When I first started this blog back in August 2008, the intention was to provide insight and opinion on professional snooker, but what I hadn’t foreseen at the time was just how much focus I would go on to place on statistics and in particular rankings.
With the advent of rolling rankings and seeding cut-off points however, the blog has evolved to a point where there are now a large number of ranking lists, ranking races and even century statistics and for those of you who might have missed some, today I take a look at some of the key pages to follow over the coming months…
One list that most regular readers will no doubt be aware of is the latest projected seedings list, which does not track the latest official world rankings, but instead the projected seedings for subsequent events following the next seedings revision. For a more detailed explanation as to what the projected seedings list means, you can read my guide to the 2014/15 ranking system here.
As well as the next seedings revision however, there are other specific events and other seeding cut-offs that it is interesting to keep an eye on, even at this early stage. One such ‘race’ is that for the 2015 Masters, which discounts all points which will be removed by the time of December’s Masters cut-off point and is therefore the most accurate list available to track just who is currently best placed to make it to the Alexandra Palace next January.
Similarly, you can also track the latest ‘race to the Grand Prix’, which looks at points earned by players (amateurs and professionals), from the 2014 World Championship, up to next year’s Gdynia Open. The first time that such a one-year list has been used to determine the entries for a tournament, this one will clearly differ from the official two-year list and be a very interest one to keep an eye on during the coming months.
As well as the event-by-event projected seedings, as we found last season, another crucial list in terms of main tour spots is the provisional end of season list, from which all points that will count towards the end of season rankings in May 2015 have already been removed. This is the page to follow to see just how the race for main tour places is developing and next year will become the most important list of all to track for those around the top 64 mark.
Aside from the latest ranking lists, you can also view the usual ‘points to defend’ pages, accessible from the 2014/15 rankings menu, which are important for seeing who has the most to defend at each stage of the season, helping to put into better context when certain tournament winners from two seasons ago are at risk of suffering a drop in ranking.
There are then, a lot of regularly updated ranking lists to keep an eye on and I offer my continued thanks to @joanneballantyn, who very kindly continues to maintain the majority of the lists for PSB.
More generally, I have recently also introduced the ‘weeks at number 1’ page, aimed to emulate equivalent lists in sports such as tennis and golf and add an extra dimension to the importance of holding onto that top ranking. Certainly it is an idea that recently deposed number one Neil Robertson liked when we spoke recently as part of his interview for PSB.
Still, not all of the lists are rankings based, as I continue to keep a track of snooker’s 147 breaks here, while this summer I was pleased to introduce a new centuries record, following the all-time century breaks list as very kindly updated by @snookerinfo147
I hope that these lists help to add something for you and if you have any other suggestions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section below…