Steve Davis voices concern after The Masters incident – ‘That’s wrong’ | Other | Sport

Snooker icon Steve Davis levelled criticism at the Masters’ tables, suggesting they were not perfectly flat during Sunday’s matches. Reigning champion Shaun Murphy was ousted by Chinese sensation Wu Yize, but post-match discussions were dominated by concerns over the condition of the table.

Yize delivered a remarkable performance against world No. 7 Murphy at Alexandra Palace, swiftly securing a three-frame lead on Sunday afternoon. The 22-year-old ultimately emerged victorious with a 6-2 win. However, both this session and the evening session, which saw Mark Selby defeated by Xiao Guodong, were marked by comments about the ease of play on the table. This issue came to the forefront after the first frame when Davis voiced his concerns.

In a moment that highlighted the issue, Yize took a challenging shot with a red pinned against the top rail, aiming to cut the ball into the top-right pocket while holding a 68-11 lead. As he did so, the camera angle revealed the red closely following the cushion before dropping in.

Commentator Stephen Hendry noted how the red stayed incredibly close to the cushion before falling in, implying that the table was playing relatively easy and the pockets weren’t particularly tight. However, Davis had a different gripe, targeting the state of the table slate itself. While on punditry duty for the BBC, he suggested that fitters should examine the table’s level.

“It was concerning what happened at the top of the table with that red going in,” Davis commented after the first frame. “The table fitters need to look at that because that is wrong.”

Despite Yize’s resounding victory over Murphy, Davis continued to voice his concerns during the Masters. His worries re-emerged in the third frame when Yize executed another impressive shot with apparent ease.

“I don’t want to put a downer on everything,” Davis started. “But that pink along the cushion and the shot, the way we used to play it, he knows full well, the table is not effectively level at the top. It’s going to hug the top rail.”

Having pointed out what he saw as an issue, he also offered advice to the organisers: “I don’t know if they do, but the table fitters need to go out and check the level of the top slate.

“If those balls are hugging that top rail, then it’s going to make the game incredibly easy to make big breaks. It’s also wrong that a ball should go in that easily.

“It’s not so much the size of the pockets, which we had at the UK Open, which was nippy,” Davis clarified. “But this looks like it’s not level.”