Ding Junhui is afraid that it will be difficult to return to the peak!
The first time I made such a frustrated prediction, it was the opposite, and I hoped that my prediction would result in the exact opposite! Because I predicted in 2020 that Ding Junhui is fully likely to reach the top of Crucible, Ding Junhui can return to the top! Such a prediction is based on my clear understanding of Ding Junhui's peak level, based on Ding Junhui's subjective desire and passion for victory.
It's not so much a prediction as it is a support! Because the prediction is meaningless, but in the two years after 2020, Ding Junhui has all one round of travel, which is the first time in Ding Junhui's career that he has traveled to Crucible for 2 consecutive years, and the breaking of this convention may be the inflection point of his career, including the first fall out of the TOP32! It is an inflection point in the decline of a career.
In fact, fans who are willing to believe that Ding Junhui can return to the peak is not unreasonable, most of them have experienced the peak of Ding Junhui and know that Ding Junhui is fully capable of competing for the world championship. They also have data support, such as Bingham can still win the world championship at the age of 38, such as Williams can win the world championship at the age of 43, such as O'Sullivan can also win the world championship at the age of 44, so why does the 35-year-old Ding Junhui have no hope! For example, the 40-year-old Robertson can still play the best season of his career, so why can't the 35-year-old Ding Junhui!
But sometimes the truth and logic behind the facts are not so simple. Do these 40-year-olds really just rely on training to maintain their technical level and then win the championship? Is it really that simple? I would say that whether they are motivated by this professional belief in snooker or out of a desire to survive (earn money), at least one thing is that snooker cannot be abandoned for them for the time being – they cannot leave snooker.
For Ding Junhui, I am afraid it is not this logic, which is the "big premise" mentioned at the beginning, how much is Left of Ding Junhui's subjective realistic needs for snooker, and is there that original intention. This answer may be found in some interviews with Ding Junhui.
In an exclusive interview with media personality Wang Zhi'an after winning the 2017 World Open Championship, he said:
Ding Junhui: Everyone asks me what your goal is, I said world championship, I will work hard, but I can't get it, how to get it.
In 2021, when she participated in the Zhejiang Satellite TV variety show, she said:
Ding Junhui: Maybe it will be all the way down from now on.
In an exclusive interview with Olympic champion Xu Lijia after the loss at the 2022 World Championships, she said:
Ding Junhui: I think he did a very good job today, I did a good job myself, I have been insisting, anyway, it feels like completing the task.
Ding Junhui: I'm playing more offensively now, so I don't want to play by myself (too conservative), I don't like to grind with people, it's not interesting, and then I'll go in, and if I don't get in, you can go up and play anyway.
From these statements, I can't see Ding Junhui in his early 30s, there is still any desire and passion for victory, some are just an understatement of the world championship champion, some are just a frank acceptance of their "all the way down", some are just "for whom to complete the task" instead of "for their own dreams", some are just aimlessly changing the style of the game! What are you obsessed with attacking for, not for winning but for performance? If it's to win, when you can't win, shouldn't you think about whether it's worth it, if it's for performance, will you have more opportunities to perform if you lose, and what is the purpose of your insistence on being offensive?
It's a paralysis of the mind.
Again, saying this is not to deny Ding Junhui's brilliant achievements in the past, nor to deny Ding Junhui's great contributions to China's snooker and even the world's snooker. Ding Junhui's past bull and the current mistake have no logical connection, I can question the bad you now and affirm the past you, the two things are not in conflict.
Ding Junhui's fans, including me, must admit this.
In the 7 years from 2016 to the present, the world championship records are runner-up, 4 rounds, 8 rounds, 16 rounds, 16 rounds, 32 rounds, 32 rounds... Year by year, it shows no signs of rebound. Ranking champions for 5 years, in sharp contrast with 5 single-seasons in the 2013/14 season; 3 of the nearly 5 seasons of breaking the total number of 100 in a single season are below 30, regressing to the level of the early career; the world ranking has twice fallen out of the TOP16 and once fell out of the TOP32; for a long time the top 8 is a luxury.
This is a drop in the data.
Your admiration for offense does not bring you a breakthrough in performance, and your mental paralysis gives you more reasons to lose. Don't run away anymore, the real Ding Junhui is not afraid of dangers and obstacles, eager to win, the real Ding Junhui has no bold ambition, but the vision is firm, since he has not given up his career, the rest of the time is to fight for the world championship, there is nothing to shirk and deny. Come on!