What a contrast that presents itself in London’s Alexandra Palace every second week of the new year. Roaring, standing up and singing were still allowed until Wednesday evening, when the darts world champion was determined in the 150-year-old arena in the northern district of Haringey.
With the first kick-off at exactly 1 p.m. local time in the round of 16 between Luca Brecel and Jack Lisowski, which the latter won 6-2, the rule of absolute silence has been in effect since Sunday; at least during the duels that the world’s 16 best snooker professionals fight at the extra-long pool table. You don’t know or want it any other way at the Masters – the traditional invitation tournament, which, together with the World Cup in Sheffield and the UK Championship, is part of the high-quality Triple Crown in the calendar of the global Main Tour.
Anyone who learned their craft not in a pub but in a billiards club naturally needs a different atmosphere. This is almost guaranteed from now on. In the “Ally Pally” the 2,200 spectators per session cheer on the billiard crackers loudly, if not robustly or rudely, between shots. As soon as they focus on the next shock, they immediately withdraw.
Overall, the tournament, in which no world ranking points are awarded, is now being held for the fiftieth time, and despite all the changes to the mode – there were once wild cards for deserving players – its outstanding quality continues to be the basic principle: here the absolute elite are decimated in four K .-o.-rounds without false politeness, everyone can beat everyone else at their best. That’s why it’s important to come out of the corner with the right punch in order to pot as much as you can. But three weeks after the Scottish Open, the last competition to date, who can immediately unpack their best, most error-free game?
For that matter, England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan and Australia’s Neil Robertson are under particular scrutiny. The former has already canceled the Scottish Open because he missed the inner tension after winning the UK Championships – a spontaneous withdrawal that the player occasionally makes in his 32nd year as a professional.
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He took his blatant lack of form as an opportunity to go down under, i.e. home, for the holidays to think about everything in the family except 22 colorful synthetic resin balls. Such breaks can clear the minds of sensitive characters. Or take them so far away from the sport that they then need a longer run-up that doesn’t exist at the Masters.
We will see in more detail this Monday (2 p.m., Eurosport) what this applies to O’Sullivan. Then the record winner of the Masters (seven successes) takes on his round of 16 game against Ding Junhui – the long-time friend and adversary from China, whom he defeated in the final of the UK Championship at the beginning of December (10:7). However, it wouldn’t be the first time that “The Rocket” enchanted the Masters audience from a standing start. He already achieved an unlikely triumph in 2009 when he broke his cue out of anger on the day before the final at Wembley Arena – and then used new equipment to defeat last year’s winner Mark Selby 10:8.
Success and failure depend on little things
Neil Robertson will once again be taking part in the tournament on Tuesday evening with the second highest prize money of the season (around 840,000 euros). The 41-year-old former world champion meets Barry Hawkins alias “The Hawk” from the south of London, who has increased his ambitions with victory at the European Open 2023 in Nuremberg. This is a matchup regulars saw in the final two years ago, when Robertson defeated his opponent 10-4. But what does that mean?
Little can really be predicted in the Masters; success and failure depend on little things. Just like at the premiere in 1975 in a hotel in Fulham, when a “decider”, i.e. a last frame, had to determine victory in the final – which John Spencer only secured with a “Respotted Black” to beat Ray Reardon 9:8. In any case, there is something special, and co-favorite Judd Trump particularly likes that. Last year’s winner, who also won in 2019, recently declared the “Ally Pally” “my second home” because of the controlled enthusiasm: “When everyone claps and cheers, it relaxes me. It makes me feel like I belong here.”
