The Snooker World Championships 2019 start on April 20th and once again it is back to the famous Sheffield Crucible for the action. This two-week thrill-ride of green baize battles, begins with Mark Williams as the defending champion. That means that the Welshman will be going back as the top speed right at the top of the draw.
This is the tournament which all of the recent action has been building towards. Amidst the glittering array of talent, there is not exactly a surprise name at the head of the market. That will be Ronnie O’Sullivan who is at 5/2 with leading bookmakers to walk away with the title. If he does so then it will be his sixth, leaving him one short of tying Stephen Hendry’s record of seven.
The Snooker World Championship 2019 is being broadcast on the BBC.
“The Rocket” to boost his season’s returns?
The five-time winner has been a rarely spotted player in the final of the World Snooker Championships. At least in recent times. He hasn’t made an appearance since back in 2013 when he missed out on making it three consecutive titles in a defeat against Mark Selby. It’s a strange thing, because this is the most coveted tournament on the circuit and probably the one tournament where a disinterested O’Sullivan has been seen the most in his career.
Last year he was knocked out in the second round by Ali Carter. His last four appearances have alternated between a quarter-final berth and a second-round exit. Should that streak continue it would at least mean brighter things for him this year at the Crucible. As for O’Sullivan’s current form, he is just one of two men to have won three tournaments in the 2018/19 snooker season. The other is Neil Robertson who will have plenty of backers too.
In-form Roberston a key contender
Australia’s Neil Robertson recently delivered a title at the China Open, which was the culmination of an upswing in recent form. He has been going so well that leading bookmakers now have him in at 11/2 to take the title at the 2019 Snooker World Championship. That win in China was his third title of the season and he is carrying some good form, which could be key at the Crucible. With the draw lined up as it is, he wouldn’t meet either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Judd trump until the final either.
Robertson has been in the winner’s circle at the World Championship before, claiming the crown on his one and only previous appearance in the final back in 2010. He took down Graeme Dott in that fixture. Since that success though, his record at the Crucible is pretty disappointing. He hasn’t been past the second round in the last three years, and half of his last eight appearances have ended in a first-round crash.
One Judd to trump them all?
We can’t go much further really without the mention of Judd Trump, this season’s Masters winner. That was a big breakthrough for him in terms of landing such a prestigious title. He has also picked up the Northern Ireland Open this season and he does have a fairly steady track record at the World Championships behind him.
The question is whether or not the extra step forward that he has taken this season will translate into a world title? Trump was a losing finalist in 2011 as a bit of a young upstart on the scene. Since then he has had two semi-finals and two quarterfinal finishes in his last six attempts at getting the big prize. He isn’t short on confidence and his record in recent ranking events is superb.
Who else is in the picture?
O’Sullivan, Trump and Robertson are three of just four players heading to the Crucible in single digits with the bookmakers. The other is Mark Selby who is 9/1 with leading bookies. However, Selby looks like he just can’t wait until the end of the season to come. It hasn’t been a terrific season from him really with the only title claimed by him being the China Championship back in September last year.
Selby hasn’t been to any final since in a ranking event. It has been a fruitless 2019. He looks to be struggling with his game although is still ranked second in the world. But his record at the World Championships speaks for itself. He has won three of the last five editions of the World Championship, so will this be the tournament that sparks him back into life as he does have a strong affinity with the Crucible?
How the draw lines up
In the first quarter, it is top seed Mark Williams who heads the section, but there are a couple of dangerous floaters in the field there with Kyren Wilson and Barry Hawkins (8th and 9th seed respectively), waiting to pounce.
Former World Champion John Higgins is the one who is opposing Neil Robertson in the second quarter of the draw. But as you would expect in this kind of tournament, it’s not that cut and dry with Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham in the quarter as well.
Out of the main contenders, Mark Selby does look to have the easiest of the sections to navigate. The highest seed that he could face on his way to the semi-finals would be the sixth seed, Mark Allen.
That leaves a pretty congested fourth quarter of the draw. Second seed Ronnie O’Sullivan is in there and could have to face 15th seed Stephen Maguire in the second round. Judd Trump is in the same quarter, a potential quarterfinal opponent for O’Sullivan, but Trump may have to get past Ding Junhui along the way first.
Summary
It’s the Holy Grail of snooker, the biggest title out there that there is to win. The arena that is the Crucible Theatre also adds to the history and enigma of this fantastic tournament. So the stakes are high. There is a spattering of former World Champions back in the mix. It is once again, going to be two of the most absorbing weeks on the snooker calendar year.
