Snooker question, why are the likes of john parrot and steve davis saying that there are 10 contenders?

Question

for the world championship

there are only 5 as far as i am concerned

1. john higgins

2. ronnie o'sullivan

3. mark selby

4. neil robertson

5. stephen maguire

john higgins and ronnie o'sullivan are scheduled to play in the semi, neil robertson and stephen maguire are scheduled to play in the second round, the bottom half of the draw is weaker than the top, so either neil or stephen will be advancing through to the final, i am counting out the likes of ryan day, ding junhui, mark allen, ali carter, cos they are inexperienced at this level, even though they are talent , ding junhui is scheduled to play john higgins in the quarters, i can't see him winning that, to be honest, even tho shaun murphy is in form for the championship, i think either peter ebdon or mark selby, will be to competitive for him this season, i am not sure, if mark selby has had a good a season as neil or stephen, i know stephen and mark, have won the most trophies this season

Answer 1

That is just your opinion. JP and SD have differing views.

Answer 2

You'll find there are many genuine contenders for the world title this year. Just look how close both Jamie Cope and Mark Allen came to knocking out former champions already this week. For the record, I think that Steven Maguire will win it, despite a tough 2nd rounder against Neil Robertson...assuming he beats Hamilton in Round 1.

However, outwith him, I'd say that Murphy, O'Sullivan, Selby, Higgins, Hendry, and at a push, Ebdon, Doherty, Fu, and Robertson all have a good to fair chance. It's certainly much more open now than what it was was when Davis/Hendry ruled the roost.

As an aside, I actually predicted that Maguire would beat O'Sullivan 18-15 in the final this year, and was quite surprised when I checked that this scoreline has never appeared in a World final since Alex Higgins beat Ray Reardon in 1982.

Answer 3

The way snooker is these days, it is hard to predict the top 5/10 contenders as most players put so much effort and time into the game, it only takes one bad shot and the game could be lost.......at the end of the day, it is only opinions and not to be taken as a cert!

Answer 4

1. Ronnie O'Sullivan

2.John Higgins

3.Stephen Maguire

4.Shaun Murphy

5.Peter Ebdon

6.Ryan Day

7.Neil Robertson

8.Stephen Hendry

9.Ding Junhui

10.Mark Williams

I think most of the above have a genuine chance of winning, with the legend Stephen Hendry being an outside chance.

My prediction is Ryan Day v Stephen Maguire in the final.

Answer 5

personally i would say 3 of them but i think there basically saying any1 can win because there all great players and there coming through the ranks!

Answer 6

I think these 9 are all contenders:

John Higgins

Shaun Murphy

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Peter Ebdon

Neil Robertson

Stephen Hendry MBE

Stephen Maguire

Mark Selby

Mark Williams

My Predictions:

O'Sullivan v Higgins - Semi-Final 1

Murphy v Robertson - Semi Final 2

Final: Shaun Murphy v John Higgins

Winner: Shaun Murphy