The Welshman has done it all in the game, with three World Championships, 24 ranking titles and two Masters crowns on his CV guaranteeing that he will go down as one of the greatest to ever pick up a cue.
While he may protest it, he is certainly part of the trio of greats alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins in the Class of 92, the three kids who all turned pro 31 years ago and went on to become legends.
His resumé is immense, but what he is achieving right now is remarkable, producing brilliant stuff, competing with, and beating, the best on the planet as he approaches 50. This looked very unlikely a few years ago as he went from February 2011 to November 2017 without winning a ranking event, slipping down the rankings and considering retirement.
The Welsh Potting Machine turned things around spectacularly, working with SightRight coach Steve Feeney and close friend Lee Walker to get his game back to its best, winning the World Championship in 2018 and adding three more ranking titles since then.
He missed out on the World Championship final last year by a single frame and was narrowly beaten 10-8 in Sunday’s Masters final. It’s hard to argue against the winner of a tournament being the best player, but Williams played the most eye-catching snooker in both those events and turned in the most memorable performances.
The man who beat him at the Crucible and Alexandra Palace, Judd Trump, first played Williams in 2008 and thinks he is a far more difficult proposition now than he was 15 years ago.
‘I played him when I was 18 or 19 trying to qualify for Bahrain and in my opinion I felt it was an easier game back then,’ Trump said after the Masters final. ‘I felt I had a way better chance then than I do now.
‘In his head he thinks his best years are way behind him, but I don’t see anything wrong with his long-potting or anything like that.’
Williams will insist that he is comfortably past his best, which is hard to imagine given he equalled the record for most centuries in a single World Championship just last year, but Mark is adamant that at his age he simply must have dropped off. He is considering laser eye surgery to fix waning vision, for example.
What cannot be questioned, though, is that he is as entertaining now as ever and while he isn’t given the credit for having the gun-slinging, attractive style of an O’Sullivan or a Trump, he produces performances not to forget.
World Snooker Tour published a Top 10 Matches of 2022 and Williams was playing in no less than five of them. He didn’t win them all, in fact he only won one, but to be part of half of the 10 best games over a year says a lot about what the veteran is bringing to the table.
The defeat to Trump at the Crucible and to Neil Robertson in the Masters semi-finals, both in deciding frames, were declared the two finest matches of 2022 and Williams may well have the best two games of 2023 so far as well.
On his run to Sunday’s Masters final he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-5 in the quarter-finals, coming from 3-0 down to string together a number of big breaks and, for once, win a decider. His clash with Trump was one of the better big finals we have seen for a while and brought in fantastic viewing figures as snooker fans drunk in the fabulous scrap.
Just two days after that match, Williams was in Cheltenham for a match in the first round of the World Grand Prix. A best of seven on Tuesday afternoon against Jamie Jones could have been a comedown from Ally Pally, but he was stunning, making breaks of 104, 82, 100 and 121 in a spectacular 4-1 win.
Alan McManus said on ITV4: ‘His standard is such right now that I can’t even remember when he last turned in an iffy performance, he just will not play poorly.’
How is it that the wily old veteran is producing so many classic matches? Every top player is capable of playing immense snooker but there is something about Williams’ style that rustles up remarkable contests.
He plays unique shots. Often described as a ‘shot-maker’ he produces things that would not be in many textbooks. The underarm shot, the one-handed escapes from snookers, the more traditionally-played efforts but ideas and routes that few others would think of.
It’s an attacking style of play, taking on all sorts of shots from range because he has immense faith in his potting. However, it comes with the nous of three decades on tour that means he can shelve that and get stuck into a tactical battle as well.
What is as important as the style of play is the attitude Williams brings to the table. Famously unruffled by defeats, it gives him the freedom to play how he wants, but it is also thanks to how much he is loving this late stage of his career.
Ahead of that win over Jones in Cheltenham he said: ‘I’m enjoying it more because I know it’s coming to an end sooner or later.’
He was introduced for the match at Alexandra Palace on Sunday, 20 years after he last reached a Masters final, and it was obvious he was trying to make the absolute most of it, taking a moment to stop and give a little bow to the crowd during his walk-on.
Win or lose he is having a great time at the moment and the enjoyment he gets from snooker is being oozed into his matches for the fans to extract and take away for themselves.
Despite missing the chance of an unlikely third Masters title at 47 years old, he said: ‘Generally I think it was a great game, a great occasion, the crowd were unbelievable.
‘I left everything out there, there was nothing much more I could do, really. A couple of half chances, but not easy ones. I just loved every minute of it, the crowd, the arena, the occasion, brilliant.
‘Even when he was clearing up in the last I was looking around, enjoying every moment. I don’t know how many more times I’m going to get here, I loved every minute of it. Fingers crossed I can get back here next year. That’s the plan, but who knows.’
All this entertainment on the baize goes without mentioning the value he gives the fans in interviews, on social media, his dancing skills during matches and even an acting debut last year.
The way he is playing, Williams may well be back in the final at Alexandra Palace next year, and any number of finals between now and next January.
Whether he manages that or not is yet to be seen, but we can guarantee that the sport’s most reliable entertainer will provide plenty of memorable moments along the way. When the Welshman is playing, don’t miss it.
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