Re: Betfred World Championship (Sat April 30th) Semi-Finals!
Iranu wrote:Yeah sorry, whiffed the maths on Selby’s age there! Although I don’t really think it affects my point.
Great avatar you got! Yes your point stands, could be a late(r) surge of TCs to come, especially with the younger players overall not being good, if/when the standard of the veterans dips (All the triple crown club are if not 40 and over virtually 40 other than Judd, Murphy will be 40 come August)... So unless the sport does get dominated by China with the new generation it could be Trump's for the taking, although he's not been a big feature in TCs since he completed the triple crown but again he's still young and hasn't got a family to distract him.
TheRocket wrote:The 2014 final was a tough one to take but I'm glad it didnt stop ROS from getting to 7 World titles eventually. The 2020 semis was a legendary moment and the start of Rons revival at the Crucible. I can only repeat myself, if Ronnie had lost that match he would have been finished for good at the World Championship. It would have killed him. We will always look back at that match.
And while 2020 was a battle all way through it gave him the confidence to go on and do what he did in 2022. He was completely different league in 2022. Pretty much as good as any previous version.
Yeah it derailed him much more than any of us had guessed I bet, 5yrs of not making a semi final and 2015 was clearly a hangover of 2014, Ronnie fluffed his threepeat and was impatient to correct that, underestimating Bingham who was a journeyman in the eyes of perhaps many at that point & then losing to another opponent he hadn't lost to in many years in 2016, the Hawk... 2018 Ali Carter who he had never lost to in any pro match... 2019 losing to an amateur... I can forgive some wondering if he could make it to 7.
But Ronnie did become a serial winner in just about everything else! Yeah 2020 was a very fortunate one for Ronnie and us fans, no crowds for most of it so he could relax and have less distractions from the job at hand, he demolished Thepchaiyah in record time (I swear Ronnie secretly does listen to and care about records lol, Thepchaiyah frequently is called the fastest player and what did Ronnie do to him? HEHE)
Tough matches vs Ding and Willo (I feared for him with willing taking session 1 6-2, also iirc Ding had the better of Ronnie in session 2 so was like oh god not 2017 again where Ronnie lost it due to a bad evening session)... Selby, good start but Ronnie was angry it wasn't a 6-2 session where it should have been, every frame won vs Selby is major in if anything keeping the match shorter! Sessions 2-3 were painful to watch with Selby doing what he does, grinding players down & the final session started good but when Ronnie smashed the ball around in frame 30 I did fear the worst & it would have been such a blow had he lost but he made that SUBLIME comeback no one saw coming, least of all Selby!
Had Selby won likelihood he'd have beaten Kyren in the final and he really would be the threat to Hendry's record over Ronnie! (When last year Davis said that I felt so disrespected & I wonder if Ronnie did hehe as he just went and won his 7th AND did so very comfortably looking at score margins)
Yes 2020 was the revival we waited for, sure his defence last year wasn't good, bowing out in round 2 though at least he got to a decider from 10-6 down (He really didn't take his reigning champion season seriously e.g. not practising outside of tournaments, doing it in matches potting every last ball in lost frames hehe), I didn't think he'd win his 7th so soon though! I figured he'd need a couple of years to have the thirst again but something was different this time, he really applied himself, he'd win every tournament if he always was as focused as this! (Just as in Shanghai 2019 he was very professional throughout, enjoyed the stuff outside of matches as well and he went on to win it, 1st threepeat of any tournament in a while and had they not removed it as a ranking tournament he'd have been no.1 longer!)...
Proves for Ronnie it's more often his mood that affects his result, had he won 2014 who knows how many more he'd have won till now, he was on a roll and his own words he doesn't like to graft, he likes things to come easy to him, he had been in the zone for the crucible with Steve Peters help, 2012 he says was easily his best crucible tournament where he won comfortably every match almost, 2013 he had a year off and won convincingly, no one ever led him in any session, only time he fell behind in frames was the final vs Barry.
2014 he had that 10-5 margin that was squandered. Then the real suffering would come in session 3, which was so slow they only played 6frames (Typical Selby match).... So began his great exodus from the 1 table, Ronnie was winning a lot still, after losing his world title that he came close to holding 3yrs straight he won the Champ of champs, UK so he was a favourite surely for 2015 but he fell flat vs Bingham of all people... 2016 he was the Masters champion and the favourite going in to the crucible, to lose to Barry who he trounced 10-1 just months earlier in the Masters. 2018 & 19 he was favourite again being the most dominant player of both seasons esp 2018 with 5 ranking titles, 2019 he went in as world no.1.... Pressure often gets bad results for him in the Crucible doesn't it!
2020 and 2022 he was not the favourite. (Nor were they successful seasons, 2011-2012 I'm not sure but I don't think it was, he tends to win the world title in more lean seasons, none more so than 2013 hehe) But I can look at the silver lining it took so long for his 6th title, made me appreciate his runs more in the crucible, they're far from formalities even for him & I didn't get restless for title 7 with how long 6 took!
Beauty of not winning 2014 but winning 2020 & 22? PRIZE MONEY! Sure he lost out on I think £175k as runner up in 2014 but £500k is much nicer than 300 and he has won over £1million this decade from the crucible!
Yes if I had to watch 3 frames it would be frames 31-33 of 2020's SF vs Selby! Also again shows Ronnie's mood is huge in how he does, he came in 13-11 down but was laughing about something! GENIUS!
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