Changing of the guard in pro pool

On the age question, in snooker the legendary “Class of 1992” continues to hold strong.

Ronnie O’Sullivan won the World Championship in 2020 and 2022 (age 45 and 47), won the UK championships at 47 and the Masters at 48, made two perfect 147s in a single match last year (age 50) and made the highest break ever this year.

Mark Williams won the World Championships in 2018, won the tour championship in 2024, was in the finals of the World Championship last year (age 50) and won a ranking title at 50.

John Higgins reached the finals of the International Championship, the Masters and the Players Championship in 2025 and lost in the semis of the 2026 World Championships.

Now those three are considered three of the top five players of all time by most, so that not to say it’s easy, but on the other hand Shaun Murphy just lost the 2026 World Championships hill hill at the age of 43 or 44.
 
After reviewing the pool of top players in this thread, I am even more impressed with SVB's high level of play over a long career. It really is astonishing.

If the records I am seeing are correct, Shane won his first major titles in 2007 at the age of 24 (later than I thought). He just won another major title 19 years after his first one at the age of 43.

No one else has been that good over such a long span in the 21st century. Only Earl Strickland had a similarly long span of winning big championships.

Shane's not done, either.

There's been a lot of great players over the last 25 years, but very few have had staying power. Others who have had sustained success include Niels Feijin and Carlo Biado, but they are not close to SVB's level.
 
jbart65 said:
After reviewing the pool of top players in this thread, I am even more impressed with SVB's high level of play over a long career. It really is astonishing.

If the records I am seeing are correct, Shane won his first major titles in 2007 at the age of 24 (later than I thought). He just won another major title 19 years after his first one at the age of 43.

No one else has been that good over such a long span in the 21st century. Only Earl Strickland had a similarly long span of winning big championships.

Shane's not done, either.

There's been a lot of great players over the last 25 years, but very few have had staying power. Others who have had sustained success include Niels Feijin and Carlo Biado, but they are not close to SVB's level.
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Ralf Souquet probably had more staying power than anybody who ever chose pro pool as a career, having won his first European Championship in 1989 and his last thirty-three years later in 2022. As has been suggested by some of our most prominent European posters on this forum, it is arguable whether Filler's career has yet eclipsed that of Souquet. Of course, Filler's career will far eclipse that of Souquet before he unscrews his cue for the last time.
 
jbart65 said:
After reviewing the pool of top players in this thread, I am even more impressed with SVB's high level of play over a long career. It really is astonishing.

If the records I am seeing are correct, Shane won his first major titles in 2007 at the age of 24 (later than I thought). He just won another major title 19 years after his first one at the age of 43.

No one else has been that good over such a long span in the 21st century. Only Earl Strickland had a similarly long span of winning big championships.

Shane's not done, either.

There's been a lot of great players over the last 25 years, but very few have had staying power. Others who have had sustained success include Niels Feijin and Carlo Biado, but they are not close to SVB's level.
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Carlo has won a US open + world titles more recently than Shane has
 
Lowell said:
Carlo has won a US open + world titles more recently than Shane has
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Yes, but Carlo had a relatively late start with winning big titles compared to Shane. Perhaps understandable given the hard time many Filipino players have had with getting to top international competitions.
 
benjaminwah said:
John Morra?

And when it comes to this subject how about the women? Jordan Helfrey and Savannah Easton? Just amazing for their ages.
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Savannah being that good at 16 is simply mind blowing to me. The recent predator event shows that she will be a real title contender soon.

I would say the same about Sofia Mast, but I don't think she is as devoted to the game long term.
 
benjaminwah said:
John Morra?

And when it comes to this subject how about the women? Jordan Helfrey and Savannah Easton? Just amazing for their ages.
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I’ll tell you what, I hadn’t watched much pool in the last year or so but have recently caught several of Savannah’s games. She has leveled up in the last year, very impressive. I was worried the fame and social media presence might cause her game to stall out, I see no evidence of that. She’s a future world champion for me.

The women’s game is in a great place right now with tons of established talent and lots of up & coming American ladies as well. I don’t think she gets a lot of love, but I’m with you on Jordan Helfery. I watched her absolutely destroy a local regional tournament/tour event when she was 12 or 13…she has a ton of game
 
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