26.4.12

THE CAPTAIN HAS LIFT-OFF

A few of the form players this season are already out of the Betfred.com World Championship but Ali Carter, who has endured a poor campaign affected by illness, produced a comfortable 10-2 defeat of Mark Davis to reach the second round today.

With the formbook turned if not upside down then certainly askew, Carter may be a dark horse.

He plays Judd Trump next, the tournament favourite as long as he can avoid eating any more dodgy chicken.

Carter described Trump as ‘simple-minded’ in his post match press conference. It sounds harsher than I suspect he meant. What I think he is saying is that Trump is relatively immune to pressure. He glides through tournaments enjoying himself rather than endlessly fretting about how much it all means. (You can hear that quote in context here)

Trump is still at that age where it is all new and exciting. He is also rightly very confident of his own game.

Carter confessed to having dwelt on losing matches he feels he should have won and getting too caught up in the psychology of it all.

This could happen to Trump in time, although it doesn’t seem to have happened to Neil Robertson, another player who always seems to be in a good mood.

Ultimately everyone is made differently. Some people can shrug off disappointments, others can’t stop thinking about them.

Carter can certainly push Trump. Indeed, he can beat him. Players have turned up before with low expectations, often because of illness, and, without putting too much pressure on themselves have had a good run. Steve Davis won the 1997 Masters after a bout of flu.


It's been a difficult tournament to predict so far so nobody can be said to be safe, even the super-confident Trump.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

New nickname: Forrest Trump!

Anonymous said...

top trump soon, 352

Anonymous said...

To get mental scars, you have to sustain mental wounds first I suppose, and this hasn't really happened to Neil Robertson yet. His only loss in a final has been the PTC final, which was a best-of-7, so you know, losing a best of 7 is like reversing into the garden fence at 5 miles an hour—it isn't going to mess you up... He looks like a man on a mission more than any other player at the world championship though.

Anonymous said...

Question - how do the same twenty or so spectators get the best seats year after year. Do they own the theatre? :)

Anonymous said...

546, they own the seats

Anonymous said...

no mike, he never hit the pink first

also, it was a double, not a cross double

arggh, how is he still in a job?

Anonymous said...

That Neil Robertson has tumbled in the betting (from 10/1 to 4/1 with Ladbrokes) should come as no surprise following his fluent run of four successive frames this afternoon.
The sequence took the Aussie from 3-1 down early on to lead 5-3 and included breaks of 84, 109 and 131. Save for the wonderful 147 from Hendry, Robertson's run was the best snooker I've seen so far this week from Sheffield.

JAMIE O'REILLY said...

Hi David. Another great day's play, in my view.

Carter .V. Davis - Carter wasted little time, from 8,1 up, to win, 10- 2. Good stuff.

Robrtson .V. Gilbert - The first of the last 16, matches. an entertaining session. Gilbert, did great to lead 3-1. Robertson came back, with great play, including a great century break, to win four in a row, and lead, 5-3, over-night.

Williams .v. liu - The last, of the round one , matches. Williams, from 6-3 up,, lead, 9-3. A good fightback, to 9-6, by Liu. Williams won, 10-6.

Maguire .V. Perry - The second of the last 16,matches- A great standard. Maguire leading 3-1, century breaks, from both, included. Perry, fought back. 5-3, to Maguire, over-night.

Stat Of The day -

Today, 26-4,2012, is the 583rd day, of play, at The Crucible, Snooker wise. Roll on, tomorrow. I can't wait.

Witz78 said...

5.46. The Front Row legends are an integral part of the Crucible. The tournament would be devalued without Brian, Brian Snr, Smedders, Aussie Dave, Jimmy Saville, Nancy Reagan etc in prominent seats. Were a man down this year though as big Cameron is AWOL this year.