Will Ronnie win a ranking event this season?
- Ash147
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- Joined: 14 November 2018
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D4P wrote:I voted for "The Shoot Out".
Ash147 wrote:D4P wrote:I voted for "The Shoot Out".
Firstly, I doubt Ronnie will even bother to enter it. Secondly. it shouldn't count as a ranking event anyway.
Erza Scarlet wrote:It's either the WC or nothing this season, no in-between. That's my feeling on it.
SnookerFan wrote:I wonder what Jester From Leicester thinks.
D4P wrote:Erza Scarlet wrote:It's either the WC or nothing this season, no in-between. That's my feeling on it.
This is how I see it, too. Ronnie's going all-in on the WC this season, and doesn't want to waste resources on other events.
The only other ranking event he might be conflicted about is the Tour Championship, since he's the defending champion and it's a big event. But he might not qualify for it, anyway...
SnookerFan wrote:I wonder what Jester From Leicester thinks.
Erza Scarlet wrote:Do you think he also believes he can only win 1 Triple Crown event a season? Something he picked up on by fans or whatever. Since 2012 that's been the case, maybe one of the reasons why he skipped the Masters.
D4P wrote:Erza Scarlet wrote:Do you think he also believes he can only win 1 Triple Crown event a season? Something he picked up on by fans or whatever. Since 2012 that's been the case, maybe one of the reasons why he skipped the Masters.
I think that Ronnie definitely believes that winning the Masters this season would decrease his chances of winning the WC. Winning would take up some of his energy* and also increase expectations for him to perform at the Crucible, which he doesn't want. I think Ronnie wants to go into the WC this season as an underdog or dark horse as much as possible, which is why he isn't trying to win other events this season. By winning 5 titles in each of the past 2 seasons, the expectations for him to perform at the Crucible reached a level that he wasn't comfortable with...
On a related note, it's remarkable that Ronnie has won his 19 TC events across 18 different seasons, when you consider that Hendry and Davis each only had 10 seasons with at least one TC win. Put another way, Ronnie holds the record for "most seasons with at least one TC win" at 18, and second place is all the way down at 10.
*I get the impression that winning is difficult for Ronnie, not in the snooker sense, but in the psychological/emotional sense. Winning attracts a lot of attention (e.g. media, interviews, etc.) and also places more pressure on the winner to keep winning. Ronnie only has a limited about of energy for dealing with all of the attention that comes with winning, and I think he learned over the past 2 seasons that he had used up that energy by the time he showed up at the Crucible. Part of his strategy this season appears to be trying to save up his energy for the WC as much as possible...
Erza Scarlet wrote:
I did see once on Twitter about Ronnie's record with the WC when he is the fav and it's terrible lol but these days he'll always be one of the favs. It's a big risk just like 2013 but if anyone can then he can.
D4P wrote:Erza Scarlet wrote:
I did see once on Twitter about Ronnie's record with the WC when he is the fav and it's terrible lol but these days he'll always be one of the favs. It's a big risk just like 2013 but if anyone can then he can.
This is a conundrum for Ronnie. He wants to be an underdog, but he can't be because he's too good and too successful. The only way he can lower expectations is to take a year off to work on a farm or play kamikaze snooker for an entire season and skip major events altogether.
I think it's no mere coincidence that Ronnie's last 2 WC wins were won when expectations were low, and it's also no mere coincidence that he hasn't won for the past several years when expectations were high...
KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:He'll need a title during the spring to give him some momentum like in 2012.
D4P wrote:KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:He'll need a title during the spring to give him some momentum like in 2012.
He didn't need any momentum in 2013...
KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:D4P wrote:KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:He'll need a title during the spring to give him some momentum like in 2012.
He didn't need any momentum in 2013...
He wasn't playing in any tournaments which at least meant he wasn't getting beat all the time.
KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:He'll need a title during the spring to give him some momentum like in 2012.
Erza Scarlet wrote:KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:He'll need a title during the spring to give him some momentum like in 2012.
Probably but that period was different than now I think. In that 2 year period before winning the German Masters he was in the worst snooker period of his life, his game wasn't there at all to win anything apart from a bunch of Premier League titles. He had no confidence.
Atm it's not a confidence issue, he's just willingly playing exhibition style snooker and still took Robertson, Ding and Selby to a decider who all went to become the eventual champions of their tournaments. Fine margins.
Alex0paul wrote:Might fluke the Gibraltar Open