Trump and Selby warned as organisers advised over Masters conditions | Other | Sport
Snooker legend Steve Davis has accused the tables at the Masters of not being level. Shaun Murphy and Wu Yize were the first players to kick off the 2026 edition of the Triple Crown event.
In the third frame, the Chinese star played an eye-catching pot when he skimmed the side of the pink into the left corner, by the black, along the cushion. It was the kind of impressive shot which brings a round of applause from everybody inside Alexandra Palace. However, Davis, who knows his way around every inch of a top level snooker table, became suspicious by the ease in which Yize made what is a difficult shot.
After looking into the spin and direction of the pink, Davis warned the likes of Murphy, Yize, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and the rest of the 16 players there is something off with the tables. Davis, while speaking on the BBC, said:”I don’t want to put a downer on everything.
“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.”
After pointing out what he feels is an issue, he then advised 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, but this looks like it’s not level.”
Trump faces Ding-Jun Hui on January 14th. The Chinese star is the No. 12 ranked player, while Trump will be the favourite as a result of his status as the current World No. 1.
Meanwhile, Selby will be in the evening session at Ally Pally, facing China’s Guodong Xiao. Last year, Selby was beaten by Mark Allen in the quarter-finals of the competition, while Trump’s tournament was brought to an end by Kyren Wilson in the semi-final.
