Selby, Ding Junhui, Robertson, Murphy and Trump were once hailed as the "80 Five Tigers" in the world's snooker field. However, in the past few years, the "Five Tigers" have become the "Big Three", and now, the "Big Three" has become Robertson's hegemony. In this season, only Robertson and Trump have won the championship trophy of the former "80 Five Tigers", while Selby, Murphy and Ding Junhui even have a poor presence in the stage. Everyone knows they played, but they lost in the first few rounds. In terms of record, Murphy and Ding Junhui are undoubtedly the worst performers among the five players, and this situation continues to occur.
The time has come for Robertson to dominate the altar
Objectively speaking, except for the last decade of this season, Robertson has been the most stable player. He's not the best player, but he's at least one ranking title in the last decade, and that alone is enough to join the ranks of the greatest players. Since the beginning of this season, Robertson has single-handedly supported the façade of the post-80s players. He reached the finals of all four tournaments of the English Open, the World Grand Prix, the Masters and the Players' Championship, and won three of them, only the World Grand Prix lost to O'Sullivan and finished runner-up. And that's still the case in withdrawing from two races, if Robertson hadn't developed an illness this season. His results could be even more dire, and it seems to indicate that his time has come.
Trump has a hard time finding a title in the rankings
In the first three seasons, Trump was undoubtedly the best performer, and he was even named Player of the Year in a row. However, after entering the season, Trump not only lost consecutively, but also caused controversy after losing to low-ranking players. So far this season, Trump has only won the championship trophy in the Championship Invitational Tournament, and he has a hard time seeking a title in the ranking competition. Although Trump said he has been training hard, he seems to have not been able to find a way out of the predicament. In the first two seasons, Trump was ridiculed as the "king of the minor championships", and after winning the championship of the championship, he openly rebuked the doubters, saying that he had won the gold medal trophy. However, the domineering rhetoric is not as convincing as the champion, and now the performance of the ranking tournament is difficult to find a crown, which has also made the former overlord fade from the ranks of the top players.
Ding Junhui and Selby Murphy are still in the doldrums
In the "80 Five Tigers", Murphy is the first player to win the World Championship, Ding Junhui is the first player to complete the five championships in a single season and the British Championship triple crown, and Selby is currently the most accomplished player. But since entering the season, Selby's performance has been very sluggish, Murphy has made controversial remarks because of his loss to amateur players in the game, and Ding Junhui has often staged a downturn in a round. However, the current situation may be even worse than expected. Murphy has revealed plans to retire from the tour due to injury, while Selby has had to go to treatment because of a relapse of depression due to a loss. Although Ding Junhui said that there were no physical and psychological problems, his performance in the game was still very worrying. So the three players are currently performing the worst, because when they will return to normal levels is still a mystery. If they can't get back to normal, then it's bound to be a blow to world snooker. After all, the era of flourishing is not so wonderful, and the situation of a hundred flowers is more worth looking forward to.