Key events
Wu to break…
Also going on:
Now that you don’t ask: I’m picking Shaun and I’ll be delighted for him if he wins, but I’d love it to be Wu.
Rob Walker puts on that voice and words tumble out; we notice him. The arena goes mad welcoming our two pilgrims, Murphy posing on a plinth and waving to the crowd; but of course he does.
Oh man, it’s time. Two afternoons and two evenings oF pure, uncut, unadulterated pleasure and joy. Here we go!
Big decision: which channel to watch on? The analysis on TNT is, for my money, significantly more sophisticated than what we get on BBC – though Stephen Hendry is brilliant – but the BBC is the BBC. I think I’ll start trying both and see how we go.
On which point, a thought for Mark Allen. If he never wins this competition, the events last evening will haunt the nightmares of his unborn grandchildren, but make no mistake: he is a champion, and he’ll be back.
As for Wu, I’d be staggered if he ends his career without winning this event more than once. I’d be lying if I said he isn’t my favourite – the way he plays, it’s impossible to take your eyes off him. He attacks the game in the way we should all attack life, however trepidatious we feel, and if it doesn’t work out, he quickly gets over himself, heals, then has at it again. Mates: if ever you’re stuck, think Wu.
Shaun, of course, won this title unseeded, aged just 22, in 2005. Since then, he’s lost four finals, but he’ll fancy himself – ok, he almost always fancies himself – this time around. Already a triple crown champion, he knows that if he can add a second one of these, he’ll ascend another level in the annals of the game, not quite up there on tier two with your Selbzeseses, Williamseseseses and Hingginses of this world, but above pretty much everyone else.
Preamble
Team sports offer us a simple life: we pick one or one picks us, the end. Individual sports, though, are different: on the one hand, who we enjoy doesn’t describe us in the same way but, on the other, it allows us the gift of wanting the best for everyone, the tribalism still present but with all of us gathered as one.
It is not, for example, necessarily easy to vibe with Shaun Murphy, his smarts that make the soul sing sometimes encroaching into smarms that make the teeth itch. But no one can challenge what he’s given to this thing of ours, love of the game – yes, and love of himself, a valuable lesson – radiating through him and into us. He wants a second world title as badly as anyone has ever wanted anything, and should he get it, his smooth, natural, beautiful style will deserve it and then some.
Wu Yize, meanwhile, is a very different character, a fearless and improvisational maverick whose strut is sometimes undermined by nerves. If Zhao Xintong, last year’s champion, is early Beatles, all smiles, mischief and revolutionary pop perfection, he is Bob Dylan, an edgy, incendiary, compelling talent who leaves nothing out.
At just 22, he has plenty of improving still to do and, had you asked me even two weeks ago I’d have said I didn’t think he was quite ready to claim the big pot – he only took his first ranking title in November, having been sapped by the occasion in his first two final appearances. But here we are and here he is, after getting by Mark Selby and, somehow, Mark Allen, almost in spite of himself.
The beauty of a long match is the potential for fluctuations in form and dominance, but Wu will know that there are few more bullying front-runners than Shaun who, when grooved as he is now, is capable of almost anything on a 12×6. Similarly, though, it won’t have escaped Shaun’s attention that he is facing a one-off capable of seeing and executing shots others do not and cannot.
And, either way, though it’s impossible to say with any confidence who’ll be celebrating tomorrow evening, the legend or the future legend, the big winner is already clear: us.
Play: 1pm BST
