The New Rankings List after WSC 2019

It’s pretty clear to see that the world rankings have changed drastically following the events of the World Championship. While some players have significantly improved their positions, others have conversely dropped down the rankings to a point where they risk danger of falling out of the Top 16/32.

Ronnie O’Sullivan still remains World No. 1 despite his poor WSC performance but absolutely phenomenal seasons prior to that. That just goes to show how strong his performance has been the past couple years to (barely) keep Judd Trump at his heels at No. 2 after a £500k boost. Trumps recent win propelled him from rank 7 to 2. And if he continues at his current rate, it won’t be long before he claims the No. 1 spot. However, Neil Robertson certainly will put up a fight for that No. 1 spot if he continues winning at the rate he has this season.

What’s also surprising is seeing former World No. 1, Mark Selby drop down to 6th place. Mark has now since lost a significant portion of his ranking points and will now need to start winning more events this coming season in order to remain within the top rankings. I don’t see Mark Williams remaining at the No. 3 spot for very long with his extremely laid back approach to matches and practice. Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen hold spots 7 and 8 respectively and I don’t see them moving down the rankings too much – their consistency is high enough to keep them at these positions or even move up a space or two.

Things get worrying for those in spots 9-16. The difference between 9th and 16th is £63,500 which means that any and all players within these rankings are in danger of potentially falling out of these ranks. In particular, players like Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui and Stephen Maguire who I am sure have set tremendously high standards for themselves will need to remain cautious going into tournaments this season.

Now, we have to take notice of David Gilbert and his impressive jump to 12th place from 16th after his stellar WSC performance. Hopefully, this is the start of his ascendance along with Gary Wilson who leaped 12 places to reach rank 20.

What do you think of these new rankings and what are your predictions for this upcoming season?

Stephen Hendry as a commentator

This short is more of a shout out and a nod to the 7-time-World-Champion-turned-commentator, Stephen Hendry. I know there are others that will agree with me in saying that Hendry provides excellent commentary on any game that he voices over. But in my opinion, he is arguably the best commentator of the lot right now; and has been for quite some time.

No one else can provide the insight that Hendry does – don’t get me wrong, other commentators on both BBC and Eurosport’s team can do the job, but there aren’t any that can call the shots like Hendry does. He will precisely call the next sequence of shots long before a player has gotten down for their first shot.

I think one of the things that makes Hendry so good is that he doesn’t focus on superfluous catchphrases. He’s more concerned with the technicalities of the game and the match he is calling. He looks more at the fundamentals as to why a shot was missed or poorly played and can really get into the mind of the players. And who better to be able to read the situation a player is going through than someone who has ‘been there, done that’?

I must give an honourable mention to Steve Davis and Alan McManus on commentary as well. Steve, for the incredible humour he brings to a match (which often pairs well with Hendry’s personality) and Alan for his unique insight and delightful little expressions that he comes out with.

Three Players I hope do well at the World Championship (2019)

Originally, this was the ‘five’ players who I hoped would do well in this year’s World Championship but unfortunately, two of them didn’t make it through the qualifiers. And thus, we now have the three players who I hope make some distance in the tournament.

Jack Lisowski

A player that I’ve grown quite fond of over the last few years. I like to consider him as ‘Judd Trump without the ego’. Has bundles of talent but just needs more experience at the big events. Debuting at the Crucible in 2013 but more recently, making his second appearance last year at WSC 2018. Unfortunately, having suffered a near white-washing defeat to John Higgins in the second round, I’m hoping Lisowski makes some distance in this year’s championship.

Ding Junhui

Having reached the final in 2016 and the semi-final in 2017 (only to lose to Mark Selby on both occasions), Ding is considered one of the most deserving players that can win the World Championship. A player with one of the largest fan base of supporters, there will be plenty, including myself, who will be rooting for him to make it to the final. He’s done it before, and he can definitely do it again.

Barry Hawkins

You can’t just not like Barry Hawkins. He’s a player you always want to do well, and you know what: he has. He’s made the semi-finals of the World Championships almost every single year since 2013 (obviously making the final in ’13). Seriously. The man is a season ticket holder of the WSC semi-finals. Hopefully soon enough, maybe even this year, he’ll get to the final and eventually lift that trophy!

Honourable mentions: Neil Robertson, Luca Brecel (slightly outdated but not at the time of writing), David Gilbert, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (now just recently outdated - what a match though)

How does the snooker ranking system work?

I’m sure there’s at least one person that still isn’t entirely sure on how the ranking system works in snooker. To be honest, I thought I had a pretty reasonable idea until I actually researched it. Unlike the sources I used to investigate this, I’ll try and keep this inaugural post simple and easy to follow.

As I’m sure most already know, the ranking system revolves around prize money won in ranking events. So, for example, Ronnie O’Sullivan winning the Players Championship 2019 and claiming the winnings of £100,000 meant that he gained 100,000 ranking points. Obviously, this doesn’t include non-ranking events such as the Masters; nor does it include high break prizes.

The main thing to understand is that ranking ‘points’ incorporate prize winnings from the previous 2 years. In other words, it uses a format where the currently played tournament will replace the points/money earned from the same corresponding event 2 years ago*.

*Every event can’t be held at the exact same time and dates every season so sometimes tournaments are held either a little earlier/later in the year as opposed to what they were previously. So, if August 2018 held the China Championship but in August 2016 it held the World Open instead of the CC, then World Open ranking points will be deducted from the total ranking tally in August 2018 as the CC concludes.

So anytime you see that world rankings list showing all the money that the top players have earned (therefore, giving them their ranking), it comprises their winnings for 2 years earlier as well. Mark Selby’s strong performance from 2014-17 (particularly at the World Championship) is why he is still World No. 1 considering he hasn’t had the best performance the past couple of seasons.

Let’s take a hypothetical to try and make it a bit easier to understand. Mark Selby won the WSC in 2017 which earned him £375,000. The WSC 2019 is coming up (at the time of writing). Let’s assume that first prize is the same at £375,000. If Mark wins this year then the £375,000 he will win will replace the 375 he won in 2017 (his ranking will not change). If he did anything else besides win then his ranking points will go down. If he got kicked out in the second round which only won him £32,000, then the £375,000 from 2017 will get removed from the current rankings and he will only get £32,000 added to his ranking. Simple, right?

Did this help you to understand the snooker ranking system? Yes? No? Well, it was worth a shot.