Neal Foulds is tipping Ronnie O'Sullivan for Masters glory at Alexandra Palace, and he has his say on the ongoing match-fixing investigation that has rocked snooker.
Masters week is upon us again and anticipation for this year’s event is at fever pitch, with Alexandra Palace all set to play host to the best players in the sport in a tournament that is seemingly growing in stature, even after all these years.
I’m not sure the Masters has ever been bigger than it is at present, and that is in part down to a terrific venue in Ally Pally that has taken things to a new level, for the spectator and for the players who were blown away by the most incredible atmosphere they were treated to last year.
I loved the old Wembley Conference Centre and was sorry to see the place knocked down, and Wembley Arena never really felt like home after that, but Ally Pally most definitely does and coming out of a pandemic which robbed fans of live sport for so long, we had a Masters to remember 12 months ago.
To witness the reception Mark Williams and John Higgins received all through their quarter-final match – a Welshman and a Scotsman playing in London, don’t forget – was something very special and I suspect those who were there that night, and indeed the two players, won’t ever forget it.
Rob Walker did a sterling job in revving up the crowd all week, but it was the snooker that ultimately won out and we had a great eight days with some fantastic matches and a quite brilliant winner in Neil Robertson.
This year has plenty to live up to, there’s no doubt about that.
Murphy a tough test for Robertson
There is so much look forward to in the next week, starting with Robertson kicking off his title defence in what might be the tie of the first round, up against a former champion in Shaun Murphy.
The thing about the Masters, and I know it’s a cliché, but every match could be the final. This one in particular has all the hallmarks of a classic, given Robertson looked somewhere near his best before Christmas, similarly Murphy who I reckon is playing much better than his results would suggest.
I don’t think he’s far away at all and he could really put it up to Robertson. There’s an argument to be made that the winner of the whole event could come from Sunday's tournament opener, and it will certainly be a significant test for the defending champion.
Robertson has to be near the top of anyone’s shortlist, though, as does UK Championship winner Mark Allen who has looked a different player since the summer and is sure to be eyeing more big prizes at this crucial juncture of the season.
We’ve got tournaments like the World Grand Prix, the Players Championship and the Tour Championship coming up on the run to the Crucible and Allen seems determined to become a regular contender at the very biggest events.
My one slight concern with him is that, understandably so, he started to look a little jaded at the English Open, despite enjoying another deep run.
Maybe the Christmas break will have done the trick, but these players aren’t machines and if he can maintain the high level of form he produced earlier in the season, he’ll be doing very well.
O'Sullivan primed to Masters win number eight
That brings us nicely on to Ronnie O’Sullivan who has such a tremendous record at the Masters, having made 13 finals and won on seven occasions. O’Sullivan is already the youngest ever winner of the Masters, but what an achievement it would be if he could become the oldest, too.
Subconsciously, he just wasn’t there for the Home Nations events before Christmas, and the bottom line is, however hard you try when you’re out on the table, you can’t keep producing your best snooker week in, week out.
That applies even more when you get to O’Sullivan’s age, and I’ve maintained all season that we’ll only see him firing on all cylinders in the very biggest events. He proved that when winning Hong Kong Masters and Champion of Champions with relative ease, so we know his form is there when he’s fully focused and dialled in.
I don’t think his draw is too bad this year, with Luca Brecel first up, and if he’s knuckled down and worked hard on his game in the last few weeks, this looks like a good year for him to regain the winning thread in an event he was dominating a few years ago.
I suspect he knows that, too, and think he’ll be very keen to have a deep run.
O’Sullivan would be my pick, but I must mention Mark Selby who is another with a fine Masters record. In fact, of the modern era, Selby is only the second player after Stephen Hendry to win the Masters on debut, and given the quality of players we always have here, and the type of atmosphere we have come to expect, that is no mean feat.
His more recent record at the Masters isn’t quite so flash, but he was a deserving winner of the English Open in December and more than anything, beating Robertson in the semi-finals there, having lost their previous seven meetings, looked to do wonders for his confidence.
He said himself after winning the final that although people kept commenting on how he was back playing well again, it meant nothing to him until he won something. He’s done that now, and there will be a little less pressure on his shoulders when he starts out against Hossein Vafaei on Sunday evening.
One suspects Judd Trump will be thinking along similar lines having looked close to peak form on occasions this season without being able to put it all together and win a tournament.
He will have been left frustrated by that, I’m sure, but has been playing in the Championship League in recent days and you can’t fault his attitude and desire to get back to level that made him the best player in the world a few years ago.
Match-fixing scandal darkens our wonderful game
I’ve already made reference to Selby’s match with Vafaei, but the latter has only made it into the final 16 after Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao were suspended amid the ongoing match-fixing investigation.
In the case of Bingtao, he’s a former winner of this event, so to not have him here is desperately disappointing for the sport.
It’s important to stress right now that we won’t know the full extent of what has actually happened until the investigation by World Snooker Tour is complete.
My own view is that when that investigation is complete, each case must be judged on its merits and punishments handed out accordingly. I’m not for one second condoning anybody caught up in match fixing, if indeed that is found to be the case, but I’ve heard lots of calls in recent days for life bans across the board and I think we need to be very careful with that.
Until we know the facts of individual cases, we must sit tight, but more important than handing out life bans to young men with their whole lives ahead of them, we must listen to them and try and get to the truth.
This is bigger than any one player and we must get to the root cause and stamp it out. Full stop.
If there are people involved in snooker who are found to have orchestrated events that have led us to this point, they need to be kicked out of the sport for good. But if we have cases where young people have been coerced and taken advantage of, then that is a different matter in my opinion.
You only have look at the example of Mohammad Amir who was taken advantage of at such a young age when those around him should have been protecting him, not using him as they did.
Amir was a brilliant, young cricketer found guilty of spot-fixing, but he served his time, came back a better person and ended up winning Pakistan a World Cup.
Match fixing is the worst thing in snooker, or any sport for that matter. But snooker is strong with a loyal fanbase, and it will recover.
Hopefully the Masters can showcase the very best of our sport in the coming days and give us the lift we all need after a trying few weeks.
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