Ok I know that it is a bit early to start looking ahead to next year but for a bit of fun I always like to have a little look ahead. Because of the way that the draw is mapped out according to the rankings at the Crucible, already we can see how next year will look, minus the qualifiers…
The draw for the last 32 at the 2010 World Snooker Championship will be as follows:
John Higgins
Qualifier
Mark King
Qualifier
Neil Robertson
Qualifier
Marco Fu
Qualifier
—
Ali Carter
Qualifier
Joe Perry
Qualifier
Ding Junhui
Qualifier
Shaun Murphy
Qualifier
————–
Stephen Maguire
Qualifier
Peter Ebdon
Qualifier
Mark Allen
Qualifier
Ryan Day
Qualifier
—
Mark Selby
Qualifier
Stephen Hendry
Qualifier
Mark Williams
Qualifier
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Qualifier
While it is hard to draw too many conclusions from that at this stage, given that we don’t know what sort of form the players will be in next season and we don’t know who the qualifiers will be, I still can’t help but looking ahead.
Looking at the draw you can’t help but be excited by that bottom quarter if all play well, while it will be interesting to see who will emerge from the top half of the draw which could throw up a repeat of this year’s final between Higgins and Murphy.
But that’s all for the future and there is a lot of snooker to be played between now and then!