mick745 wrote:Ding and Trump are the obvious big names yet to have their names on the trophy but they have to make their move NOW before a certain trio of up and coming Chinese players begin to dominate.
Selby must be the favourite though.
The problem with Ding is that his success very depends if Ronnie is ruling the game or not. Because their break-building patterns and styles are that much similar. If and now when Ronnie is struggling and failing to produce it one could expect Ding having problems with confidence, too. I Suppose it would foolish to completely rule out Ronnie but at the moment he is nowhere near to be among the best players, even when he managed to fall over the line at the Ally Pally. It would be same if Stephen Hendry would be still playing; people would talk about a century nro xxx and a century nro xxx +1, or the odd tournament victory which would add the figures. Even if overally it wouldn´t be any good.
I tipped years ago Selby to rule the game and the rankings and he has done that. I wrote that when he still was an underdog and nowhere near to be a World Number 1. Luckily all my predictions have not arrived (at least not yet ha ha..
) but that prediction was spot on. But as obvious as that was as obvious it is that he won´t be the number 1 too long anymore. When he starts to lose the ground there are several players out there with a shout. I would say Shaun Murphy´s game currently is a top notch, and it is just a matter of time before he starts to get the results big time. In a way Ronnie is back where he once was; not the best player, or even among the very best players, but the people´s champion and a crowd favourite. The fans are rooting him because at the moment he is an underdog.
A "flawless perfection", a "very well done downing the rocket" phrases come to mind when thinking about the 2017 World Championships..