Neil Robertson’s reputation as one of the hardest players in the game was further enhanced tonight by his capture of the BGC Masters in London.
The Aussie is now as tough as they come, an all-round match-player in the Steve Davis/John Higgins mould.
Shaun Murphy will be disappointed that he didn’t score more heavily but there is no disgrace in losing to Robertson, whose all round game has come on leaps and bounds in the last two years.
This is a guy who arrived in the UK for a final shot at the professional circuit with just £500 on him. You won’t hear Robertson moaning about all the travelling necessary to make snooker a proper international sport because he made a huge sacrifice by moving to the other side of the world, away from his family and friends to pursue his ambition to be a top player.
Well, the kid who learned his trade a stone’s throw from the sun-drenched beaches of Melbourne remained ice cool in the capital amid the chilly British winter and becomes the fourth non-British player, after Perrie Mans, Cliff Thorburn and Ding Junhui, to win the Masters.
The scenes afterwards with his partner, Mille, and their young son, Alexander, were wonderful...one for the family album.
That’s now nine TV finals and nine victories, some record for a player who seems most at home when the pressure is on.
Every facet of his game was working well. He has made 38 centuries this season – more than anyone else – and his safety game is rock hard. He is a brilliant potter and so finds ways into frames. It is some package.
I congratulate Neil, a genuinely nice bloke who treats the game with respect. The Masters is one of our majors and it’s been won by a player who has come a long way, both geographically and in terms of the way he has sharpened his game.
He is now one tough nut to crack.
25 comments:
Hi David. A great final. A great event. For reason's I put in a comment on your previous post, entitled "THE FINAL" I thought Robertson deserved his win. Great to see his partner and Son there aswell. A great match, tournament, and Robetson performance.
Hi David. Clive Everton and Willie Thorne, were not in the BBC commentary box, for this event. You did tell me, in regard to Willie Thorne, why he wasn't there. I missed the presence and insight of both him and Clive Everton, In the BBC commentary box though. No offence meant to Steve Davis, John Parrott,Ken Doherty and Stephen Hendry. They are all great.
Hi David. Robertson still hasn't lost a professional tournament final, he has played in. Well done to him.
Fantastic Win for Neil . Having met him in Australia and watched him England a great Guy! and before he won i'm sure people were expecting Judd to win...but he has beaten many excellent players this week and an extremely well deserved win with a just incredible all round game-ENJOY YOUR Pint!!!
I haven't enjoyed a week of snooker so much in years. Robertson is a deserving winner, Allen and Trump will hopefully shut up now. He's a great all round player, you don't win multiple titles just by playing fast and having a jazzy haircut - you have to learn matchplay.
Contrary to popular belief Robbo has actually lost some TV 'finals'.
Twice he has lost Championship League group finals, he also lost a Premier League final in week 7 this year. Whilst these may be minor to some people, there still TV finals. Also further final losses to Couch in the 2008 English Open and Judd in the 2010 Austrian Open, which conveniently seem to have also been erased from the history books and peoples selective memories.
For once, Dennis's obsession with Players' families was justified! Great scenes at the end.
clive is a dinosaur.
bring in the new breed
The rules are very clear on wildcards.
What a great week of snooker, and let's not forget the BBC & its partners & contractors who did an equally brilliant job.
Colin A
The Championship League isn't shown on television and Neil has never appeared in the actual final of the Premier League
The more I read Jono's post it becomes clear that Robertson is very poor in finals, dare I say, a choker on the big occasion.
Congratulations to Neil Robertson on his victory in the Masters, he seems like a nice guy who has worked for his victory.
There is no question he has slowed a touch and deliberately so against Trump, but it is all part of snooker matchplay.
He is an outstanding breakbuilder but not one of my favourites to watch as he doesn't quite have the elegance of some.
Murphy's display against Higgins on Saturday was incredible, a masterclass in cueing.
However, it also underlined just how great John Higgins is at staying in matches with basically his c-game.
Flukes have always been clapped but to say there good shots was wrong in my view. Neil was right to be annoyed by this.
Jono is witz Dave. He was going beserk on SI last night after Robbo won because he can't handle a match player winning a big event. Robbo has won every final that counts, his record in finals is 100%. It's funny that in order to attempt to disprove that fact, he's clutching at PL 4 man nights and this non-event CL where the runner up gets the chance to earn more money than the winner!
Congratulations to Robbo on an emphatic win. In particular his performance and reaction to his win in the semi-final was the highlight of the event for me.
Agree with Anon 1.44. Dennis had a shocker - remember referring to "Patsy Fagan"? I was shouting at the tv!! As for Virgo, he should be put out to grass without delay. They spoiled it for me. IMHO, Foulds should be one of the new breed.
Jono confusing a tournament leg with a final. If you don't pick up the trophy after winning the match it's not a final.
What's the record for consecutive televised final wins? Wikipedia tells me Steve Davis won his first 7 rankers so Robertson still has one more to go in the department. But Davis lost a few mickey mousers in that period so it's possible he doesn't hold the record for the televison record.
Ok i was Jono
Anyway the point i was mainly trying to make was that all those saying Robbo has never lost "a final" werent strictly true.
Fair play to him for doing what it takes to win tournaments but personally im dissapointed hes altered his style so dramatically. Ive nothing against slower more tactical players, hell Ebdon is one of my all time faves, but i feel the way snooker is going now most people are either going to be on one side of the fence for old style matchplay or the new wave of potting machines like Judd, so im firmly nailed to that camp now.
915pm
i may be wrong but i think Williams won his first 9 major finals
Fairplay to admit it was you, witz.
I don't believe we'll see a sort of black&white situation regarding the players' styles. History tells us the majority of multiple title winners are the all round players and the ones who are prepared / capable to adapt and adjust their styles of play, in order to make it more complete in more than one department.
Davis, Hendry, Higgins, O'Sullivan, Robertson .. for me those are the 5 sticking out when it comes to this capacaty to grow with experience and aim to complete yourself as an all-round player.
Hi Dave, where can we find on the web the list of players who have more than 100 centuries during their careers, with regular updates. Thank you.
There is work going in to maintain Chris Tunrer's excellent site following his passing: http://cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Home.html
Williams won his first 7 finals before losing to Hendry in the 99 World final.
Davis won his first 6 televised finals and his first 7 ranking finals.
Williams his first 7 televised finals and his first 6 ranking finals.
Robertson his first 9 televised finals and his first 6 full ranking finals.
Hi Dave
Excellent article
Robbo's record in finals is just pure class.
Nice try by witz he is good value for banter.
Unbeaten in 5 ranking finals
2 major finals
2 ptc finals
Take out the masters all others had ranking points
Any he lost had no ranking points on offer so they dont count for his record.
The next final he reaches his opponent better bring kryptonite. Robertson must psychologically be at the stage where he believes he can't lose in a final, which is an incredible asset to have going into a big match.
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