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Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby lhpirnie

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:Right now it very hard to see anyone unknown today being No.1 in ten years time. The circumstances are different to 30/40 years ago. Yan Bingtao is the biggest new name in the last decade and even he's still a long way from being No. 1.

I disagree with that. 10 years is a heck of a long time for things to change. I think it's very likely that an unknown player will emerge in that time, and take advantage of the natural decline in today's top players, most of whom are in their late 30's or 40's.


In fact, 30-40 years ago, it was considered normal for players in their 30's or 40's to reach the top. Steve Davis and then Stephen Hendry changed that view, but now we seem to have a very old set of top players again. Perhaps it goes in cycles, and that the 2030's will be a decade dominated by a generation of young players.

Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby Prop

Here’s how the predictions look:

Iranu, Judders, Manty and Dragonfly picked current world number one Judd Trump.

Krazeeeyezkilla and I went for the hardworking and ever-improving Kyren Wilson.

Chengdufan, Prince, Holden, Pink, Dan and Reg chose Masters Champion Yan Bingtao.

SnookerFan and Running Side predicted the unpredictable Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Johnny Bravo sees a bright future for the natural and stylish Zhao Xintong.

Mick745 thinks it’ll be not-little-any-more Ben Mertens at the top in a decade.

Foul n Miss went with French prodigy Brian Ochoiski.

Muller believes Jackson Page will be hogging the action in ten years.

James Bentley and Ed say it’ll be a player we haven’t even heard of yet.

And Gef nominated Paris Saint-German striker Kylian Mbappé.

Yan Bingtao 6
Judd Trump 4
Ronnie O’Sullivan 2
Kyren Wilson 2
Unknown Player 2
Zhao Xintong 1
Jackson Page 1
Brian Ochoiski 1
Ben Mertens 1
Kylian Mbappé 1

So, here’s our little ‘time capsule’ of predictions. Maybe one of us will be around to dig it up from the depths of the forum in ten years!

Thanks for your contributions :hatoff:
Last edited by Prop on 18 Jul 2021, edited 3 times in total.

Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby Prop

It would mean one of two things:

Ronnie somehow gets a second wind of form, returning to 2012-13 levels, playing amongst competition as good or better than today’s standard.

Or…

The overall standard drops significantly between now and then, Trump etc lose their game, no prodigies coming along to challenge. Ronnie manages to pick up the pieces through experience and guile, entering every single tournament, despite being a shadow of his former self.

Only one option isn’t a sickening prospect <laugh>

Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby Running side

As one of the nominees admittedly slightly tongue in cheek would love Ronnie to find the challenge of still being the one to beat in 10 years . Many have said it would be disappointing that a 50+ player could be the world's best, it obviously depends on Ron's ambition and goals but if he's still playing he'll still be the one to beat.

Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby mick745

He'll always be that "feather in the cap" person for people to beat - the legend that they can say the won a match against. But he'll only stick around all the time he can compete, he wont be content with just falling down the rankings.

Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby Prop

mick745 wrote:He'll always be that "feather in the cap" person for people to beat - the legend that they can say the won a match against. But he'll only stick around all the time he can compete, he wont be content with just falling down the rankings.


Yeah he’ll play as long as he still enjoys it. If he’s enjoying the game it probably means he’s playing to a good level, and vice versa. The two things tend to go hand in hand. I do think he’s more seriously focused on number 7 now, after his 2020 win. That’s all he’s got left to prove, really. But he won’t kill himself trying to achieve it. There will come a point like you say where he’s just not good enough any more, out of the top 16, and his chances of getting number 7 just become slimmer and slimmer.

Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby Wildey

Someone has to start winning tournaments consistently to get to no 1

Last 2 seasons Ranking events won and cash won by winning those
Judd Trump 11 £940,000
Mark Selby 5 £780,000
Neil Robertson 4 £530,000
Shaun Murphy 2 £220,000
Ronnie O'Sullivan 1 £500,000
Ding Junhui 1 £200,000
Stephen Maguire 1 £150,000
John Higgins 1 £125,000
Jordan Brown 1 £70,000
yan bingtao 1 £50,000
Kyren Wilson 1 £33,000

Only Kyren and Yan Bingtao are younger than Judd so i cant see much competition to stop Judd being WN 1 in 10 years

Re: Who will be world number one in ten years? NOMINATE NOW!

Postby SnookerEd25

I’m hoping the ‘money list’ will have been abandoned by then.

I know there is no ‘perfect’ way of devising a Ranking System but what we have now seems to be as bad as it’s ever been; the ‘race’to be no.1 epitomises that :irk: