Mark Williams seems to have confirmed that he shall be taking part on the World Snooker Tour through the upcoming 2024/25 season.
There was widespread hypothesis in latest weeks surrounding the way forward for a few of the sport’s most notable stars, together with Williams.
The Welshman received the Tour Championship at first of April and is at present ranked as excessive as quantity six on the planet.
However Williams has delivered cryptic messages in interviews of late, sparking fears from followers that he could be leaping ship to one of many rumoured breakaway excursions.
Following his triumph in Manchester, the place he beat the world’s prime three gamers together with Ronnie O’Sullivan within the ultimate, the 49 year-old expressed the way it might be his final occasion on ITV.
Then after his 10-9 loss to Si Jiahui within the first spherical of the continuing World Snooker Championship, Williams recommended that he could not return to the Crucible once more.
The feedback, added to others made by the likes of O’Sullivan and John Higgins, led many to consider that drastic change is afoot.
There may be hypothesis that there’s an Asian-backed breakaway tour within the pipelines the place gamers concerned will obtain a assured six-figure sum of prize cash.
Nevertheless, Williams has appeared to refute any chance that he’s related to this in any method.
The three-time world champion responded to a thread on social media with former blogger and beginner snooker match director Snookerbacker.
When immediately requested on X, “Simply inform us then MJ. Not such as you to be so cloak and dagger. Are you staying on the WST or not?”, Mark Williams succinctly replied: “Sure.”
Below a special remark, Williams elaborated that he “received’t be in a couple of comps, particularly in the event that they conflict with the Chinese language pool.”
Williams skipped final month’s World Open in Yushan to take part in a Chinese language pool match, a special pathway he has already overtly admitted to eager to pursue.
Whether it is certainly the case that Williams received’t be becoming a member of any doable breakaway tour, it’s going to come as a aid to his supporters.
Judd Trump, in the meantime, has been way more open on his plans – the world quantity two saying on the weekend: “I don’t assume I’d actually get away from bed for an exhibition collection.”
“I’m very pleased the place I’m, with the tournaments I play in. I want one thing with historical past, heritage, and people sorts of venues. I want one thing to play for.
“‘I would like the most important challenges, and I stay up for hopefully taking part in in additional totally different locations.
“I’m simply attempting to win each single match and attempting to get again to primary.
“For me, it’s in regards to the titles. On the finish of the day everybody desires extra money, however this isn’t the best time for me.”
One other former world champion, Shaun Murphy additionally weighed in on the controversial topic that has been creating ripples throughout the sport.
“Nicely, I imply, there are rumours afoot of breakaway excursions,” Shaun Murphy mentioned on the OneFourSeven snooker podcast final week.
“No person else appears to wish to discuss it, however there are rumours round. I noticed on social media my identify get talked about that Murphy signed an NDA to not discuss it.”
“For readability, I haven’t. I’ve not been approached by anybody about something. I solely know what I learn.
“So it was fairly amusing to see my identify featured in it – somebody tweeted, ‘you don’t must be a Magician to know who I’m speaking about,’ from considered one of these nameless accounts.
“However there are loads of rumours flying round. John Higgins even mentioned coming into the occasion one thing alongside the strains of, ‘I’m going to go to the Crucible for yet another crack at it.’
“Once more, you don’t must be an excellent genius to work out what these guys are attempting to say.
“I don’t know who’s been approached and been talked to about this breakaway tour, if there may be one. I don’t know who’s been approached.”
Featured picture credit score: WST
