In his new column, Nick Metcalfe says Ronnie O'Sullivan is simply not playing enough snooker, Zhao Xintong suffered from appearing in his home city and Ali Carter is one of sport's gutsiest characters.
Ronnie O'Sullivan was knocked out on day one of the Shenzhen Open by Jiang Jun.
In itself, that isn't anything for O'Sullivan or his fans to be alarmed about. Surprise early defeats in tournaments have always happened for all players.
The bigger issue is that Monday's match was just O'Sullivan's tenth of this 2026-27 season. A number of players are already in the twenties in matches played - among them two of O'Sullivan's greatest rivals, Mark Selby and Judd Trump.
O'Sullivan is just not playing enough snooker. It doesn't matter how special or great you are, you can never properly replicate in practice what happens in tournament conditions.
It is obvious that O'Sullivan can still get by to an extent with his sheer genius on the table. Who else would make two maximums in one best-of-11 match, plus a record 153 break, in the same season?
This isn't going to be one of those harebrained columns where the writer dismisses O'Sullivan's chances of winning tournaments (which he hasn't done on the main tour since early 2024 by the way). That way madness - or at least acute embarrassment - lies.
But logic says that O'Sullivan's inactivity can only be hurting, not helping, his hopes of winning an eighth world title that he professes to crave.
This isn't 2013, when O'Sullivan took virtually the whole season off, but still won the world title. He was 37 then, he's 50 now.
Looking at the calendar, there is a chance that we may not see O'Sullivan again until the UK Championship in York. In snooker terms, that's an age away.
We're still basking in an Indian summer right now in the UK. Come York, the punters will be drinking mulled wine at the Christmas markets between sessions.
It's true that O'Sullivan could play at the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast before that. But he hasn't appeared at the Waterfront Hall since a first-round defeat to David Grace in 2022.
He could also show his face at the Champion of Champions in Leicester, with his win at the World Seniors Championship opening the door to entry at that event. But he withdrew on the eve of that tournament in 2023, and you wouldn't risk good money betting on him being there this time.
During the last World Championship in the spring, O'Sullivan played down reports that he moved to Dubai last year - and also spends a lot of time in Ireland - for tax purposes.
What can't be denied is that he is in the UK far more infrequently than was once the case. So he may have some tough decisions to make over what really matters to him in the coming months and years.
I'm one of those observers who still believes O'Sullivan has four or five very decent chances of winning another world title. He may have entered his sixth decade, but keeps himself in brilliant shape. And that snooker brain of his is clearly still razor sharp.
So if he's still playing on the main tour, why not give it a proper go now before you waltz off into the sunset?
O'Sullivan's legacy has long since been secure, even if he never pots another ball in his life.
Also, it will be no skin off anyone's nose if it remains as a tie between O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry on seven Crucible crowns each. It would probably be quite fitting actually.
But a precious eighth world title is still there to be won, and O'Sullivan will improve his chances considerably by simply showing up more when it matters.
We're not seeing enough of O'Sullivan. And it's not doing him any good.
Home isn't sweet for Zhao Xintong... but give it time
Nearly 4,000 fans bought tickets to see Zhao Xintong play in his home city of Shenzhen on Monday night.
Whether you're the world No1 - as Zhao is - or the world No.101, that will always bring pressures of its own.
Zhao was miles below his best as Scott Donaldson beat him 5-4 in their first-round meeting.
I was taken by Donaldson's candour after the match. Talking about Zhao falling short, Donaldson said: "I know what it feels like. When I play the Scottish Open, I don't want it to feel different but I do. If he got through that match, he might have gone on to win the tournament."
I suspect it might well be a lot easier for Zhao when the fuss has died down a bit.
This was Mark Allen's record in his first five appearances at the Northern Ireland Open: quarter-final, second round, first round, fourth round, third round. The prevailing wisdom was that the pressure was just too stifling for him in Belfast.
But Allen changed the record in spectacular fashion, winning the title in 2021 - coming back to beat John Higgins in a classic final - and then repeating the trick in 2022, that time comfortably beating Zhou Yuelong in the showpiece match.
By now, Allen was inspired by the raucous crowds in Belfast, the scenes there often full of emotion.
If snooker continues to have a tournament in Shenzhen in the years to come, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Zhao finds in time that home really can be sweet.
'Marmite' Ali Carter one of the gutsiest characters in sport
We will never be allowed favourites in this game, but I admit to being delighted to see Ali Carter win the English Open at Brentwood.
Carter is widely known as a "Marmite" figure in snooker. It's not even us suggesting that really, it's him.
During a wonderfully honest appearance on the Talking Snooker podcast, Carter reflected on that image and explained his approach to playing the sport.
"I think I’m obviously very intense and I show emotion and I set myself really high standards," Carter said.
"Obviously I know how good I can be and when I don’t produce it for whatever reason I find it very frustrating because I am a perfectionist at whatever I do. That’s just my personality trait.
"But what people don’t understand is that snooker has been my life. It shouldn’t do, but it defines how you feel as a person, it defines how you can live your life.
"It defines what house you live in, what car you drive, what holidays you go on, where you sit on the plane, everything."
In my books, a determined, fully firing, Carter is one of snooker's great sights. When you consider what he's been through off the table - being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in his 20s, and then both testicular cancer and lung cancer in his 30s - he must be one of the gutsiest characters in all of sport.
And as he showed in Brentwood, beating the great Mark Williams to land the title, he's still a bloody good snooker player at the age of 47 too.
