WU'S WORLD
The Tuesday Newsletter #1
Wu Yize received a ‘hero’s welcome’ on his return home to China according to the BBC, and so he should.
The snooker world is still vibrating in excitement following a classic Crucible final in which Wu became the second youngest champion in history.
This year’s World Championship took a bit of time to warm up but finished strongly. A dearth of shocks in round one gave way to some heavyweight clashes from the last 16 onwards.
John Higgins against Ronnie O’Sullivan stood out as a battle between two legends. It was of high quality and demonstrated the appeal of longer matches as Higgins recovered from 9-4 down to win 13-12.
With Shaun Murphy taking the game to – and inflicting the Crucible Curse on – Zhao Xintong in the quarter-finals and with big hitters Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby all knocked out in the bottom half of the draw, it left us with two fascinating semi-finals, both of which delivered.
Higgins faded a little towards the end of his match with Murphy, who admirably stayed on the front foot and attacked all the way to his 17-15 victory.
The other semi-final, between Wu and Mark Allen, will be remembered for several reasons. Wu led 6-2, went to pieces in going 7-6 down but rediscovered his equilibrium in surprising fashion by winning the longest frame in Crucible history.
While it is true that this 100-minute epic probably should have had its stalemate attended to at an earlier stage, some of the commentary around it was way over the top. It was an oddity, not an outrage. In the end, the match became known for something much more memorable.
Allen had already had a chance to win 17-14 before standing over the last black, on its spot, in frame 32. His miss was shocking. He did have a chance in the decider, but it wasn’t to be. He had thrown Wu a lifeline and it was grabbed with both hands.
Wu should have been out, but that wasn’t his problem. He led 10-7 after day one of the final but only 13-12 going into the last session, having lost five frames in a row on the second afternoon.
It set up a grandstand finish and one of the most enjoyable sessions of snooker ever seen at the Crucible. Both players played their hearts out. They attacked, refused to sit back in the hope something would merely happen and showcased the game at its best.
Wu in particular went for pots which could have been costly: the yellow with the rest at 16-16 and, of course, the red to middle in the decider which got him in for his winning break.
He has only been a professional for five years. In fact, only Terry Griffiths and Steve Davis won the title earlier in their careers.
His words afterwards, especially about his parents, cemented the Crucible’s already burgeoning love affair with this tall, cool, mega-talented young man.
It’s back-to-back success for China after Zhao’s triumph last year and the fourth new champion in a row, which is a first.
The ages of these winners are also of interest: 28, 32, 28 and 22. It clearly suggests that the demands of the World Championship now favour younger men – although had Allen potted that black, the final would have been a 43-year-old against a 40-year-old.
On such margins, whole careers turn. Wu Yize is now world champion. Already, predictions are being made as to how many Crucible titles he can win, just as they were with Zhao.
Let him enjoy his moment before piling this pressure on him. And let’s not hear about the Crucible Curse just yet.
THE MISS HEARD AROUND THE WORLD
Where does Allen’s miss rank in the pantheon of significant mistakes? It has to be right up there as one of the most meaningful missed pots ever seen.
In 1985, Steve Davis missed the final black to win the world title but it was a tricky cut-back under intense pressure. Purely as a shot, Allen’s was far easier.
In fact, it was closer to Jimmy White’s missed black in the 1994 deciding frame. White still needed a few more pots in addition, so this was not match ball.
In the final of the 1985 UK Championship, Willie Thorne missed a blue off its spot to increase his lead over Davis to 14-8. He lost 16-14 and the miss haunted him for the rest of his career.
Leading Stephen Hendry 8-2 in the 1991 Masters final, Mike Hallett needed just the pink to complete victory. He missed and lost 9-8.
Thorne and Hallett are good examples of top players who won other titles but came to be defined by these near misses.
The good news for Allen is that he has won far more in his career: Masters and UK champion, 12 ranking titles and a former world no.1. He’s likely to continue challenging for titles in the coming seasons.
However… He cannot truly expunge what happened at the Crucible this year unless he becomes world champion.
He spoke well after the match, blaming nothing but the pressure of the moment. Allen is a tough character, but this was a very public reversal and he will need the people around him to rally his spirits.
Davis said after this year’s final, in relation to Murphy losing in a decider, that “it’s only a game.” In 1985, he didn’t himself see it that way, spitting out a few words in fury while being interviewed by David Vine.
Time lends everything perspective, but we’re too close to the Allen miss to judge precisely what effect it will have on him.
This is the first in a new weekly series of Tuesday newsletters.