Days of Thunder at the Crucible

NEIL ROBERTSON will carry the tag of favourite as the World Snooker Championship begins tomorrow morning at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

The Australian left-hander won his only world crown way back in 2010 - but enters the tournament in red-hot form after winning the English Open, Players Championship and the longer-format Tour Championship this season.

Indeed, Robertson's array of triumphs have left some pundits collectively scratching their heads at just why he has not had more success at the Crucible.

Altogether, the 40-year-old has won six Triple Crown events - with three victories in the UK Championship and two Masters titles in addition to his 2010 triumph in Sheffield.

Furthermore, the Thunder from Down Under has an unmatched record on the circuit of having won a major pro-title in every calendar year going back to 2006.

So, what can possibly explain his extremely modest World Championship record which shows just one appearance in the semi finals in the last 11 years?

In an actual fact, part of the reasoning was provided by Robertson himself in an interview last year - namely, that the Crucible Theatre, for all of its legend, is far from his favourite venue.

"I don’t like the venue, from a technical point of view it’s very difficult for me to walk into my shot properly, it’s actually almost impossible to do," said Robertson.

"To get to the one-table set-up I need to negotiate that and it’s something that I have to work on.

"Whether it’s change my technique slightly so I’m not always backing into those walls. I know a lot of players don’t like the set-up, it’s very cramped."

Taking this account - and, especially considering the gruelling format has a pre-requisite of a more positive mindset than that, it would suggest that his position as favourite is rather misplaced.

Nevertheless, the Aussie should have enough to deal with Crucible debutant Ashley Hugill, ranked 77 in the world - and, indeed, should have enough to make it to the quarter finals where he is slated to meet John Higgins.

The two other players on debut, Jackson Page and Hossein Vafaei, face Barry Hawkins and Judd Trump respectively - but, otherwise, the 16 successful qualifiers feature an array of players who know their way around a snooker table in a South Yorkshire theatre.

Michael White, for instance, takes on fellow Welshman - three-time champion Mark Williams - while officially classed as an amateur even though he is, in fact, a two-time ranking event winner who spent 12 years on tour, and was once ranked inside the top 16.

For the record, White and Williams are part of a cohort of six Welsh players, with the Red Dragon also represented by Page, Jamie Jones, Matthew Stevens, and Jamie Clarke.

Carmarthen man Stevens brings with him plenty of Crucible experience after no fewer than 17 previous appearances, including runs all the way to the Final in 2000 and 2005 - so could present Jack Lisowski with a strong challenge.

Meanwhile, Clarke - in taking on Chinese protégé Zhao Xintong - will be undoubtedly indebted to his previous visit to Sheffield in 2020 when he beat Mark Allen before losing a tense match against Anthony McGill in a decider.

On that note, the runner-up from last year, 2005 champion Shaun Murphy, resumes his rivalry with Stephen Maguire in probably the spiciest of the 16 ties.

Back in 2004, in a match eventually won by Maguire, the Scotsman realised he had forgotten to bring his chalk with him so he asked the referee for permission to leave the arena.

Murphy spoke to the referee while Maguire was away, the tournament director was summoned, and Maguire was docked a frame for not being ready to start at the scheduled time.

Most recently, Maguire beat Murphy 5-4 in the 2021 Welsh Open quarter finals - and it would be fair to say that the friction between the pair has not completely gone away.

Elsewhere, Ronnie O'Sullivan will be happy, for once, if he can go under the radar somewhat as he resumes his quest for a record-equalling seventh world crown with a tough match against the Angry Farmer, David Gilbert, who reached the semi finals in 2019.

Kyren Wilson, the 2020 finalist, must overcome former world number one - the great Chinese underachiever Ding Junhui - whose best result was runner-up in 2016.

And four-time champion Higgins faces Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - with fellow Thai talent, Noppon Saengkham, taking on Belgian hopeful Luca Brecel in the same section of the draw.

In total, nine different nationalities will be represented at this World Championship - with the Iranian, Vafaei, increasing the all-time Crucible number to 20.

Already, Snooker Shoot Out champion Vafaei has stirred the pot a little by suggesting the Rocket, O’Sullivan, should retire and let the younger generation grow snooker.

The Prince of Persia told the Metro newspaper: "I don’t want to get involved in that kind of conversation really. I like him a lot, I am his fan, I love what he does but sometimes he’s disrespectful, he’s not good for the game."

All of this has made good copy for the journalists in the build-up - but it would take both players to go all the way to the Final on the May Day Bank Holiday for them to meet so it is difficult to see this one going too much further.

Of course, it would be wrong not to mention defending champion Mark Selby anywhere in this write-up.

The Jester from Leicester has struggled throughout the 2021-22 campaign with only one semi final appearance in the World Grand Prix coming back in December.

More worryingly, excluding two wins in the points-based Snooker Shoot Out, the troubled four-time winner has only won two other matches since the turn of the year.

Nevertheless, this long-form competition of multiple sessions will always be a Selby speciality.

Now, the 38-year-old - however talented he actually is - will never be a Crucible fan favourite.

His nickname almost makes a mockery of nominative determinism as he churns out the frames - painfully at times, having even carried on with five snookers required.

But, while out-of-form and out-of-match practice at the moment, Selby could easily use these favoured longer games to play himself scratchily back into shape.

Live match coverage on BBC Two/BBC Four and Eurosport.