Neil Robertson points to tennis as he issues call for snooker rankings system to change

Australian Robertson - the most successful non-British snooker player of all-time - is currently competing at the 2026 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.

The world number three defeated China’s Pang Punxu 10-6 in the opening round at the Crucible Theatre to set up a last 16 date with Chris Wakelin, the player who eliminated him from last year’s edition.

Earlier this season, Robertson dramatically ousted Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-9 in the final to win the Saudi Arabia Masters in Jeddah and collect the £500,000 top prize - the biggest payday of his career, to date.

As the World Snooker Tour uses a two-year rolling prize-money based world rankings format - essentially meaning whatever money you earn from ranked events gets added (and taken away after 24 months) - this zipped Robertson up the global standings.

At the time of writing, should current world number one Judd Trump lose in the last 16 of the world championship, and Robertson goes on to lift the trophy at the Crucible, he would reclaim top spot for the first time in over 11 years.

Robertson explains the issue he has with snooker’s current ranking system

Speaking exclusive to Totally Snookered during the 2026 World Snooker Championship Media Day, Robertson was asked whether he feels that the world rankings system - a hot topic in recent years - should change. ‘The Thunder from Down Under’ believes it should.

"I'm not too sure why we got away from the ranking point system in the first place” said the 26-time ranking event victor.

"It seems pretty fair. Everyone was kind of in the position that you should have been in.

"I think that with the prize money list, I think the issue is probably when it comes to defending your points because of how our ranking points it really tapers off because it matches the prize money.

"I think if you look at tennis, the drop off is probably like 60% what the runner-up gets whereas in snooker its 40%, so if you even make the final of the event you won two years prior to that you still haven't gone anywhere close to defending the points. So that's where my issue is.”

Robertson makes a very fair point. If you look at the prize money structure for the 2026 World Snooker Championship, the winner receives £500,000, with the runner-up getting £200,000 - 40% of the first prize. That means two runner-up finishes is still £100,000 short of a winner’s purse.

A points-based ranking system would be fairer claims Robertson

Big first prizes are headline grabbers for the sport, that is perhaps why more money is allocated to the champion.

One example of the ultimate prize in the sport perhaps having too much of an influence on the world rankings system, though, is when Luca Brecel won the world championship title in 2023.

From that one win, Brecel was pretty much cemented inside the world’s top echelons for the next two years, despite during that time appearing in ‘only’ one ranking event semi-final. After exiting the 2025 World Snooker Championship in the quarter-finals and seeing £500,000 removed from his cumulative total, Brecel plummeted down the rankings and outside of the world’s top 32.

Robertson understands that the sport’s authorities want to see players richly rewarded for winning a tournament, but has suggested that a points-based system - with a nod to what they do in tennis - would be a fairer approach.

"Yeah, I think a points system in certainly the fairest. I think if you just literally mirror the tennis circuit then it would be absolutely fine, but World Snooker say they like seeing people being able to fly up the rankings with one big win and yeah, that's just something we have to accept as players.”

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Snooker Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.