While his 10-4 victory in the final against Marco Fu was hardly vintage, it was certainly dominant. Victoriess against Mark Williams, Graeme Dott, Jame Cope and then Fu earned him his third top prize in snooker, and he's still only 23-years-old.Yet in some people's eyes he's still under-achieved in his career so far.
That's because people forget how young he is, and that with his vast talents comes the expectation of the whole of China. The fact that more than 100 million people tuned into watch him lift the Masters trophy in Asia alone, shows what immense pressures lie on his shoulders.
Despite that, he's already managed last night's famous win and two UK titles in a professional career dating back only seven years.
It's important particularly at a young age that you enjoy your successes as much as you scrutinise your failings. But in a world where the media leads us, Ding wasn't given much opportunity to savour the moment, before he was being asked the biggest question in his career.
It doesn't take Albert Einstein to work out, winning at the Crucible, is harder than at Wembley. You need to win more matches, you need to win longer matches, the pressure is greater, and every players wants it that little bit more than usual.
In fact, only two players have managed to win the Masters and the world title in the same year in the last 17 attempts. They were Stephen Hendry in 1996 and Mark Williams in 2003.This shows how tough it is, although not impossible.
At the start of the Masters, Ding was a relative outsider to win the tournament.It would be fickle of me, after backing him for a first round exit, to now blog about how he will conquer the world. But what you should remember is that his talent was never in doubt.
He has bags of ability, and is virtually strong in every single department of the game. You have to be to win titles. The reason he wasn't fancied was because of his lack of form going into the tournament, and his draw against arguably the most in-form player going into the competition, Williams.
You always knew he could get it together, and in the end, he did. But what should be said is how a series of shock first round exits assisted his bid, and failure to ever face his achilles heel, meant he carried the job through.
We all know Ding's biggest trouble so far in his career has been temperament. He's the kind of player, who if he falls behind, does have a tendency to let his head drop. Fortunately for the world number four, he never needed a comeback to win this even, or the outcome could have been very different.
Although his temperament has improved ten-fold this season alone, it's likely he'll need to overturn a deficit at some point, to win in Sheffield. That's when we'll really see if Ding has turned a corner.
Whether Ding can win this year's world title still remains to be seen. Although he's now been slashed to 8/1 for the sport's biggest prize, in my eyes, we haven't learned an awful lot about Ding this week. He's still as likely to become Crucible king as he was before the Masters kicked off. He still has the minerals of a world champion, and if he continues to improve like he has so far in his career, I have no doubt he will one day land the top trophy.
What is certain though, is that with such an ardent following of the game in Asia, Ding is as important to the sport as any other top player. I also know that Ding will enjoy many more days in the snooker sun.
Sorry Gary but I would have to disagree with your comment that Williams was going into this as the man in form. He was badly out of form at the UK, in both the semis and final. He made a critical mistake by not trying to get onto the yellow from the black - and that pivotal frame basically cost him the match - and that shot illustrated that his confidence was low.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, great blog. Cheers.