Will a player ever make 1000 centuries?

Ronnie's made a big deal out of wanting do this, does anyone think any player let alone a 39 year old one can reach this milestone?

Ronnie has a shot of it if he truly does play CL like he says he will, and does so on a regular basis for the next few years.

More centuries to be had these days, so I imagine within 30 years there will be a few players on 1000 centuries.

I think it's possible.
Some of the players nowadays are making centuries at a really young age. There are often 15-year-olds playing in the Asian PTCs. In the future, some of these players will 'make it' and embark on perhaps a 30 year playing career. With so many tournaments, they could play in, say, 15 a season - meaning 400-500 career competitions.
Even though they weren't dominating or even winning events, a couple of centuries per event would get close!
It would still be a monumental achievement.

That BBC feature was interesting during the final, wasn't it? Players these days were saying they got their first century at 10 years old. Terry Griffiths was 22.

As said, it'll probably get done if there continues to be as many tournaments as there are now. I don't see why Ronnie can't do it.

If not Ronnie, somebody will. Players now are making more centuries in their career than were made at all in the entire 1970s.

It's very difficult for Ronnie, but if Trump or Ding continue in that high level they are now, for 15 consecutive years more, maybe they will achieve it.

Personally I don't see it happening.

Ronnie and Hendry, two of the greatest break builders ever seen couldn't reach it in 20+ years as top pros. Ronnie might make it yet by playing lots of events but you can't maintain that kind of schedule year in, year out. Focus goes, desire goes, etc. I just can't see Ronnie undertaking such a brutal schedule in his twilight years......he couldn't manage it when he was younger, can't see it changing as he gets older.

Maybe if we have someone turn pro at 12 it could be done.

Agreed sickpotter and centuries are a sign of good form .
If Ronnie and Hendry couldnt do it in 20 pkus years then the answer ks not in this lifetime.

Ronnie is generally clipping in 40-50 a year but that's going to skyrocket if he truly does start entering CL...

This decade so far, and we're only half way through, we have guys who have made more than 250 centuries and the rate is going up due to the amount of events on the calendar.

I'd be amazed if there aren't multiple players with a 1000 centuries within the next even 20 years never mind 30.

Even Ronnie on a limited schedule has made I think it's 188 centuries so far 4.5 years into the decade starting 2010...

Ding makes a century 1 in 11 over his career, Ronnie 1 in 12 and Judd 1 in 13, and at least two of these have many years left on a tour that throws frames at them to achieve massive numbers.

Hendry I think made 1 in 15.

Maybe possible , I very much doubt it though .
It will be a long time before Ronnies max record will be beat that is for sure.

Tbh I would much rather ron was to win amother 3 world titles than a thousand century breaks.

Good stats though mate.

Yeah, the centuries are nice but the titles are the more real deal.


I wish the Masters was starting tomorrow....

NNear wrote:Ronnie is generally clipping in 40-50 a year but that's going to skyrocket if he truly does start entering CL...

This decade so far, and we're only half way through, we have guys who have made more than 250 centuries and the rate is going up due to the amount of events on the calendar.

I'd be amazed if there aren't multiple players with a 1000 centuries within the next even 20 years never mind 30.

Even Ronnie on a limited schedule has made I think it's 188 centuries so far 4.5 years into the decade starting 2010...

Ding makes a century 1 in 11 over his career, Ronnie 1 in 12 and Judd 1 in 13, and at least two of these have many years left on a tour that throws frames at them to achieve massive numbers.

Hendry I think made 1 in 15.

Your post prompted me to do a bit of number crunching... here are the century rates for the 4 most prolific breakbuilders:

Trump: 2967/247=12.0 frames per ton
Robertson: 2946/280=10.5
Ding: 2326/219=10.6
O'Sullivan: 1715/188=9.1

For what it's worth. Numbers from the excellent cuetracker.net, obviously.

^^^

Nice... of course those are stats for the decade starting from 2010 and not full career stats, which is just worth making clear for anyone who might be reading and wondering why the numbers are different.

Ronnie settled into an average of needing less than 10 frames per century since around about the 2003/2004 season. Before that point he was still an impressive century getter but was clipping them more at Ding's or Trump's current decade rate for a while and in his earlier career it was normal for him to be clipping them in at about 1 in every 15-20 ish frames, so nothing out of the ordinary.

At a quick glance, as prodigious as Ronnie and Stephen were, Ding burst onto the scene and immediately had century rate comparable to them at their peak - quite spectacular.

Perhaps from a technical perspective Ding had the highest level in his teenage years on tour, at least from a break-building standpoint? Stephen and Ronnie needed many years to really get going, though the mentality was probably slightly different back then and there might have been less chances to get centuries in general because the typical opponent would play a slightly less open game than today.

^Agree. Obviously the balls are lighter and the cloths are faster now, but does anyone know approximately when these changes took place? In any case Ding is a fantastic breakbuilder and I'm a big fan of his. He's just so classy and in control of his game... Trump is also impressive, but in a different way -- he's like a sledgehammer.

What I also found interesting was statistical evidence of how little Ronnie has played in the last 5 years! Obviously he had his year out, and didn't play a full schedule last year, but he's played just 221 matches vs. 477 (Selby), 457 (Judd), 449 (Murphy). Impressive how well he's managed to do despite the limited schedule, though... I mean, this year he's already made £300 from just 5 tournaments! Obviously the maxi bonus and winning the UK helps massively, but it's still pretty impressive..

Yeah, Ronnie has been very selective and has a pretty good strike rate in the last few years. He wants to play more tournaments in the coming year because he reckons his stamina and match durability is not quite up to scratch as things stand. Obviously, with the increased number of frames available to the top players over the course of the season, there is plenty of opportunity to make century breaks, but one wonders if also some of the other top players should be slightly more selective with their scheduling and ''peak for the Majors'' -- though not to the extent that Ronnie is selective. Somewhere between Ronnie's typical schedule and the typical top pro seems about right to me, and the way the rankings work now with it being a money list makes this selective approach very viable indeed.

...Probably worth a separate thread.

If Ronnie had played as many tournaments as the other players and had his head together properly in that lost decade, I think he'd already be on 1000 centuries. So yeah, this is very possible. Obviously, the contenders after Ronnie will be Judd and Robbo or maybe Ding? Rather than just the century count, I think we'll have to do what Davis did, which is strike rate of centuries because players are now playing a lot more frames of snooker than they did 20 years ago; more tournaments, 128 flat draws, etc. I think Davis said the strike rate had increased over time regardless of the number of frames though.

Skully, how many frames are players playing per season these days? What is the strike rate of centuries?

I reckon someone will come out of the East eventually who will be exceptionally talented and hit 2000 centuries in a career.

O'Sullivan is the most likely. If he plays until he is 45 he could make it, providing he plays a few more events per year.

vodkadiet wrote:O'Sullivan is the most likely. If he plays until he is 45 he could make it, providing he plays a few more events per year.

Ronnie is already playing in all the rankers and the Masters. Does anyone know if he will be entering in the WGP?

gcjdavid wrote:Ronnie is already playing in all the rankers and the Masters. Does anyone know if he will be entering in the WGP?

I'm almost certain he'll play in that. Not sure about the Indian Open and China Open, though -- what makes you think he's playing in all the rankers?

I think he'll play Masters, Championship League, German, Welsh, Grand Prix, Shootout, Worlds... maybe China. And maybe the Poland PTC?

So do you think he will qualify for ptcgf?

shankly wrote:

gcjdavid wrote:Ronnie is already playing in all the rankers and the Masters. Does anyone know if he will be entering in the WGP?

I'm almost certain he'll play in that. Not sure about the Indian Open and China Open, though -- what makes you think he's playing in all the rankers?

I think he'll play Masters, Championship League, German, Welsh, Grand Prix, Shootout, Worlds... maybe China. And maybe the Poland PTC?

Poland PTC no way, he's already said has no interest whatsover in playing the PTC Grand Finals in Thailand, so he wont play in that 100% sure, and don't take what Ronnie said about CL at UK too seriously... I doubt he'll play in that rubbish, if he plays it though it only makes sense to increase a bit more his tons tally like Robbo did last season

As for the rest, a good chance, but with Ronnie we can never be sure.

"It has taken me 21 years to do it so it was nice to have a couple of minutes of clapping, but I didn't want it to over-shadow what we were there to do, which was to play a match. To get to 1,000 centuries is definitely achievable and worth going for." -Ronnie O'Sullivan

http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsAr ... 02,00.html

Snooker Overdrive wrote:"It has taken me 21 years to do it so it was nice to have a couple of minutes of clapping, but I didn't want it to over-shadow what we were there to do, which was to play a match. To get to 1,000 centuries is definitely achievable and worth going for." -Ronnie O'Sullivan

http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsAr ... 02,00.html

Yes Ronnie had the right attitude there. Very nice to break the record, but there was a match to be won aswell.

Also i couldnt agree more with him regarding Hendry, Stephen has nothing to prove, like Ronnie, so if he does decide to play again in some events, namely Worlds, he can just go out there and enjoy it, a bit of a part-time activity for him. He has to forget that winning mentality now because like I said he has nothing left to prove.

Imagine if he qualified for Crucible again, what a remarkable story that would be. The King returns home would be the headlines.

Yes. Ronnie will be the first.

Im not sure if ronnie will make 1000 centuries it all depends if he plays long enough. but one person i do believe will reach 1000 is Robertson

There's a lot more tournaments these days. Ronnie will achieve it.

SnookerFan wrote:There's a lot more tournaments these days. Ronnie will achieve it.

If he plays long enough he definately will, he'll have to play for 4 or 5 more years at least and make 35 tons at least every season, which he obviosuly can do.

I don't think Robbo will achieve 1000 centuries, people are misled to think that just because he made those 100 tons in a season he can do it again.

Judd and/or Ding are the ones who can definately reach 1000 tons with the amount if tournaments nowadays and because they have age on their side.

If he plays for another 4 years, Ronnie will definately get 1000 tons.
I also think Judd and Ding can achieve this feat.