Neil Robertson reveals disappointment over pockets in Nanjing and believes the table fitters "cut them wrong"

Heavy break-building has been a theme at the £825,000 world ranking event held at the South New City National Fitness Center in China with 118 centuries made across the opening seven days.

Highlights from the action in the Far East have included Zak Surety constructing a maximum 147 break, and Bai Yulu creating snooker history with a run of 145 - the highest break ever made by a woman in professional competition.

Several players have totted up at least three centuries within the same match; Ronnie O'Sullivan racked up four in the final five frames of his first round tie, and reigning champion Ding Junhui produced five tons in six frames across his opening two matches.

In recent years, professional events held in China have gained a reputation for having pockets that play ‘easier’ than they should, which have led to very conducive conditions for big scoring.

There is an official template when it comes to the size of pockets used at professional tournaments. However, there are other factors and variables that can make those pockets play easier or more difficult. Such an element is a human one, with highly-skilled table fitters going through the lengthy and precise process of putting together these expensive pieces of equipment.

Whilst it may sound counter-intuitive, players have expressed their displeasure about the forgiving pockets in China before. Former world champion Robertson has been one of the most vocal cueists on the subject, and in events gone by has described such conditions as “an absolute joke” and “like club tables”.

At last year’s International Championship - held at the same venue as this year’s - Robertson commented: “The pockets are definitely on the over-generous side. A lot of the skill is taken away. It just means the safety game is so important to create that first opportunity. I’ll be bringing it up at the Players Board”.

Since then, career Triple Crown winner Robertson has actually joined the WPBSA Players Board, and he recently wrote about how he made pockets in China a priority when he took his seat at the table.

In a post on X a few weeks ago, the Australian said: “Top of my list when joining the players board was to bang my fist until the China pockets got fixed because the previous 2 years they were so big it was unacceptable. They listened in which Wuhan and Xi’an are way tighter and just about perfect (just compare the score sheets across the board)”

However, following a scoring spree in Nanjing over recent days, pocket sizes are back on the agenda.

Robertson on pockets: “I think all the players would prefer them to be tighter”

Speaking exclusively on Nick Metcalfe’s Radio Snooker service earlier this week after his last 16 defeat to Surety, Australian Robertson reiterated how he initially pushed for change.

"One of the first things when I got my job on the players board was to sort the pockets out in China because the last two years have been unacceptable” said the world number three.

“World Snooker were aware of that, it was just the table fitters in China...they were overcutting the rubbers or something”.

The situation appeared to have been resolved after Chinese events in Shanghai, Wuhan, and Xi’an earlier this season, but Robertson was frustrated with a return to the previous conditions in Nanjing.

‘The Thunder from Down Under’ told Metcalfe: “This one, for some reason, they were like last year, so, very disappointing. It's obviously good if you're winning matches and that, make a lot of big breaks.

“I think all the players would prefer them to be tighter, for sure”.

Offering an explanation into what happened, the 43-year-old suggested: “I think there was just an error in terms of the table fitting...like something happened, they just cut them wrong. There's a possibility that they made the middle pockets a little bit tighter which makes the corner pockets bigger, so it was just an error.

“Plenty of feedback has gone through and something to get sorted for the next China event to make sure they fall in line with how they were in Shanghai, Xi'an and Wuhan”.

Despite this recent instance, though, Robertson has generally been pleased with the pockets on the professional circuit elsewhere this term.

“Even when the balls are missed they still go in, so, very disappointing that we still had one of the events from China with such big pockets, but I think overall this season they've been very good. Around the UK they've been great, in China this season so far they've been very good, just this one was a bit of a slip.

“But overall making progress and like I say, I think they'll learn from this and get it fixed for whenever the next one is, maybe Yushan or something.

The next World Snooker Tour event to be held on mainland China is the World Open in Yushan in March.

In response to Robertson's comments, World Snooker Tour told Radio Snooker: "We are glad that Neil shares our view that overall the pockets have been very good this season.

"Our dedicated team of table fitters work tirelessly in delivering the best possible conditions in very difficult circumstances.

"We have been pushing players for feedback during events for the past two years and the more feedback we get the better. We have seen feedback lead to changes in conditions in events in China and we've made changes to the event in Germany that come straight from player feedback".