vodkadiet wrote:This weak era garbage again. If the standard is so great today then why are John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan still at the top of the game? Why are others in their late 30s and 40s getting better results than they did years ago? The answer is that the standard is worse than it was years ago. And please don't quote break building or century stats as they aren't relevant. The conditions today are heavily ladened in favour of breakbuilding . The cloths are thinner, the balls are lighter and the pack splits at a touch, and the pockets seem to swallow balls up that should never go in.
Just listing your all time top ten doesn't mean its true. It is just an opinion that counts for nothing.
'Achievements outweigh opinion every time' - Clive Everton
Ronnie and John are still at the top of the game because:
1. they are the 2 best players in history
2. they have an amazing all round game
3. they have improved with time and they are much better all-round players than they were in the early 90's
Hendry never had a great safety and tactical game, hence his rapid decline, in his early 30's.
When I said that the standard is higher, I was especially refering to the game in general, not necessarelly top players. There are far more good players nowadays than they were in the early 90's.
You just have to take a look at the players ranked outside the top 10 from the early 90's.
Let's take a look from 10 to 30th in the rankings in the 1994-95 season:
10 Nigel Bond - average at best
12 Joe Swail - average at best
13 David Roe - average at best
14 Terry Griffiths - an old dinosaur, 47-48 years old
15 Willie Thorne - average at best, 41 years old
16 Tony Drago - nice to watch, but never great
17 Steve James - average
18 Martin Clark - unknown bum
19 Dave Harold - average
20 Dene O'Kane - unknown bum
21 Tony Knowles - average
22 Gary Wilkinson - unknown bum
23 Mike Hallett - decent at best
24 Dennis Taylor - old dinosaur, 45-46 years old
25 Neal Foulds - decent at best
26 Doug Mountjoy - oldest dinosaur, 52-53 years old
27 Mick Price - average bum
28 Jason Ferguson - unknown
29 Dean Reynolds - unknown
30 Brian Morgan - decent at best.
I'm a snooker enthusiast and I have barely heard of half of them, let alone the wider public.
Now how on earth can these guys compare to the modern players ?!
A young kid like Zho Xintong who's currently ranked 65 in the world (used to be 85) would probably beat most of them
Top players like Selby, Robertson, Trump, Ding - they would mop the floor with them
Ronnie in full flow would whitewash most of them
In order to win his titles, Hendry only had a tough match from the quarters at best, sometimes from the semis. Now how on earth that does not make this era harder ?!?