The first Triple Crown event of the season is coming up at the UK Championship and both Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty expect one former champ to reclaim the trophy.
Qualifying is already underway as 16 players will come through in Wigan to join the world’s top 16 at the Barbican in York.
Judd Trump is the defending champion and there is a long list of contenders for the title as this season has been wildly unpredictable so far.
11 tournaments have been played this season and they have produced 11 different winners, with no one able to get anywhere near to dominating the sport.
Given the likes of Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins are not among those 11 different winners, there is every chance the run of varied champions continues in York.
However, that is not how former world champions Hendry and Doherty expect it to go at the Barbican.
Both the Scotsman and the Irishman fancy a player who has already lifted a trophy this month to be standing tall again in York on December 7.
The Jester backed to have the last laugh
World Snooker Tour asked a string of experts for their UK Championship tips and both Hendry and Doherty backed Mark Selby to lift the title.
The 42-year-old won the Champion of Champions earlier this month, beating Trump in the final, and has been to three other semi-finals this season so far.
Selby is a two-time UK Championship winner, but has not had a good time of things in recent years in York, with his last triumph coming back in 2016.
The Jester from Leicester has not been beyond the quarter-finals at the UK since then, which is a poor run for a man of the four-time world champion’s quality.
After lifting the Champion of Champions trophy for the first time in his career on November 16, Selby immediately turned his attention to the three biggest events in the sport: the UK Championship, Masters and World Championship.
‘My target has always been those Triple Crowns,’ Selby told ITV4. ‘During the season if you can pinch one of them…I know it’s not easy.
‘That’s where I see myself. When you look back in years to come on the all-time greats It’s basically like the Grand Slams in tennis, you look at Djokovic and all them. Our Triple Crows are the Worlds, Masters and UK.
‘I always look to set my stall out to win one of them in a season. The last few seasons I’ve been nowhere near, but hopefully this year a bit better.’
Selby was not involved in the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship this week as he is outside of the top 10 in the world rankings.
With Zhao Xintong pocketing £250,000 as the winner, it was clearly a missed opportunity to improve the bank balance, but Selby recognises there are positives of missing the trip to Saudi Arabia.
‘Obviously financially it’s disappointing not to be in it because it’s good money if you do well,’ he told SportsBoom.
‘But then at the same time, we’ve been travelling so much the last two to three months.
‘And with the UK coming up with such a big tournament, it probably…to be fair, having won this [Champion of Champions] now, it’s probably not a bad thing, just having a bit of time, to just rest and practice a little bit and unwind and go to the UK fresh rather than fatigued.’
UK Championship qualifying runs until Thursday November 27, with the main stages getting underway on Saturday November 29.