CAUDRON
SAYGINER
ZANETTI
JASPERS
SANCHEZ
------
not in any particular order. only thing that bonds them is that, these are the past world champions of the newer post-Ceulemans era.
I think, the current top player is, based on last few years' accomplishments...Frederic Caudron!
Ceulemans was asked who the next big name will be, and he said, Caudron.
Almost equally or closely following up name is, Dick Jaspers!
Both these players actually had a laser eye surgery, and their games advanced like humangously lol.
Blomdahl owned pretty much any and everyone around 5 years ago and before. But he is on a decline now. He still did not have an eye surgery
Few years ago, the top name was Dani Sanchez of Spain. He was unstoppable.
Now, another name that needs a seperate article to be talked about. It is..Saygıner. Ceulemans' thoughts on Semih Sayginer: "He simply changed the game of 3C". Very true. Any "pool people" reading, this, if you haven't yet, youtube his name and see for yourself. All the rest follows Saygıner when it comes to "talent". No one else matches him in terms of success both in trick shots and the game of 3C. He was the world champion in 1994, I believe. He has the best talent in the game hands down. (He learned to play carom, and within his first year, he became the libre/straight game champion in Turkey. In first year of learning!!! (It took several years for Caudron to achieve the same in his native country of France) Sayginer did not have money to buy a cue. So, a carpenter made one for him for free of charge. He became "the champion" in a country with literally thousands and thousands carom tables and gazillions of advanced players.
Marco Zanetti is known to have a terrible style. But it works for him. He recently became the world champion and he is the king of position play.
My opinion on upcoming next 3C champ is, Tayfun Taşdemir. I believe he is 5th in the world rankings now but the time will come when he will constantly start schooling people. He is robotic in his shots. He has some advanced engineering degree, and he appears to apply his thinking process into the game.
Out of all these top names, it would not be possible to choose just one name as "the" best. Simply not possible! They constantly keep winning or loosing against each other. These years, Caudron and Jaspers just stand out exceptionally. The rest (excluding the top names) appear to be following them. These are:
Raul-Kim of Korea,
Kasidokostas of Greece,
Taşdemir of Turkey,
Merckx of Belgium (amazing technique)
Umeda of Japan,
Martin Horn, Germany
Tony Carlsen, Denmark
As from US: Hugo Patino can be a mentionable name as he is the only one who is coming to this side of the world for the tournaments (as far as I know) It is easy to recognize him in the tourneys with a big "USA" behind his shirt lol. He wins, but he is not consistent. My friend Lütfi Çenet schooled him last time he was around here. Sorry, Hugo!