The World Snooker Tour is now in the meat of its season, following the World Open, attention now turns to Hong Kong for the World Grand Prix and with record crowds set to smash attendance records, next week could be hugely special.
The start of the World Grand Prix means that from this point there are only three more tournaments before the cut off will be made for the World Championship seeding and it’s fair to say that there is plenty to play for.
With 2025 almost a quarter old, let’s take a look at who has had a great start to the year and who will be hoping that the next few months ahead of the World Championship will see an upturn in form.
Ups
Kyren Wilson
It stands to be a big few months for Kyren Wilson. Set to defend his World Championship that he won so memorably last year, there is a good chance that Wilson could be the first man since Mark Selby to win back to back World Championship titles.
He proved that his win at the World Championship certainly wasn’t a fluke when he backed that up with a win at the Northern Ireland Open and he showed what a great player he is when he clinched the German Masters in gritty fashion earlier this year.
Whilst he still ranks someway behind Judd Trump when it comes to the official world rankings, of late Wilson seems to have gotten the better of his rival, defeating him in the semifinals of the Masters and then beating the world number one again in the Championship League.
Since his win at the German Masters early exits have followed at both the Welsh and World Opens and he will hope that those tournaments were blips as he aims to get his form back ahead of the World Championship.
Having shown an appetite for winning the sport's biggest titles in the last twelve months, he will be confident of adding the World Grand Prix to his recent list of accolades when the tournament kicks off this week.
Shaun Murphy
Shaun Murphy has enjoyed a rollercoaster of a 2025 so far. Flying into the Masters very much as an afterthought, he showed the snooker world just why he has enjoyed a stay at the top of the game for well over a decade.
He wasn’t handed an easy draw at Alexandra Palace and had to overcome both Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson to lay claim to his second Masters crown.
Despite his Masters win and the £500,000 first place prize, Murphy couldn’t let the victory soak in as he had a battle to ensure he didn’t become the first Masters Champion to miss out on a spot at the World Championships.
Ranked 20th in the race to the Crucible, early exits at both the Welsh Open and German Masters didn’t aid his cause but he gave his prospects of finishing inside the top 16 a huge boost when he reached the quarterfinals of the World Open and he will be hoping for plenty more at this week’s World Grand Prix.
With time running out for those looking to secure a top 16 berth at the Crucible, he will need some more good performances as the the race to the Crucible reaches the business end of proceedings.
John Higgins
One man who would have been wanting to come into the Crucible in red hot form would have been John Higgins and the four time World Champion ensured exactly that when he won the World Open.
Having come into the tournament ranked 14th in the two year standings to reach the Crucible the Scot would have been nervously looking over his shoulder, but he can put those fears to bed now with his latest ranking win now behind him.
One leg of snookers famous class of 92 trio, Higgins remains the most active out of Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan and he will believe that despite his playing days slowly coming to an end, he still has plenty to offer at the very highest level of the sport.
Often overlooked by the genius of O’Sullivan and the extraordinary achievements of his compatriot Stephen Hendry, it’s easy to forget what a great player Higgins is and he will certainly want to show that again before his time in the sport officially comes to an end.
It’s fair to argue that throughout most of 2024 Higgins hadn’t quite reached the heights that he would usually expect but those doubts are now over. A confident John Higgins can be an exceptionally dangerous player to handle and no one will want to face the Scot on the road to the World Championship.
Downs
Ronnie O’Sullivan
It seems unfair to include Ronnie O’Sullivan on our list of players who have so far experienced a down year in 2025, but through three months of 2025 the seven time World Champion is yet to play a match of note and the prospects of him winning a eighth World Championship currently look remote at best.
Regarded as the game’s best ever player, O’Sullivan has long had a love/hate relationship with the sport and this isnt the first time that the Rocket has decided not to play due to prioritising his mental health.
Now set to make his comeback at the World Grand Prix, O’Sullivan has been handed the tricky proposition of having to face Si Jiahui in the opening round and the young Chinese player will certainly be a hard obstacle to overcome.
O’Sullovsn has shown he can win the game’s best tournaments and beat the world’s best players after an extended break and he will certainly hope to showcase all of his magic when he makes long belated return in Hong Kong this week.
Judd Trump
Considering nobody has won as much prize money in the history of the sport as Judd Trump has done in 2024 it seems unfair that the world number one makes our list of players who have had down a year, but it’s fair to say that so far in 2025 Trump hasn’t been anywhere near his brilliant best.
As we have highlighted above, despite being the overwhelming number one player in the game, of late he has found himself coming unstuck to Kyren Wilson and that is a trend he will want to reverse quickly.
Through 2025 he has fallen early at the German Masters and World Open and wasn’t able to muster much of a defence at either tournament.
Trump is on course to become the greatest regular season winner in the history of the game, but greatness in snooker is often defined by what happens at the World Championships and in that regard he is well short of meeting the required standards.
The pressure is on Trump to land a second World Championship crown but after a tough start to the year, whether he can deliver when it matters most remains very much up for debate.
Mark Allen
Nobody wants the tag of being the best player in the game not to have won a World Championship but
that is a title that is often pointed in the direction of Mark Allen.
Allen knows how to win big tournaments. The Northern Irishman has won both the Masters and the UK Championship but so far the game’s biggest prize continues to elude him.
Not shy on or off the tables, Allen’s 2025 started well by reaching the semifinals of the Masters but since then his form has fallen off a cliff.
Falling in the first round of the German Masters, he is yet to advance past the second round at the Welsh Open or World Open and his ranking is starting to slip.
Perhaps the biggest confidence player on Tour, if Allen is to finally achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a World Champion he needs to find rediscover his best snooker quickly.
At 35, Andrew Blakely stands as a seasoned expert in both snooker and its betting intricacies. A dedicated player and analyst, he offers keen insights derived from years in the field. Through his writings, Andrew aspires to guide enthusiasts navigating the captivating world of snooker betting.
Andrew Blakely
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