The 2021 Master snooker tournament is scheduled to take place in January, at the Alexandria Palace, in London. The event will gather some of the biggest names in this sport’s history.
The Masters will follow the 2020 UK Championship and will precede the 2021 World Snooker Championship.
Between 10 and 17 January, we will see performing the top 16 players form the snooker world rankings. The defending champion, Stuart Bingham, will also take part in the competition, but he is far from being the favorite.
Judd Trump is now the favorite of winning The Masters 2021 and Ronnie O’Sullivan is on second place. Sports Betting odds at Unibet show that Trump has the first chance (+250 odds), while O’Sullivan has +350 odds.
Neil Robertson (+550) and Mark Selby (+900) then follow, while Stuart Bingham is only the 10th favorite (+2500 odds).
Actually, the top four favorites at this tournament have dominated the snooker world in the past decade, so when asking who is the best snooker player of all time, we should consider this list.
The current number one, Judd Trump, is a former world champion, with a total of 18 ranking titles. He had four maximum breaks (147), and over 700-century breaks. Also, Trump is one of the just 11 players to have won a career Triple Crown.
But while he has an impressive career albeit being only 31 years old, Trump isn’t quite yet the best snooker player in history. And neither is he the second greatest player.
Almost unanimously, Ronnie O’Sullivan is considered to be the greatest snooker player of all time. “The Rocket” has by his side all the numbers to be regarded the outright star of the game.
He won six times the world championship, and a record of seven times each the Masters and the UK championship. He has 20 Triple Crown Series titles (more than any other player), and the most ranking titles (37).
O’Sullivan also won by far the most prize money in his career, and has the most maximum breaks – 15. He also has the most century breaks, being the only one with more than 1,000.
Ronnie O’Sullivan turned pro at 16, and a year later he was the youngest player to be ranked number one in the UK championships, beating Stephen Hendry in the 1993 finals. And, according to World Seniors champion Jimmy White, he still currently is the best in the world, despite Judd Trump being number one.
If it weren’t for O’Sullivan, then Stephen Hendry would be the greatest of all time. And he was that – until along the way Ronnie just bypassed him.
Hendry is the snooker’s youngest world champion, in 1990, aged 21, but holds other records too. Two of them are winning the World Snooker Championship seven times, and being number one for the most seasons (9), of which 8 where consecutive (1990-1998).
His 18 Triple Crown Series titles comprise also six Masters titles and five UK championships. Hendry is the only player to have won all three Triple Crown events in the same season, twice.
The Scotsman officially retired in 2012, but he was given an invitational tour card for the next two seasons, this September. He is second next to O’Sullivan at the number of ranking titles, career earnings, and total maximum beaks (11). Along with John Higgins, Hendry is the other snooker player to have more than 750 century breaks.
Be it O’Sullivan, Hendry, or the number one Trump, fans and experts alike still debate on who will be considered the greatest snooker player of all time. Until an agreement will have been reached, we will enjoy the Masters next January.