It was only a few months ago that we were singing the praises of China’s snooker superstar Ding Junhui following his stunning 2013/14 season. Equaling the all-time record of five rankings title wins in a single season set by Stephen Hendry in 1990, Ding’s rise was complete when he became the first and only Asian player to be ranked number one in the world last December.
Such was his dominance that we all rubbed our hands with eager anticipation as the 2014/15 season rolled around, excited by the prospect of more records tumbling. But it hasn’t worked out that way.
Instead, Ding entered last week’s China Open having failed to progress further than the semi-finals of any of the eight rankings events he has contested this season. Even then, he has only reached that semi-final stage on a single occasion – at the Shanghai Masters last September. He was otherwise eliminated in the third round of the UK Championship, suffered four first round losses in four consecutive events and even managed to lose in qualifying at both the Wuxi Classic and the International Championship.
It’s certainly been an underwhelming return for a man who had made it all look so easy just 12 months earlier, which begs the question – what’s wrong Ding? To answer that, let’s start by stepping away from the felt for a moment.
Truth be told, there were signs that Ding’s remarkable 2013/14 had taken its toll when he skipped the World Snooker end of season awards dinner in England last May and returned home to China. He was fined £5,000 for breaking the terms of his contract, which stipulates that all event winners must attend the dinner, but found himself again attracting the attention of the WPBSA just two months later – earning a £10,000 suspended fine for multiple contract breaches including the late withdrawal from three events he had entered.
The obvious conclusion is that Ding was left mentally shattered by his efforts in 2013/14 and the added attention that came with it. For starters, maintaining the focus required to win five events in a single season is no simple task – as evidenced that only one man had managed to do so before.
But Ding Junhui faces greater pressure than most, given that he is pretty much single-handedly responsible for hauling the sport of snooker off its death bed. His breakthrough victory at the 2005 China Open began an unprecedented surge in snooker’s popularity in China – to the extent that its entire power base has started shifting from England to Asia. Once completely dominated by Britain, China now hosts five of the 11 rankings events held each season while a wave of exciting young Chinese players have started their ascent and will soon be making their mark at the elite level. Every single one of them has done so with Ding as their idol.
Talk about pressure. Living up to such expectations must be an enormous burden and it’s remarkable that with so many riding his every move he managed to go above and beyond last season. Now, having taken his foot off the pedal, his performances are suffering – but he’ll be back.
This season appears to us to be the mental break he needed, but sooner or later his focus will return and China will again marvel at the silky skills of their Ding Junhui.
