SVB v. Fedor Gorst

I beg to differ, no reason he should eb declining because of age.

Snooker players still on the main tour

View attachment 916962
one thing to consider
you get weaker as you get older
that would affect a 9 ball break more than a snooker break
if your break in 9 ball is not what it used to be i would expect the results to not be what they used to be
jmho
icbw
 
Yes.

He's still late prime, and perhaps nearly as good as he ever was, but he's clearly losing stamina. At his age, about to be 43, he's just going to inch downward from here, in all facets of the game.
This guy still top 6 on the planet.....within 3 points of number 2, Fedor Gorst.

Joshua Filler DEU864
Fedor Gorst USA849
Pin-Yi Ko TWN849
Ping-Chung Ko TWN847
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz ESP847
Shane Van Boening USA846

He is every bit as good as ever.

They changed the break in part because of his dominance.

9 ball is just too easy of a game for top pros...where any one of them can dominate the other in winner break format. It does not necessarily speak to the ability of the other player who is stuck in their chair.

Fedor is so strong with a jump cue, he is beating other pros about 5% of racks with the short cue. Pushing out to jumps....that is just brutal to overcome.
 
I beg to differ, no reason he should eb declining because of age.

Snooker players still on the main tour

View attachment 916962
Some of these players only have invitational places on the tour rather than having earned them. Also think a list of the age of winners would be more informative rather than just being on the tour. The class of 92 were very successful until the recent influx of Chinese players, but that might be more of a reflection on snooker not being in a healthy state in the UK and they basically didn't have much competition until the sport took off in China.
 
This guy still top 6 on the planet.....within 3 points of number 2, Fedor Gorst.

Joshua Filler DEU864
Fedor Gorst USA849
Pin-Yi Ko TWN849
Ping-Chung Ko TWN847
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz ESP847
Shane Van Boening USA846

He is every bit as good as ever.

They changed the break in part because of his dominance.

9 ball is just too easy of a game for top pros...where any one of them can dominate the other in winner break format. It does not necessarily speak to the ability of the other player who is stuck in their chair.

Fedor is so strong with a jump cue, he is beating other pros about 5% of racks with the short cue. Pushing out to jumps....that is just brutal to overcome.
Some of those push out to jump shots were insane
 
I beg to differ, no reason he should eb declining because of age.

Snooker players still on the main tour

View attachment 916962
I recognize and appreciate that cuesports allows for longer primes than more physically demanding sports. Hoewver, that does not mean its participants do not undergo normal age-related decline. It just means that said decline does not remove participants from high-level competitioon as rapidly.

Even that list betrays the reality--it's weighted quite heavily towards the younger side, with only two folks over 51 still on the tour. Twenty years ago, how many snooker players were between 20 and 40 (those from 40-60 now)? Where did the rest of them go? Of the players on the list, how many are still playing their personal best?

My comment was nothing against Shane. It's just reality. Father time is undefeated. Shane is already losing stamina. He's close to as good as he ever was, but he's not going to get better and age says he will not stay the same. He will regress, just rather slowly compared to athletes in other sports. I'm not sure that point is arguable.
 
From 2 inches off the end rail.

If he did it once to me.....I won't let him shoot another. Just hit it myself and risk selling out.
Or that one where he pushed out to the upper end of the table to jump over two balls and land on the 2 ball(?)
I'm with you...Shane jumps pretty good, probably better to just fire away
 
I recognize and appreciate that cuesports allows for longer primes than more physically demanding sports. Hoewver, that does not mean its participants do not undergo normal age-related decline. It just means that said decline does not remove participants from high-level competitioon as rapidly.

Even that list betrays the reality--it's weighted quite heavily towards the younger side, with only two folks over 51 still on the tour. Twenty years ago, how many snooker players were between 20 and 40 (those from 40-60 now)? Where did the rest of them go? Of the players on the list, how many are still playing their personal best?

My comment was nothing against Shane. It's just reality. Father time is undefeated. Shane is already losing stamina. He's close to as good as he ever was, but he's not going to get better and age says he will not stay the same. He will regress, just rather slowly compared to athletes in other sports. I'm not sure that point is arguable.
the modern players got better.
 
the modern players got better.
I agree with that.

But just like we watched with Earl and Efren, and all the other great of the past, Shane's skills will fade. They allready are, even though it might be imperceptible for now. And when a player is as good as he was (and is) he can still regress a decent amount and remain competitive.
 
I recognize and appreciate that cuesports allows for longer primes than more physically demanding sports. Hoewver, that does not mean its participants do not undergo normal age-related decline. It just means that said decline does not remove participants from high-level competitioon as rapidly.

Even that list betrays the reality--it's weighted quite heavily towards the younger side, with only two folks over 51 still on the tour. Twenty years ago, how many snooker players were between 20 and 40 (those from 40-60 now)? Where did the rest of them go? Of the players on the list, how many are still playing their personal best?

My comment was nothing against Shane. It's just reality. Father time is undefeated. Shane is already losing stamina. He's close to as good as he ever was, but he's not going to get better and age says he will not stay the same. He will regress, just rather slowly compared to athletes in other sports. I'm not sure that point is arguable.
Allen
Wilson
Selby
Murhpy
Robertson
Carter
Holt
Osullivan
Higgins
Williams
All over 40 and still winning ranking events and achieving high finishes at the world Championships/Masters despite the onslaught of young Chinese players.
 
hide the 1 ball in the stack and the breaker can hit any ball first?

why hasn’t this been tried?
How will this help. Assuming you are allowing for it not to be a foul because you don’t hit the 1- the head ball will still go down and then your next shot is the 1 instead of the 2 as it is now
 
Allen
Wilson
Selby
Murhpy
Robertson
Carter
Holt
Osullivan
Higgins
Williams
All over 40 and still winning ranking events and achieving high finishes at the world Championships/Masters despite the onslaught of young Chinese players.

in pool we have

alcaide
feijen
oi
biado

doing great. maybe i forgot a few. either way i think it's shane's mentality/interest at the moment, rather than fading ability, that's the problem

he checked out early in this match it seemed
 
Consistency in pocketing the one while getting a clear and makeable shot on the two is still very random even at this high level. Fedor was successful on an incredible 94% of his breaks which is really tough for anyone to fade especially when he is able get more looks at the two and play a safe rather than push. SVB was successful on 70% of his breaks but more frequently forced to push out on the two.

This was a second straight dominant performance by Fedor against SVB and he deserves a lot of credit. I think we're all now looking forward to seeing Josh as the next opponent.
 
Shane is already losing stamina. He's close to as good as he ever was, but he's not going to get better and age says he will not stay the same. He will regress, just rather slowly compared to athletes in other sports. I'm not sure that point is arguable.
I don’t know if it’s so much a loss of stamina as it is a loss of desire, he’s not hungry.

What made Shane great was hunger. The guy would be on the practice tables at the US Open at 3 am breaking balls for hours. Known for getting up early, putting in 8-10 hrs. of focused practice day after day. He doesn’t have the best mechanics, tended to hit the ball instead of stroking it early in his career. Yet as a great player once told me, if you’re putting in 8,10,12 hours a day, you can make anything work. Point being, he was hungry, he wanted it more than most, and it led to success.

He’s also unusual as he was smart with his money, invested in a diversified manner and as a result is going to be one of the rare great players that doesn’t die broke. After he got his World Championship finally, I think now, it’s just gravy from here. He’s accomplished amazing feats, the only thing that he truly is hungry for anymore is just 1 more US Open and past that he can just take it easy and do things he wants with the financial security to make that possible.
 
My comment was nothing against Shane. It's just reality. Father time is undefeated. Shane is already losing stamina. He's close to as good as he ever was, but he's not going to get better and age says he will not stay the same. He will regress, just rather slowly compared to athletes in other sports. I'm not sure that point is arguable.
Feijen at 49 plays as well as he did in his early 40s. Souquet, at 57, is still a very dangerous opponent and won the European 8ball championship at 55. Buddy Hall won the US Open 9ball at 53. Bustamante didn't win the World 9ball title until the age of 46. Jose Parica was still a stone-cold killer at age 50. Earl Strickland was brilliant in his late 40s. Just last year, the 47-year-old David Alcaide won a WNT major and was on Team Europe at the Mosconi.

Father time is undefeated, but only eventually. Shane still has time and his skills are still very elite.
 
Feijen at 49 plays as well as he did in his early 40s. Souquet, at 57, is still a very dangerous opponent and won the European 8ball championship at 55. Buddy Hall won the US Open 9ball at 53. Bustamante didn't win the World 9ball title until the age of 46. Jose Parica was still a stone-cold killer at age 50. Earl Strickland was brilliant in his late 40s. Just last year, the 47-year-old David Alcaide won a WNT major and was on Team Europe at the Mosconi.

Father time is undefeated, but only eventually. Shane still has time and his skills are still very elite.
Agreed with all of the above. However, people's physical skills decline past 40 (really, earlier than that). In pool it is just less severe.

All those listed were world class, all-tilme greats. They could lose a bit and still be better than most anyone How many were actually better at 45/50 than at 25/30? How many top players today are in their 40s vs in their 20s? How about 20 years ago? The scene was and is still dominated by the younger folks, even if more players are still strong into their 40s+ than at, say, basketball.

I feel like i am repeating myself. But SVB, as great as he is, could lose a bit and still do very well, and even win big tournaments. That does not mean he isn't losing a bit.
 
Feijen at 49 plays as well as he did in his early 40s. Souquet, at 57, is still a very dangerous opponent and won the European 8ball championship at 55. Buddy Hall won the US Open 9ball at 53. Bustamante didn't win the World 9ball title until the age of 46. Jose Parica was still a stone-cold killer at age 50. Earl Strickland was brilliant in his late 40s. Just last year, the 47-year-old David Alcaide won a WNT major and was on Team Europe at the Mosconi.
Let's not leave Warren Kiamco off this list. Not a world beater, but well beyond middle-aged I'd stake him against damn near anyone commenting on an AZB post.
 
WOW Im reading some interesting post about svb. His record of Tournament wins speaks for itself and his dominance for years...They changed the nineball break without a doubt because of shanes dominance..No other sport changes the rules as much as pocket billiards and athletes in other sports arent penilized for thier dominance..
 
Agreed with all of the above. However, people's physical skills decline past 40 (really, earlier than that). In pool it is just less severe.

All those listed were world class, all-tilme greats. They could lose a bit and still be better than most anyone How many were actually better at 45/50 than at 25/30? How many top players today are in their 40s vs in their 20s? How about 20 years ago? The scene was and is still dominated by the younger folks, even if more players are still strong into their 40s+ than at, say, basketball.

I feel like i am repeating myself. But SVB, as great as he is, could lose a bit and still do very well, and even win big tournaments. That does not mean he isn't losing a bit.
Yes, well said, but like those I've mentioned, Shane is an all-time great and perhaps he'll be among those that show extended longevity and is able to avert a sharp decline in his forties. I'm not betting against him.
 
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