Why Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump finished 2025 trophyless as Zhao Xintong and Mark Williams enjoyed a record-breaking year in snooker - Review

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2025 was a glorious year of evolution, revolution and landmark contributions as snooker celebrated a first world champion from China, the oldest ranking event winner in history and a record slew of maximum breaks. Plus the odd fairytale too. Desmond Kane tries to make sense of it all in our review of the year. The 52nd Masters, starting on January 11, is live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

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It is easy to lose the magic in professional sport, but quite another thing trying to rediscover the winged sandals, or in the peculiar case of world No. 1 Judd Trump, perhaps a dashing pair of Christian Louboutin Rollerboy Spikes, which helped you soar to the summit in the first place.

Snooker, in all its majestic mayhem and lurching unpredictability, remains a game which is impossible to dominate with one battle after another pitching a mixture of machismo and brinkmanship against the countless revolutions of a manic form of all-in roulette.

Who would have forecast at the outset of 2025 that Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan, with 71 ranking titles between them, would fail to win a tournament, ultimately left disillusioned by the cues that delivered their finest times?

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Or that the rehabilitated Zhao Xintong would join Alex Higgins, Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy as the only qualifiers of the modern era to carry off the World Championship trophy?

Or that the unburdened Alfie Burden would become the first champion in history to catapult himself on top of a table at Blackpool Tower as Strictly Come Dancing took on fresh meaning?

Or that Luca Brecel, the swashbuckling 2023 world champion, would fail to make a century this season in dropping to a lowly 43rd in the rankings?

Predicting snooker these days is about as simple as pure maths.

Such is the frequency of tournaments on the professional circuit, and the levels of intensity required to win them, the decades when Steve Davis [1980s] and Stephen Hendry [1990s] were the only alphas in the room will probably never be seen again.

Yet only 281 centuries were made in 1988/89, with Davis claiming the last of his six world titles in May 1989.

Hendry would then complete his Crucible opus of seven a decade later, with 621 centuries pieced together in the 1998/99 campaign.

Contrast this to the 2025/26 season, which has witnessed 1,147 and counting before Christmas in a sport of fiercer competition, rising standards and finer margins.

To put this into some sort of perspective, Trump extended his 16-month stay at the top of the world rankings, accumulating earnings of £712,350, but was also left to reflect upon a calendar year in which he lost four times in finals.

No gold medal, but did he really fail when one considers the deadly, shark-infested pool, far from the eight-ball variety, in which he swims?

If Carlos Alcaraz endured Trump’s travails in tennis, there would probably be a major inquest into such a downturn in form and fortune.

But in snooker, it tends to be accepted as the norm when any player inside the top 100 can, and sometimes will, carry the day on any given Sunday.

'Look at this' - Crowd goes wild as Trump makes 100th century of season

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"One half a step too late or too early, and you don't quite make it," said Al Pacino’s coach in the classic 1999 sports film Any Given Sunday, a year when Stephen Hendry captured his seventh and final world title in Sheffield.

"One half second too slow, too fast, you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us."

In snooker, it can come down to a matter of millimetres, when the sensation of taking the final step from permanent hope to temporary happiness can be as daunting as walking down the aisle.

A messy divorce from an impending sense of disappointment, as the vast majority of professionals will endure until death do us part, remains a grisly part of such an unforgiving alliance, with the roll of the balls ultimately dictating one’s state of mind.

O'Sullivan begins semi-final with incredible 147 at Saudi Arabia Masters

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It can also be argued that snooker remains a marriage of convenience for many, as we witnessed something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue amid the eternal pursuit of the black ball.

Probably in more ways than one for O’Sullivan after a year that saw him fall in and out of love with the game - nothing new there, one might suggest - set against the backdrop of his own wedding and relocation to Dubai.

'Lost the plot'

The snooker year traditionally tends to enjoy its grand unveiling at the Masters inside London’s vast Alexandra Palace in dark and dank January, but much of O’Sullivan’s schedule had already been set in potting parchments, shredded in the bleak midwinter of a gloomy Mattioli Arena in Leicester.

Cutting a figure of some isolation and then desolation during the Championship League, where no fans roam, O’Sullivan’s decision to smash up his trusty old award-winning cue in a fit of pique during an otherwise unremarkable contest with "The Milkman" Robert Milkins, would render the 41-time ranking event winner a bit-part player for the ensuing 12 months.

O’Sullivan was adamant he was not milking the moment, saying: "I mean, I lost the plot on Thursday, snapped my cue, so that's unplayable." O'Sullivan withdrew from the 51st Masters only two days before opening his title defence against fellow "Class of '92" icon John Higgins.

"I knew that at that moment in time, the right decision was to not play. And it’s such a big tournament, I thought whoever was going to come in should have at least had a couple of days’ notice."

Murphy, a man blessed but never misjudged by "The Magician" moniker, rediscovered his secret potting potion in revisiting trophy-lifting form at the Ally Pally with a 10-7 win over Kyren Wilson, lifting the prized Paul Hunter Trophy a decade after his solitary success at the game’s greatest invitational tournament.

A breathless 147 produced in a 6-3 semi-final win against Mark Allen illustrated his penchant for the big occasion.

'You can celebrate now!' - The moment Murphy sealed second Masters title with sublime century

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Flanked by a new coach in Peter Ebdon of all people, the 2002 world champion who infamously took over five minutes to produce a 12 break in Sheffield 20 years ago, Murphy would also be victorious at the British Open in September courtesy of a 10-7 win over a rejuvenated Anthony McGill.

It is fair to say that McGill, keeping it brief but courteous in defeat, accepted his loss better in Cheltenham than Wilson managed in London.

"No disrespect to Shaun, but he's turned into an old man now, so he needs this more than me," said Wilson in an untimely outburst.

Wilson's comments in defeat were instantly regrettable, yet perhaps perfectly understandable, helping to explain the ghastly sense of loss which prompted O’Sullivan to embark upon his stint of cue-breaking earlier in the month.

Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser, as the old maxim goes.

Somewhere down the line, a fuse can easily blow when purpose drains from the pallor amid those tortuous times of seated regret in the relentless arena.

The remodelled Wilson is one of the most attractive players to watch these days, improving his style since his victory at the World Championship in 2024, intentionally thinking faster and moving eagerly among the balls.

With a brisk average shot time of 20.8s, he ends the year as the 11th fastest player on the tour and is all the better for it.

It was a ploy which would bring him frantic tournament wins at the German Masters and Players Championship, rejoicing in 10-9 victories over Barry Hawkins and Trump respectively, and the Shanghai Masters, 11-9 against Ali Carter, later in the year.

‘What a walk-on!’ – Wilson dazzles audience with epic entrance during German Masters final

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But like O’Sullivan, who last went trophyless a decade ago, and then Trump, his life and times probably revolved around a time period BC (before cue crisis) as a decision to attempt to fix his right-hand man proved almost catastrophic.

"What do I feel like? I want to smash the place up. I’m so angry at what’s happened," Wilson said after losing 6-4 to Elliot Slessor in the first round of the UK Championship in December in York.

"It’s been a freak accident that was totally out of my control. It ruined a cue that I felt like I was conquering the world with. Snapped about four to five inches off the top of my cue.

"Now I just don’t know where to look next. I’m trying everything. I’ve had different cue makers. I’ve had so many cues.

"I was at a cue manufacturer last night, trying to sort something out.

"I was changing a ferrule, changing tips, changing cues. I must have picked up six."

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'Never lost faith'

For O'Sullivan, eight was again the magic number as he decided to end his self-enforced three-month absence from the game by washing up at the World Championship in April.

Thoughts of overtaking Hendry as the most prolific champion of the Crucible era quickly evaporated as it became clear O’Sullivan was fighting the spectre of former glories as much as the natural strain which Sheffield brings to bear.

Trying to bed in a fresh cue on the greatest bed of tables was too much even for the snooker GOAT, who had defeated old foe Ali Carter (10-4), Pang Junxu (13-4) and Si Jiahui (13-9) before being swept away by a Cyclone in the semi-finals.

After decades of expecting Ding Junhui to become China’s chosen one, Zhao Xintong carried all before him as his nation’s historic first world champion by polishing off a total of 111 frames, 18 centuries and nine matches in Sheffield.

A qualifier in name only, Zhao, the 2021 UK champion, returned to the main stage after an act of contrition saw him make up for lost time and then some by butchering the opposition on his voyage to the game’s ultimate showdown.

A 17-7 rout of O’Sullivan, who continued his sense of self-hampering by changing cues and ferrules after the first session ended level at 4-4, with Zhao being invited to complete an 8-0 session whitewash to effectively end the match as a contest.

Winning with a session to spare saw Zhao applaud his revered opponent, who had inspired and helped him to pursue a career in the ancient game.

It was a poignant moment, but one which signalled a changing of the cue rather than the guard.

"I have lost what I used to have. I’m so confused. It feels really a struggle," said O'Sullivan after suffering one of his worst beatings in a record-extending 33rd straight appearance at the Crucible.

"I don’t know if it was me, the cue tip or the ferrule. I didn’t know where the white ball was going."

It was only the fourth time he had lost all eight frames in a session in Sheffield since his tournament debut in 1993.

World champions John Parrott (1994), John Higgins (1998) and Graeme Dott (2006) are the others to whitewash a misfiring Rocket at the home of his career-defining victories.

O’Sullivan and Zhao share warm handshake after stunning semi-final

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The 28-year-old Zhao had been ranked world No. 6 before he was banned for 20 months for his involvement in the sport's biggest match-fixing scandal in 2023, but booked his return to the main circuit as an amateur via a first-placed finish on the Q Tour Europe ranking list.

He was initially given a suspension of two years and six months, which was reduced to one year and eight months, but he was never involved in the serious end of the charges.

"I did something wrong, and I learned from it, but I have never lost faith in myself," said Zhao, who was watched by an estimated TV audience of 180 million back home.

"I kept practising as usual and I followed the pro tour attentively. I have never thought about quitting snooker, but coming back stronger."

'Seen something very special' - Zhao clinches title with thrilling win over Williams

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Hendry already values Zhao as the best striker of a cue ball in the sport's history.

"I've repeated myself two or three times [but] he's the best ball striker I've ever seen playing snooker," Hendry told TNT Sports.

"I include everyone in that, from the O'Sullivans to the Selbys, to the Trumps, everyone.

"No-one struck the ball as pure as Zhao Xintong and I think he could be the future of snooker for the next 20 years."

Hendry hails Zhao as game’s ‘best ball-striker’ after ‘shot of the tournament’

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'Scrape me off the table'

Mark Williams, with his trademark rapid slow walk in full flow, looked like the form horse in reaching the final, but ran out of steam after being involved in one brutal battle after another with John Higgins (13-12) and Trump (17-14).

With Williams, the oldest player to appear in the world final at the age of 50, suddenly fighting old father time, Zhao benefited from the 22-year age gap to become champion with an 18-12 procession that felt more like a coronation.

Despite his disappointment, Williams would enjoy another momentous achievement in October when he became the oldest winner of a ranking event in modern history, usurping fellow Welsh icon Ray Reardon, who had held the record for 43 years.

He unearthed a vintage performance to quell the threat of Murphy in the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix, emerging with the trophy via a resounding 10-3 runaway success.

Williams, 50 years and 206 days, claimed the 27th ranking title of his storied career in the Chinese city with a clinical performance, incisively pouncing upon the Murphy malfunctions.

For the record, Reardon was 50 years and 14 days when he defeated Jimmy "Whirlwind" White 10-5 at the Professional Players Tournament in Sutton Coldfield in October 1982.

'Unexpectedly one-sided' - Williams seals emphatic victory over Murphy to create history

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"It's amazing that I am still winning tournaments, I don't know how I'm doing it because I am not practising enough to really compete in the later stages of tournaments," said the three-time Crucible winner.

"I try to play as much as I can while I'm at venues. And you have to scrape me off the table until the last ball is potted. Somehow, the three of us in the 'Class of '92' are still going."

Like Williams, Higgins discovered that all good things come to those who wait, and wait and wait. And then wait some more.

'Unbelievable champion'

Higgins ended four years of longing for a trophy with a 10-6 win over Joe O'Connor in the World Open final in March that saw him roll in a century and seven 60+ breaks on his way to securing the £175,000 first prize.

Like O’Sullivan and Williams, the four-time world champion continues to demonstrate remarkable longevity with the Scotsman’s 33 ranking titles claimed between 1994 and 2025 and seven secured since he turned 40.

A bit like an Ally Pally bus, Higgins discovered another rich journey was just around the corner.

And that was before JH visited JR and the set of classic 1980s TV drama Dallas to celebrate his own 50th in the close season.

Selby would be restricted to only 18 points in the final five frames of the Tour Championship final in Manchester in April as Higgins regained his trademark bounce from 8-5 behind with breaks of 110, 67, 80 and 132, completing a 10-8 triumph that had to be seen to be believed.

"It was my best ever win," Higgins told reporters after watching Selby wind him in with stirring knocks of 112, 136, 68, 55, 77 and 119, before the Scotsman came roaring back.

"You were playing an unbelievable champion who didn't look like he was going to miss. He was tying me up in knots."

‘The drought is over’ – Higgins seals World Open title with classy century

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The stats are incredible relating to O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams, with the timeless trio winning 101 ranking titles of the 453 contested in the sport's modern history, just below a quarter being gobbled up by them.

O’Sullivan, sporting a fresh cue and feel, looked much more like himself by the time August came into view, but even he seemed surprised by the sublime nature of his display against Chris Wakelin in the semi-finals of the Saudi Arabia Masters in Jeddah.

A 6-3 win over Wakelin, who would end the year as Scottish Open champion in Edinburgh, failed to describe a night like no other.

'Hypnotic state'

Two pristine maximums plus other fabulous knocks of 142, 134, 70, 67 and 50 saw O'Sullivan sprinkle gold dust on the sport's richest ranking event beyond the World Championship.

The respective 16th and 17th competitive 147s of his gilded career were his first in seven years.

And the first time any player had produced a pair of perfect clearances in the same session of a match.

"I think it is the greatest exhibition in a best-of-11 match, and possibly ever," said the 1997 world champion Ken Doherty on TNT Sports.

He’s done it again! Watch as O’Sullivan makes second 147 in stunning semi-final showing

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Struggling to catch his breath, Doherty added: "The breaks, the two 147s, the 142. I mean, that was just incredible."

Maximum breaks were all the rage in the game with 25 compiled in 2025, and a record 16 being compiled so far this season. Which is more than the entire decade of the 1980s (eight) and only one short of the 1990s (26).

"You get in the zone, a meditative sort of state, almost like you have been hypnotised," said O'Sullivan, in trying to explain reaching his oasis in the desert.

"A lot of my career, I've got into a hypnotic state just from being in the zone. You can only get there by feeling good, playing well and feeling at one with yourself.

"You have to get into the zone, and get lost in it. So lost in it that you almost don't know what is going on around you. You are in a trance, basically."

An epic joust with Neil Robertson saw the 2010 world champion lead 7-2 and then trail 9-8 before the Australian scrambled over the line with O’Sullivan twice failing to engineer a kind break of the balls when he seemed on the cusp of victory.

"I think it probably surpasses the World Championship in my opinion, because I have had to answer a lot of questions. Can I beat someone like Ronnie in a final of this magnitude?" Robertson said after earning a whopping £500,000.

"We have played in many finals before, and I have won a few, he has probably won more than me. But to beat him here with so much on the line is definitely my best win."

It was Robertson’s second victory of the year after his historic 10-0 whitewash win over Stuart Bingham in the final of the World Grand Prix at the new Kai Tak Arena in Hong Kong in February.

That was only the second of three whitewashes in multi-session ranking event finals after Robertson demolished Zhou Yuelong 9-0 in the 2020 European Masters title final, and Steve Davis dismantled Dean Reynolds 10-0 in the 1989 Grand Prix final.

'Watching down'

The supremely talented Trump was, quite unbelievably, cast as the sport’s nearly man as he failed to win a title in a calendar year for the first time since 2013.

A 10-9 defeat to Wilson in the Players Championship was followed by defeats to Jack Lisowski at the Northern Ireland Open and Mark Selby in the finals of the Champion of Champions (10-5) and UK Championship (10-8).

Trump also had the not insignificant consolation of producing a century of centuries in a season for the second time in his career, picking up £100k as a bonus after declaring on a record haul of 107 at the Crucible.

Like O’Sullivan and Wilson, trying to find old magic with a new cue provided a real headache in maintaining consistency of technique over the distance.

"It is hard to play your best when you are trying to find the right cue, but I'm out there battling," said Trump.

"There is still going to be a bit of changing until I find the right cue. It is not perfect at the moment.

"We are all fortunate just to play snooker for a living. Sometimes it's tough when things are not going your way, but I will keep trying and at some point it will all click again."

For Selby, there was no such barren spell. He began his year in fine style with victories at the Championship League before a 9-6 win over Stephen Maguire saw him lift the Ray Reardon Trophy as Welsh Open champion.

And the imposing Leicester professional bookended the year neatly with two more rousing tournament victories at the Champion of Champions in his home city and UK Championship which left Stephen Hendry predicting a return to the world No. 1 spot in 2026.

'This final has had it all' - Selby wraps up third UK Championship title after thriller with Trump

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The likeable Lisowski finally ended his long wait for a ranking title victory after finishing runner-up six times with a thrilling 9-8 win over Trump at Belfast's bewitched Waterfront Hall.

In coping with personal grief, having tragically lost his father before he was due to face Trump at the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, one immediately thought of the American world middleweight boxing champion Rocky Graziano's autobiography, Somebody Up There Likes Me.

In the final scene of his award-winning turn as Graziano, Paul Newman looks to the skies in New York and says: "You know I've been lucky - somebody up there likes me."

'Let the celebrations begin' - Lisowski seals victory for first career title

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"I've got my dad's socks on today," said Lisowski on TNT Sports.

"He didn't live to see me win a ranking title, but this is for him if he's watching down, and it's also for my mum for everything she has done for me."

Perhaps somebody up there likes Jack too.

Wu Yize was probably the next brightest talent without a major title to his name, but celebrated his coming-of-age trophy lift by downing Higgins 10-6 in the final of the International Championship a fortnight later in Nanjing.

Some figures clearly enjoy some tournaments more than others. Having revelled in his maiden victory in a ranking event at the Wuhan Open last season, Xiao Guodong successfully defended the title with a 10-9 win over Gary Wilson in August.

Bai makes the biggest break ever for a women in a professional competition

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Bai Yulu continued to impress by winning the Women’s World Championship for a second straight year with a 6-4 win over Mink Nutcharut.

Bai also produced a 145 at the International Championship, the highest competitive break by a woman in modern times.

Success was startling for others.

Burden landed the World Seniors title with an 8-4 win over Aaron Canavan in May before dancing on top of the table as his dream of becoming a ranking event winner came true at the Shoot Out in Blackpool.

At 48, Burden is the oldest maiden winner of a ranking event, overtaking 46-year-old Doug Mountjoy's totemic 16-12 win over Hendry at the 1988 UK final, after producing a closing break of 56 in defeating Bingham.

Whether or not the one-frame Shoot Out, set against the confines of a 10-minute shot clock, should be a ranking event, few would deny him the chance to celebrate so joyously.

He was quite remarkably 20th reserve for the competition, and made the last-minute dash from London to Blackpool before dashing through seven matches to unheralded title glory.

Burden looked like he would be denied access to the Champion of Champions amid speculation O'Sullivan would be shoehorned into the event, but will be there next year as Shoot Out winner.

The explosion of colour, infinite possibilities and ongoing touch of dramatic farce or tragedy is not restricted to Blackpool, with snooker's sporting theatre comparable to Shakespeare's Globe in such a globe-trotting game.

Late call-up Burden beats Bingham to Shoot Out crown - then stands on table!

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The year ended with Wakelin carrying off the Scottish Open in Edinburgh courtesy of a 9-2 filleting of Chang Bingyu, one of several emerging talents from China.

At the end of the year, only one player inside the top 16 remains without a ranking trophy.

It is surely only a matter of time before former Crucible semi-finalist Si Jiahui joins the party, but then again, the future in snooker comes with no guarantees of prosperity, as the evergreen six-time world finalist Jimmy White, the oldest player on tour at 63, will testify.

Winning one a season is probably an outstanding achievement, as Williams has suggested, with the first 11 ranking events of the season being lifted by 11 different characters.

All those hours spent in darkened rooms for the chance to walk briefly in the sunshine make snooker a true labour of love. But is the juice worth the squeeze?

Smashing cues, changing cues or even presenting the stick to someone in the crowd, as English Open winner Mark Allen did at the Scottish Open semi-finals after being drubbed 6-1 by Chang in Edinburgh, is perhaps a chance to walk on with hope in your heart.

The opportunity to become the next O’Sullivan continues to drive the next generation of snooker players, but most will be content to end their careers as the next Burden.

That's assuming the burden is not too great.