Hello everyone, take 10 minutes to talk about the Masters!
The Masters is an extremely important event in the professional snooker tour. Although not a ranking event, the Masters has a long history, starting in 1945, much earlier than the UK Championship. The level of competition and influence are very high, second only to the World Championship, and the Masters only allows the top 16 players in the world rankings to participate.
As 2024 comes to an end and 2025 approaches, the most anticipated Masters is about to kick off, because every year in the minds of professional players, the snooker tour begins with the Masters. The 2025 Masters will officially start at Alexandra Palace on January 12 and continue until January 19.
Of course, the draw has also been released. As the defending champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan guards the upper half of the draw, along with other strong players in the same half, including John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, Gary Wilson, Mark Allen, Si Jiahui, Mark Selby, and Ali Carter.
Without a doubt, O'Sullivan is the focus of fans' attention. You know, at Alexandra Palace last year, the 48-year-old O'Sullivan advanced to the final and defeated Ali Carter to win his eighth Masters title in his career. For the 2025 Masters, fans have high expectations for him and hope that he can continue to create miracles in snooker.
For O'Sullivan, the Masters can be considered his backyard. From winning his first championship by defeating John Higgins in 1995, up to now, O'Sullivan has reached the Masters final 14 times and won 8 championships. The other six were lost to Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Paul Hunter, John Higgins, Mark Selby, and Judd Trump.
More importantly, in the first round of the 2025 Masters, O'Sullivan's opponent is John Higgins. You know, this is the 80th encounter in their careers, and before that, O'Sullivan had a record of 41 wins and 35 losses. What's even more interesting is that their first meeting was also at the Masters, which was the final of the 1995 Masters thirty years ago.
Who will win this time? We'll have to wait and see. Especially O'Sullivan, whether he can successfully defend his title and win his ninth Masters is even more anticipated.
World No. 1 Judd Trump guards the lower half of the draw, where the competition is fierce, with another seven players including Barry Hawkins, Mark Williams, Ding Junhui, Luca Brecel, Jack Lisowski, Kyren Wilson, and Zhang Anda. Of course, Trump is the favorite to win the championship this season, having already won the Shanghai Masters and Saudi Masters titles, as well as the UK Championship.
In this Masters, there is a high call for Trump to win the championship, because everyone wants to know if he can create more championships in the three major events. Of course, Trump has also realized in his mind that he now needs more championships in the three major events.
As we all know, after winning the UK Championship, Trump missed the Shoot Out and Scottish Open in a row, and at that time he said that he would spend more time and energy on the three major events. So how will Trump perform in this Masters? It's equally worth looking forward to.
Trump's first-round opponent is Barry Hawkins, and in the UK Championship final, Trump defeated Barry Hawkins to win the championship. Whether Barry Hawkins can successfully avenge himself is also a highlight.
Finally, let's talk about the prize money. The prize money for the 2025 Masters has increased significantly, with the champion's prize money increasing from the original £250,000 to £350,000, the runner-up's prize money increasing from £100,000 to £140,000, and the first-round prize money increasing from £15,000 to £25,000.