Why did so many top ranked players underperform at this year's world championship?

It is arguably the most unpredictable World Snooker Championship ever. A record-equalling eight seeds (half of the 16 that started) were eliminated in round one, and for the first time since the tournament expanded to a 32-player main draw, three qualifiers have made it through to the semi-finals, meaning we are guaranteed at least one qualifier in the title match.

Is there any reason, or number of reasons, why the top players underperformed, or none at all?

Eurosport presenter Radzi Chinyanganya asked Ronnie O’Sullivan about his views on it. The seven-time champion suggested that several players who had been in the qualifiers in recent years were now in the top 16 but didn’t have a great deal of Crucible experience. He also referenced how a lot of the established players were having bad seasons and struggling with their games.

Following qualification earlier this month, it was mentioned by many that it produced the toughest set of qualifiers ever, with Robbie Williams - who had already been to the Crucible three times in the past - being the lowest ranked qualifier at world number 45.

Seven of the 16 qualifiers had won at least one ranking event title, and a further four had been to at least one final. Joe O’Connor, this year’s only debutant, had recently been to the Championship League Invitational final, too.

Five of this year’s qualifiers had already been to the one-table set-up at the Crucible - two of them are competing within it again this year.

It is true that several top players have endured frustrating seasons, but perhaps ironic that Kyren Wilson - who’d only reached one semi-final prior to Sheffield - is now the bookmakers’ favourite (at time of writing) to lift the trophy.

With the world rankings having more fluidity these days due to the rolling system, players come in and out of the top 16 fairly regularly. It could be suggested that there isn’t actually much difference in the abilities of some of the lower ranked top 16 stars compared to the rest of the world’s top 32. At present, everyone ranked between 17 to 32 has either won a ranking event or been in the final of one.

A lot has been made about the seemingly tougher conditions at the Crucible this year. It appears that the pockets are playing tighter, and at times, multiple commentators have suggested the cloths are a bit slower. Whilst some may think tighter pockets would suit the top players, it could be the opposite given to the fact that lower ranked players are perhaps more used to these conditions on non-TV tables away from the heat and bright lights and in qualifying events. The centuries count for this year’s event is at the moment quite low.

Could some of the top players be burnt out, or perhaps they haven’t rested enough for this year’s blue riband event?

It has been a long season, and it’s important to remember that it was the first time since the 2018/19 campaign that a full calendar of overseas events have been on the schedule. On top of that, several stars have been competing in lucrative exhibitions; the Macau Masters took place over the Christmas period, and some have recently been in China playing Heyball (Chinese 8-ball pool).

The last tournament before Sheffield was the Tour Championship, the only other event on the calendar that exclusively consists of multi-session matches throughout. It’s interesting to note that not one of this year’s world championship semi-finalists were in that event.

On top of that, they’ve also been dealing with questions from the media about the Crucible’s future and a potential breakaway snooker tour.

Focusing on the four 2024 Crucible semi-finalists, they’ve all had relatively disappointing terms. Between them all, they’d only reached one ranking event semi-final in the 2023/24 season (Kyren Wilson - German Masters).

With the exception of number 12 seed Wilson, perhaps the qualifying phase at the English Institute of Sport helped Stuart Bingham, David Gilbert and Jak Jones iron out some recent issues they had with their game, and subsequent wins have installed confidence once again.

It’s important to note that all the seed players have been gracious following their exits from this year’s championship. They’ve congratulated their opponents and not given any sort of reason or excuse to their eliminations.

Mitigating circumstances or not, whoever wins this year’s world championship will be a deserved winner who has dealt with the unique pressures that only this event can throw at them. You can’t fluke the title.