WORLD POOL (nineball) CHAMPIONSHIP (6-10 April2022), UK, Winner $60K
- Thread starter spartan
- Start date
I missed the last two quarterfinals but congrats to SVB and Al-Yousef.
What a story it will be if Shane can snap this off. He reminds me a little of Ivan Lendl. Anyone who knows tennis well understands that Lendl is one of the greatest ever. He was ranked World No. 1 for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. He won eight Grand Slam titles. The only thing missing from his competitive resume was a Wimbledon singles title, and he never shied away from speaking about how badly he wanted one. I always admired him for that. Sadly, that day never came for him.
I, similarly, admire SVB for the way he doesn't shy away from talking about how badly he wants a World Pool Championship on his resume. He's already a legend of pool but he wants more. Maybe tomorrow's his day. It's very exciting to think about. They won't hand it him, but perhaps he can go out there and take it. Wish him luck.
What a story it will be if Shane can snap this off. He reminds me a little of Ivan Lendl. Anyone who knows tennis well understands that Lendl is one of the greatest ever. He was ranked World No. 1 for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. He won eight Grand Slam titles. The only thing missing from his competitive resume was a Wimbledon singles title, and he never shied away from speaking about how badly he wanted one. I always admired him for that. Sadly, that day never came for him.
I, similarly, admire SVB for the way he doesn't shy away from talking about how badly he wants a World Pool Championship on his resume. He's already a legend of pool but he wants more. Maybe tomorrow's his day. It's very exciting to think about. They won't hand it him, but perhaps he can go out there and take it. Wish him luck.
BlueRaider
Registered
History is on his side against Kazakis....except for the absolute pummeling he received at the WPM last year. Question is, can Kazakis bring that level of intensity again? At last year's WPM, he had two things going for him: a chance to redeem himself after the bank heard 'round the world that Alcaide buried the year before, and a chance to get the SVB monkey off his back. He accomplished both, and it's his biggest win to date.
Similarly, if Shane gets through Kazakis and Albin advances, will Albin be able to bring the intensity needed after notching two world titles of his own, including last year's, against an SVB who will be frothing at the mouth to get the title?
I think if we get another SVB vs Ouschan final, it will be lopsided in either direction. Either SVB will pull out a performance for the ages, or he will wilt under the pressure of the moment against a calm and collected Albin who will feel like he's playing with house money given his recent dominance.
Well analyzed for sure. Great post!
Or not!
Bjorn Borg couldn’t win the US Open in tennis, as well. Really pulling for Shane here.
It is such a scary situation. Obviously if one of these guys finds the gear to play perfect pool then they’ll win.
Albin has shown he can find that gear often of late near the finish line. Scary consistent.
Kazakis has shown that he can also play perfect pool and other times he can show his ass and you can’t predict which you’ll get.
SVB can brutally rain thunder on you but I don’t see that perfect pool out of him too often anymore. It’s more like steaks of brilliance with intermittent mistakes. If they punish those mistakes then he’s toast. But lately players have been encountering that and playing down to his level, giving him additional opportunities to rain on them some more. If he can pull his opponents into the trenches with him then it’s his.
I’m excited to see it play out.
Albin has shown he can find that gear often of late near the finish line. Scary consistent.
Kazakis has shown that he can also play perfect pool and other times he can show his ass and you can’t predict which you’ll get.
SVB can brutally rain thunder on you but I don’t see that perfect pool out of him too often anymore. It’s more like steaks of brilliance with intermittent mistakes. If they punish those mistakes then he’s toast. But lately players have been encountering that and playing down to his level, giving him additional opportunities to rain on them some more. If he can pull his opponents into the trenches with him then it’s his.
I’m excited to see it play out.
Albin's win over Filler to me was the most impressive performance of the tournament so far, followed by Shane's comeback win against Mika.
no doubt. not only was he BNR-ing at a high %, he was shutting filler out by taking on tough initial shots, knowing that pushing out against filler often is a bad idea. he also played some nice safeties.
i like filler's style better, i think one of his BNR was around the minute mark, that's always fun to see. also the purest, best timed stroke in the game
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
Pulling for SVB pretty hard, not just bc I love his style and how he plays the game but bc I really don't want Albin to win. Bad enough he and Thorsten Hohman have 2 world titles each (Thorsten just put in the worst showing of his career I think the way he was slapping wildly at balls to go out btw). But really, I would hate to see Albin in the stratosphere of greats with 3 world titles. I mean he is better than Thorsten, but there are dozens of better players that don't have one, SVB included (for now). Kill me for this opinion if you want but I don't think I'm far off. Surely nobody would argue Thorsten doesn't look the part of a multiple world champion even moreso than Albin. In the same way, Albin is just not anywhere near the level of the all time great Hall of Famers he would end up being mentioned in sentences with all the time if he got a third world title. In my opinion he is closer to Thorsten than Shane. Shane is an all-timer. Tomorrow will be like watching Marino try to win a super bowl.
starts in 4 minutes
AlYoussef who is outside top 100 FR is probably longest shot in semis of a major World event in past few years. iIRC , The long shot semifinalist before was Masato Yoshika in 2019 World 10 Ball. He will make history if he upsets Albin as theongest shot finalist 
AlYoussef who is outside top 100 FR is probably longest shot in semis of a major World event in past few years. iIRC , The long shot semifinalist before was Masato Yoshika in 2019 World 10 Ball. He will make history if he upsets Albin as theongest shot finalist
he has the longest beard, that's for sure. and possibly the worst sounding walk-on music ever heard
He may need to run 10 racks to win this match.AlYoussef who is outside top 100 FR is probably longest shot in semis of a major World event in past few years. iIRC , The long shot semifinalist before was Masato Yoshika in 2019 World 10 Ball. He will make history if he upsets Albin as theongest shot finalist
Still early he only trail Albin 0-6. He can let Albin win few more racks
great show of dominance from albin and great show of sportsmanship from alyoussef in the end