Mark Williams reckons just five players have good World Championship chances.
Mark Williams reckons only five players are in genuine contention for the World Championship title this year, not expecting a surprise package at the Crucible.
After an unpredictable season which has seen big names struggle and surprise winners of ranking titles, this year’s World Championship has been touted as an open affair.
However, the three-time champion is not on board with that point of view, believing it will be one of the usual contenders who will be lifting the trophy come the end of the final.
‘Load of rubbish,’ Williams told
Metro.co.uk on the idea of an open World Championship race ahead of the tournament. ‘There’s only maybe five or six players who can win the tournament, it’s very rare an outsider comes through and wins it.
‘It’s going to be one of five names at the end of the 17 days. They say it’s the most open tournament every year I come here, it’s the most open for the last 20 years! It’s not, it’s the same ones.
‘I wouldn’t put my name in that five or six, if I’m totally honest. It’s Ronnie [O’Sullivan], [John] Higgins, [Judd] Trump, [Neil] Robertson and [Mark] Selby.’
Williams himself won his third world title in 2018 and was fantastic in Sheffield last year as he reached the semi-finals, only missing out on the final in a deciding frame loss to Trump.
Asked why he wouldn’t include himself among the contenders, he said: ‘I’ve got a better record than probably most of them, but they’re the five names, I see one of them winning it.
‘Anyone can win it, of course, but the fact is it’s very probably going to be one of those five names that do year after year. Over the last 10 years it’s the same winners isn’t it? And the 10 years before that, and in the 90s.’
Williams looked good in his 10-5 opening round win over Jimmy Robertson and will be glad to be at the Crucible rather than at his club back in Wales, where he has been getting a lot of stick.
His practice partner and young protégé Jackson Page beat the Welsh Potting Machine at the recent WST Classic and is not letting him forget about it.
‘I’ve only been in a handful of times, but let’s just say I’ve had some s**t off the boys in the club,’ he said. ‘When I walked in he shouted over, “Oh! Here comes the second best player in the club!”
‘I like it. I don’t care when they take the p**s out of me, all I do is take the mickey out of people and take it back, have a laugh. It was absolutely brutal from me when I beat him last year [at the World Championship], so I’ve got to take it on the chin now.
‘That’s what it was like when I was 14, 15 in the club, everyone taking the mickey, but it toughened me up, you need it. You wouldn’t believe the things I was getting called from the people at the bar, and they were laughing, but I was laughing.
‘In this day and age you’d probably get in trouble for it, but I loved all of it. 13 years old, people saying, “you’re s**t, you’ll never do anything” and just laughing at them. Just the old fellas in a real rowdy club, maybe youngsters have it too easy these days.’
On Page, Williams reckons he has the talent to be picking up more wins and climbing the rankings towards the top.
‘He’s the only youngster I’ve seen out there that when I watch, he’s so natural and fast, he can fill a void for youngsters watching,’ he said of the 21-year-old. ‘He can make a ton in four minutes, two tons in 10 minutes. I think he’s the only youngster who can do it, some might be doing a bit better, but they’re not as easy on the eye as he is.’
The Welsh Potting Machine is a great practice partner and advisor to have in your corner as a young player, even if he has a blunt style of motivation.
‘I did ring him up when he was 6-3 down to Hossein [Vafaei, in World Championship qualifying] and said, look you’re playing like an absolute donkey here, but you’re still in it at 6-3, don’t give up, keep going. If you win the session 3-1, the pressure is on him.
‘Stuff like that can help, but it didn’t help because he lost 10-6.’
