Nick Metcalfe snooker column: Could this be the greatest season of them all?

Maximums, deciders and Lisowski - It's a season of non-stop thrills

If you watch a lot of sport these days, you'll know very well that we don't just have Sundays and Mondays any more. That's far too plain.

Now it must be a Super Sunday and a Magic Monday. That's fine if Liverpool are playing Manchester United at Anfield. But if it's Burnley against Fulham, it's tempting to contact the trades descriptions people.

This is the unashamed age of hype. We're all salespeople in this game. Trust me, I'm not being pious here. I'm one of the biggest sellers out there.

If things are good, it's not enough for us to sit back and let you assess the situation for yourself. We need to bash you over the head with it.

So I'm aware that in the current climate, I need to tread pretty carefully when making grand statements. That said, when something genuinely special crosses our path, it would be remiss not to make record of it.

So take a bow, the 2025-26 snooker season. So far, you've been simply magnificent.

There is every chance that when the last ball is potted in the World Championship at the Crucible in May, we'll be hailing the greatest campaign of them all.

Just look at what we've seen over the last four months. First, there's the remarkable number of maximum breaks. I wrote about this highly unlikely trend in a Sporting Life column in September.

Back then, we had seen 10. Now it's up to 14, with Zak Surety the latest to make it to 147 points at this week's International Championship in Nanjing. The record for any complete season is 15.

The obvious highlight was in Saudi Arabia in August, when Ronnie O'Sullivan made two maximum breaks in the same match, his best of 11 semi-final contest with Chris Wakelin. Even in O'Sullivan's storybook snooker life, it defied belief.

Classic finals galore

Then there are the finals. We've been spoilt beyond reason with them. For the first time in professional snooker history, three ranking finals in a row went to deciding frames.

Neil Robertson edged out O'Sullivan 10-9 in Saudi. Xiao Guodong beat Gary Wilson 10-9 to win the Wuhan Open. Mark Allen held his nerve to see off Zhou Yuelong 9-8 for English Open glory in Brentwood.

Every one of those matches went late into the night, every one of them reminding us all how utterly compelling snooker can be.

Just before that terrific trio, Kyren Wilson beat Ali Carter 11-9 in the showpiece match of the prestigious invitational event, the Shanghai Masters. That wasn't too shabby either.

But in this most special of seasons, the most thrilling deciding frame in a final was still to come, as Jack Lisowski beat Judd Trump 9-8 to win the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.

Have you recovered yet? That really was one of snooker's most emotional moments, as Lisowski finally got himself over the line to win his first ranking event at the age of 34.

Neal Foulds, who was in the commentary box for TNT Sports that night, wrote in delightful fashion about "unique talent" Lisowski and his wonderful win in a Sporting Life column last week.

It was of course much deeper than just a snooker success, as it's only been a matter of months since Lisowski lost his father. He spoke so honestly and eloquently about the pain of that and how he felt his dad's spirit with him on that febrile night at the Waterfront Hall.

A sporting Trump emerged with a great deal of credit too, on one of those rare sporting nights that brought with it no detractors.

Seriously, when was the last time you can remember any event in sport being so universally relished?

Lisowski won't be everyone's favourite player, naturally, but you'd need to have a heart of stone not to be moved by his dramatic victory and the scenes that followed.

That's this bewitching season for you. We just don't know what treasures it will serve up for us next.

More to come as York showpiece nears

I realise there's an awful lot of snooker still to come by the way. Not least the Triple Crown events, kicking off soon with the UK Championship in York. But at the moment we're all aboard a magical train, and I see no reason for us to alight at the next platform.

Remember too, we haven't had a repeat winner of a tournament yet. Stephen Maguire, Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, Xiao Guodong, Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Jack Lisowski. They've all been handed a trophy for their considerable efforts.

One of the game's marquee events starts in Leicester on Monday, the Champion of Champions. Every day promises to be a top watch. The group matches include 2024 world champion Kyren Wilson against man of the moment Lisowski, and serial tournament winner Allen against current world champion Zhao Xintong.

It's a good time to be a snooker fan. Drink it in, folks. In the long history of the sport, we may just be seeing the very best season of them all right here and right now.