In the World Snooker Tour, Ding Junhui is the player who is the farthest away from the ranking championship among the top players. In fact, whether it is Selby, Trump, Robertson, O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, Allen or Higgins, they won the last championship much shorter than Ding Junhui.
You must know that the last time Ding Junhui won the ranking tournament was back in the 2019 British Championships. Today, it's almost four and a half years old.
In the past four and a half years, Brecel and Wilson, who were born in the 90s, have become world champions, and Allen and Murphy have narrowed the gap between themselves and Ding Junhui. Objectively speaking, Ding Junhui's current situation is not very optimistic.
Ding Junhui ushered in the ranking match, and the three consecutive runners were hit hard
In the past 4 years, Ding Junhui has only reached three ranking finals. In the final of the 2022 British Championships, Ding Junhui suffered a super reversal with a huge advantage at the beginning and finally lost to Mark Allen 7-10 and missed the championship drought.
In the 2023 British Championships, Ding Junhui and O'Sullivan will meet in the finals, but the firepower of O'Sullivan finally defeated Ding Junhui 10-7.
On the stage of the 2024 World Open, Ding Junhui and Trump will meet in the finals, but in the end, Ding Junhui defeated Trump 4-10 and failed to break the championship drought, and at the same time, suffered three consecutive defeats in the finals of the ranking tournament.
For Ding Junhui, such an experience is undoubtedly a blow. Although his opponents in the final were all strong, the continuous heavy blows really hurt his confidence.
Ding Junhui's championship drought has lasted for nearly four and a half years
Among the top players, Ding Junhui is the farthest away from the ranking championship. Even Higgins, who has been in a slump recently, won the ranking tournament last time in the 2021 Players Championship, and his opponent in the final was O'Sullivan.
Compared with Higgins's performance, Ding Junhui's performance in the last two seasons is still remarkable. But the difference is that Ding Junhui is currently too far away from the ranking championship, and if he can't win the championship in the next season, then his own ranking championship drought will be more than five years.
It's a scary time for top players, as it not only drains a player's confidence and motivation, but also puts them under a spell of self-doubt. Therefore, the best way to break the spell is to use the championship to crush the nightmare, but judging from the current situation, Ding Junhui will need a lot of time.
Ding Junhui needs to improve accuracy and stability to break the championship drought
For China's first brother Ding Junhui, his current mentality is no problem. But he does have some problems with his current long-range accuracy and consistency, which for snooker players are in most cases equivalent to the ability to take chances.
You must know that players with good accuracy on the far platform can often resolve difficult situations by attacking from the far platform. Whether it is players such as O'Sullivan, Trump or Allen, the reason why they can have such good results is that their long-range accuracy and stability definitely provide strong support.
But Ding Junhui currently does not have a good accuracy of the far platform, let alone the stability of the far platform. In fact, if Ding Junhui can't solve this problem, then his ranking championship drought is likely to continue because of this. In today's World Snooker Tour, it is not easy to win the championship by picking up leaks.
You must know that the far-stage skills of snooker players have improved a lot, which is no longer what it used to be. Anyone who wants to win a ranking tournament must have the accuracy and stability of the far platform.