevens won more majors and had more world finals than Hendry so he has to be above him. The same with Murphy.

Dott 2 Tournaments and Murphy 3 Tournaments and Stevens 1 ranker and the masters...

Hendry has won 4 Rankers and i think im right 2 or 3 invertationals.

yes Murphy and Dott won the worlds but as has been pointed out to me on many ocation thats only 1 tournament and because of the added points thats why hendry stil top 16....

[RocketRoy1983]

I'd like to state firstly that Matthew Stevens doesnt get into the top 8/10 in terms of players of the decade for me. It must surely be

1 Ronnie
2 Higgins
3 Williams
4 Ebdon
5 Murphy

That is the top 5 for me and in that order too.

[RocketRoy1983]

For anyone interested in regards to the 2000's..


http://www.snookerdatabase.co.uk/PlayerStats.aspx