Top 10 Best Snooker Players of All Time has been given…………
The list of top 10 snooker players in the history of the sport
- Joe Davis
- Stephen Hendry
- Ronnie O’Sullivan
- Steve Davis
- Alex Higgins
- Ray Reardon
- Dennis Taylor
- John Higgins
- Mark Selby
- Jimmy White
Who are the best professional snooker players in the world?
The players listed above have multiple world championship wins and numerous other titles between them. We will now take a closer look at the top 10 snooker players of all time, including their greatest career achievements:
1. Joe Davis, 1919-1964
Joe Davis, born in 1901, was a 15x Snooker World Champion. The Englishman remains the only player to be undefeated at the World Snooker Championship, while he also recorded the first ever century break at the tournament in 1930.
Davis was also a world Billiards champion, before becoming the first player to achieve a maximum break in 1955. Davis would likely have won more Snooker World Championships, if he had not chosen to focus on other tournaments from 1946.
Davis was awarded an OBE in 1963, with the legendary figure having paved the way for how Snooker is played today. Davis passed away in 1978 at the age of 77.
2. Stephen Hendry, 1985-2012
Stephen Hendry won a total of 36 tournaments during his professional snooker career, including seven successes at the Crucible. The Scot has over 700 century breaks and 11 maximums, earning him nicknames including The Golden Boy and The Ice Man.
Hendry’s first became world champion in 1990, when he overcame Jimmy White in the final. He won the title five years in a row from 1992-1999. Hendry delighted many fans when he returned to the professional scene in August 2020.
While it has not been the fairytale return that he will have hoped for yet, Hendry has stated that he still hopes to compete at the Crucible once again. Hendry was awarded an MBE in 1993, while he is a 6x WPBSA Player of the Year.
3. Ronnie O’Sullivan, 1992 – Present
The current world no.1, O’Sullivan, nicknamed “The Rocket”, is the biggest snooker star around. Known for his incredible shot making, hot temper and ability to play with both hands, the Romford-born player has seven World Snooker Championship wins to his name to date.
O’Sullivan became the youngest player to win The Masters at the age of 19, and he has continued to break records throughout his career. Now 47, O’Sullivan has amassed over 1,200 century breaks and 15 maximums. With 39 tournament wins, the game often appears to be too easy for the man who was awarded an OBE in 2016.
He has also been nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award several times. With over £13 million in career earnings to date, it remains to be seen as to how long Ronnie will continue to delight snooker fans.
4. Steve Davis, 1978-2016
Davis brought the curtain down on an illustrious career in 2016, having won the World Championship six times and became one of the first stars of snooker. As well as his successes at The Crucible, Davis also won six UK Championships and three Masters titles. Davis was the first player to make over £1 million in prize money.
Known affectionately as “The Nugget” and the “Romford Slim”, Davis made just a single maximum break during his career. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 1988. He remains the only snooker player to have ever done so.
Away from snooker, Davis also tried his hand at pool, where he played for Europe on a regular basis at the Mosconi Cup. Davis even appeared on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here in 2003, having been made an OBE in 2000.
5. Alex Higgins, 1971-1997
Alex “Hurricane” Higgins was very much a force to be reckoned with both on and off the table. The two times world champion is one of a select number of players to have won Snooker’s Triple Crown, having also achieved success at the UK Championship and Masters. Higgins passed away in 2010 at the age of 61.
Alex Higgins was an inspiration to many of the top players who followed him, including O’Sullivan and Jimmy White. Higgins’ rivalry with Steve Davis was a talking point in snooker for many years during the ’80s and ’90s. The Northern Irishman was known for his speed around the table and unusual technique.
