My World Championship preview: part four

StalinESQ wrote:

case_master wc wrote:I should also add that I thought Hendry applied himself far more in 08. When in difficult positions he genuinely looked for ways out of trouble, even when far behind (although I am not sure about the final black, don’t think he wanted to come back)

In 04 he was throwing his cue at everything.

the final black was a cut back from memory and it looked like a concession attempt

Monique wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:I feel Ronnie had a relatively easy draw the last time he won the title. This may seem to some a ridiculous claim for some, being that he beat Mark Williams, Liang Wenbo and Stephen Hendry along the way, but with god as my witness I turned to my friend when I picked up the programme at that year's Crucible and said; "Ronnie is going to win this." That was before any ball had been potted.

He played an unranked teenager in his first match, a gimme as much as a gimme is possible. Then he played a Mark Williams far past his best, and playing nowhere near as good as he is now. At the time Mark Williams was dropping out of the top 16. Liang Wenbo was greener than grass at the time, and was totally unheard of when this tournament came around. Sure he played well, and made a bit of a name for himself, but can anybody here say they expected him to beat Ronnie in that tournament? I didn't then. But it may be different now. (Though I predict Ronnie to take it.) Stephen Hendry in the semi for me, was the first player who had a chance to beat him. But even then, I considered that a relatively long shot, as Hendry is far past his best. And good player though Ali Carter is, did anybody predict him getting to the final that year? Neither him nor Joe Perry (who lost the semi) would've started favourite against Ronnie at The Crucible final. It didn't help that Ali Carter was complete knackered by the final, and couldn't do justice to himself. But even in form, I didn't think he'd beat Ronnie. He never has either.


This year however, looks a lot harder for Ronnie. He plays a Liang who is much improved from the aforementioned World Championships. As is Williams. I still feel Hendry wouldn't beat him, or Ken Doherty. Not at these stages in their careers. But there are plenty of good matches there. But despite there being many of the same people in the draw this year, as the last time he won, I feel a lot more of them are on better form then they were at the time, or in Liang's case have more match experience.

Well I find it odd that you could say that as soon as you picked the program.
I certainly did not expect Carter to emerge from that half, with Murphy, Maguire, Robertson, Selby and Ebdon in that mix.
I also didn't expect Hendry in the semis, him being in same quarter as Higgins and Ding. Both Liu Chuang and Liang Wenbo had gone all the way from stage one of the qualifs which does ask for some quality. Mark Williams certainly wasn't the player he was in 2003 but him dropping out of the top 16 was mainly due to a very poor 2006/07 season. He was actually showing clear signs of a return to form; he actually made it to the last 16 of 3 ranking events and the quarters both in UK and China that season. Over a long format he was never to be a gimme.