Beating Ding Junhui this season has proved to be a blessing and a curse, with a victory over the Chinese legend leading to immediate defeat next time out.
Remarkably, in all 12 events Ding has lost in this season, the player who beat him has gone no further than the next round.
In fact, the run goes back into last season, with the last person to knock Ding out of an event (before the final) and win their next round being Robbie Williams at the 2024 Welsh Open in February last year.
This has happened as early as Ding losing in qualifying rounds, all the way to big quarter-finals.
It has struck down names as renowned as Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy so no one appears to be immune from the curse.
The only time this season that the curse’s terrible power has not been felt was when nobody beat Ding and he won the International Championship in November.
Murphy addressed the hex on the onefourseven podcast, considering whether there is something to it or just a matter of coincidence and deciding on the latter.
The Ding Junhui Curse
How the curse has struck in the 2024/25 season so far.
Shanghai Masters
QF: Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-3 Ding Junhui
SF: Judd Trump 10-3 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Xi’an Grand Prix
Rd 1: Alfie Burden 5-4 Ding Junhui
Rd 2: Xu Si 5-4 Alfie Burden
Saudi Arabia Masters
Rd 5: Stuart Bingham 5-4 Ding Junhui
Rd 6: Mark Williams 6-2 Stuart Bingham
British Open
Rd 1: Aaron Hill 4-3 Ding Junhui
Rd 2: Mark Allen 4-1 Aaron Hill
Wuhan Open
Rd 4: Chris Wakelin 5-3 Ding Junhui
Rd 5: Judd Trump 5-4 Chris Wakelin
Champion of Champions
Rd 1: Judd Trump 4-0 Ding Junhui
QF: Neil Robertson 6-4 Judd Trump
UK Championship
Rd 2: Shaun Murphy 6-5 Ding Junhui
QF: Barry Hawkins 6-2 Shaun Murphy
Scottish Open
Rd 3: Luca Brecel 4-3 Ding Junhui
QF: Xiao Guodong 5-1 Luca Brecel
Riyadh Season Snooker Championship
QF: Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-0 Ding Junhui
SF: Mark Allen 4-2 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Masters
QF: Judd Trump 6-3 Ding Junhui
SF: Kyren Wilson 6-3 Judd Trump
World Open
Rd 4: Shaun Murphy 5-2 Ding Junhui
QF: Joe O’Connor 5-1 Shaun Murphy
World Grand Prix
Rd 1: Xu Si 4-3 Ding Junhui
Rd 2: Hossein Vafaei 4-3 Xu Si
‘That’s incredible isn’t it. Now there are two possibilities. One, it’s a total coincidence and it means absolutely nothing. Which is the favourite,’ said the Magician.
‘Or there’s something in it. If there is something in it, it’s that beating somebody like Ding requires such an effort that you go into the next match just not quite at the same level.
‘It takes such an effort to beat someone as good as Ding Junhui, somebody as classy, so decorated in snooker, who has every shot in the book, been there and done it in every event, one of the greats, it leaves you weary on your feet. You’ve had such a battle that you go into the next match just a bit lower on your energy levels.
‘I think it means nothing. It’s just a massive coincidence.’
Next in line to try and beat Ding and then survive the curse will be Mark Williams at the Players Championship in Telford next week.
The three-time world champion takes on the Dragon on Monday night in the opening round of the 16-man event.
Unfortunately for the Welsh Potting Machine, it appears that victory would only mean a loss in the quarter-finals to Kyren Wilson or Mark Allen.
Can the curse be lifted and will the Telford International Centre be the location of snooker’s salvation? We shall see.
