{"id":7667,"date":"2026-04-22T11:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=7667"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:17:12","slug":"steve-davis-names-top-three-snooker-players-of-all-time-by-actual-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=7667","title":{"rendered":"Steve Davis names top three snooker players of all time by ‘actual standard’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Six-time world champion Steve Davis puts Mark Selby among the greatest ever (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steve Davis has named his top three snooker players of all time \u2018by actual standard\u2019 and his BBC colleague Stephen Hendry misses out.<\/p>\n

Davis himself was once seen as the best in the baize business as he dominated the 1980s, but has now been usurped in the GOAT debate.<\/p>\n

Hendry overtook him as he rattled off seven World Championship titles in the \u201990s and, while the Scot is still in the conversation, Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan has now taken the mantle in most onlookers\u2019 eyes.<\/p>\n

The Rocket is level with Hendry on seven world titles but is still very much in the hunt to break that record, tipped by some to reach eight this year.<\/p>\n

The Nugget has O\u2019Sullivan down as the greatest, but while they have not won as many world titles as Hendry or himself, he sees two other players in the top three of all time in terms of their standard of play.<\/p>\n

The 68-year-old is a huge admirer of Mark Selby\u2019s game, feeling he is underappreciated by those who don\u2019t follow snooker closely.<\/p>\n

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You’re in the right place. I’m Phil Haigh, and I cover the game we all love for Metro<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Phil has been reporting on snooker for over a decade, since working in World Snooker’s press office in 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

He puts the Jester from Leicester in with John Higgins and O\u2019Sullivan in his best three players ever for the level of snooker they can produce.<\/p>\n

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Mark Selby won the UK Championship this season, his 10th Triple Crown title (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018He\u2019s probably the most underrated player in the game by the general public who don\u2019t watch enough snooker to realise how talented he is,\u2019 Davis said on the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think he\u2019s top three standard ever. Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Selby. The actual standard. Mark Williams is in there as well. But an astonishing standard he [Selby] can produce, relentless stuff and once he\u2019s in the zone, what a player.<\/p>\n

\u2018But as we know, getting in the zone for this best-of-19 first round, which seems incredibly short a distance compared to the 25, which is your reward, it\u2019s tough out there, you can panic.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan is the consensus GOAT of snooker (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Selby is looking for a fifth world title this year, starting his campaign against Jak Jones on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

If he can beat the Welshman then his reward is a meeting with 22-year-old Chinese star Wu Yize, who looked in sparkling form as he beat Lei Peifan in his opener.<\/p>\n

Wu\u2019s compatriot, the reigning world champion Zhao Xintong, is a player who some believe could break into the greatest of all time debate at some point in his career.<\/p>\n

The Cyclone has just one world title to his name at this point, but Hendry thinks he can win many more in the years to come.<\/p>\n

On claims that Zhao can take the game to another level, Hendry told Metro of the 29-year-old<\/strong>: \u2018I just think it\u2019s his sheer scoring power. I think it\u2019s on another level, to even the likes of Judd [Trump] and Selby,\u2019 said the seven-time world champion.<\/p>\n

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Zhao Xintong is favourite to win the world title for a second time this year (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I mean, they\u2019re obviously heavy scorers, these top players, but he\u2019s winning almost one in every two frames in one visit. It\u2019s just frightening scoring and I just think it\u2019s not going to drop.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think the way he plays, the attitude he has \u2013 maybe he\u2019s not the competitor that the likes of O\u2019Sullivan or Higgins are, in terms of being scraped off the table if he\u2019s not playing well \u2013 but just the form he\u2019s on, I think he\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n

\u2018I just think he doesn\u2019t look like he hurts from a loss as much as I did, or Higgins, or O\u2019Sullivan. Williams doesn\u2019t show it, but he\u2019s always gutted to lose.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s what I mean by that sort of competitor. Because when I lost, it was be-all and end-all. It felt like the end of the world when I lost in the UK or the World, these big ones. But it doesn\u2019t seem to be like that for\u00a0Zhao Xintong.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think you either have that or you don\u2019t, that\u2019s what I mean. He\u2019s maybe not the sort of hardened competitor that the big legends of the game down the years have been.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t think it really bothers him. I think it makes him more dangerous.\u2019<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Neil Robertson reveals why he fancies chances of improving odd Crucible record<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Shaun Murphy wants answers over Crucible light gaffe: \u2018That should never happen\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Jak Jones learned the hard way about snooker rage with broken hand<\/span><\/p>\n
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The Table<\/h4>\n

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Steve Davis names top three snooker players of all time by ‘actual standard’
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#Steve #Davis #names #top #snooker #players #time #actual #standard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six-time world champion Steve Davis puts Mark Selby among the greatest ever (Picture: Getty Images)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6918,6784,324,235,1765,4326,4941,86,89],"class_list":["post-7667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-actual","tag-davis","tag-names","tag-players","tag-snooker","tag-standard","tag-steve","tag-time","tag-top"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2213294133_1776855404-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}