There has been a shift in attention from the 2022/23 snooker season, which was just recently sealed in the pages of history, now eyes and thoughts are about the upcoming 2023/23 Cazoo British Open season. Numerous individuals are interested as to if Ronnie O'Sullivan will defend his World Championship title and win an unprecedented eighth title.
While the winner will be announced by the end of the season, plenty of snooker action remains. Although O'Sullivan has planned several demonstration matches in Singapore in advance of the season's first major competition, the emphasis of most players will be on the upcoming Cazoo British Open.
That being said let's take a look at some of the players you ought to keep an eye out for this upcoming season.
Judd Trump
The 2019 World Champion was none other than English-born Judd Trump. Born in 1989 Judd quickly turned pro at just 16 years of age. Since then he has gone on to win a slew of major tournaments, including the Masters and 17 ranking events.
In 2019, Trump fulfilled a lifetime goal when he won the World Championship for the first time by defeating Scottish competitor John Higgins 18-9 at Sheffield, England's Crucible Theatre. This win gave him the career 'triple crown,' following his January 2018 Masters victory and his 2011 UK Championship victory. He also set a record by amassing more than £1,000,000 in prize money in a single season.
In the 2019/2020 season, the Bristolian set two new records: he was the youngest player to ever make 700 career century breaks, and he won six ranking event championships in a single season.
Just a few months back Judd Trump was looking to become a favourite at the top NZ bookies for world champion but had his plans foiled when he came up against Ronnie O’Sullivan who not only took on the odds as the favourite but also the title.
This season Judd will look to prove he’s still a top dog to contend with.
Mark Selby
Mark Selby is among only six snooker players in history to win the World Championship four times or more. Selby, sometimes dubbed as the "Jester of Leicester," is one of just six players in snooker history to win each of the sport's three "triple crown" competitions on multiple occasions. He has eight career major titles. He held the top one spot at the end of the year seven times between 2012 and 2018, including from February 2015 to March 2019.
Throughout his career, Selby has amassed almost 600 centuries, three total breaks, and a perfect game. While playing Ricky Walden in the 2013 UK Championship, he made the 100th official 147 break in the history of snooker.
He set a new record in 2016–17 by winning five ranking events, including the World Championship and the UK Championship. This record has since been surpassed by Judd Trump in 2019–20. To make up for his loss to Shaun Murphy at the 2014 World Open, Selby has won 17 of the following 19 finals he has been in major ranking events, failing to win only to Ding Junhui during the 2016 Shanghai Masters as well as at the Ryan Day throughout the 2021 Shoot Out.
Ronnie O’ Sullivan
This list would be incomplete without mentioning this legend. Among the best snooker players of all time is England's Ronnie O'Sullivan, who holds the record with 20 triple crown victories. Among those victories are six World Championships.
O'Sullivan has won more ranking events than anybody else in history (38), including a record-tying seven Masters titles and seven UK Championships. He broke the record for most centuries scored by a player in 2019 and is the only player in history to have scored 1,000 runs in his career. O'Sullivan has made the quickest ever documented 147 versus Mick Price throughout the 1997 World Championship, and he has made a total of 15 verified maximum breaks in professional competition.
He has also been ranked first in the world five times, most recently in April of 2022. O'Sullivan's durability in the sport is attested to by the fact that he is still the youngest player to ever win a ranking tournament (UK Championship) and the Masters. Ronnie O’Sullivan has been a massive inspiration to many looking to get into the sport and although he won’t be setting up a pool table for you he can definitely show you a cool trick or two.
Conclusion
These outstanding players are great to watch in action and have many newcomers ask how much space do I need for a pool table? Overall the upcoming season is looking like it’s gonna be a tough break for Ronnie with Judd motivated to recover from his not-so-long-ago loss.