Every snooker season produces its share of first-time ranking event winners, but the 2025/26 campaign has been exceptional. Three players—each with a wildly different backstory—broke through to claim their maiden titles, and their stories tell us something important about the breadth of talent in the modern game.
Jack Lisowski — the long wait ends
Jack Lisowski had been described for years as the best player never to win a ranking event. Tipped for stardom since winning Junior Pot Black at the Crucible aged 15, the Cheltenham man turned professional in 2010 and quickly established himself as one of the most naturally gifted players on the tour. But ranking finals proved to be his undoing. He lost his first six—three to best friend Judd Trump, two to Neil Robertson, and one to Mark Selby.
The 2025/26 season brought personal tragedy when Lisowski’s father passed away in March 2025, forcing his withdrawal from the World Grand Prix. When the Northern Ireland Open final arrived in October, it was Trump standing across the table once again. In a match where neither player led by more than one frame, Lisowski held his nerve in the decider to win 9–8 and finally lift a ranking trophy—15 years after turning professional. His emotional dedication to his late father resonated far beyond the sport.
Wu Yize — China’s next star arrives
If Lisowski’s breakthrough was long overdue, Wu Yize’s was a glimpse of the future. The 23-year-old Chinese player had been steadily climbing the rankings but remained outside the world’s top 20 heading into the International Championship in Nanjing. What followed was a statement performance: Wu defeated four-time world champion John Higgins 10–6 in the final to become the ninth different mainland Chinese player to win a ranking event.
The victory lifted Wu from 22nd to a career-high 13th in the world rankings, placing him inside the top 16 for the first time. Playing in front of a home crowd in China, Wu showed composure and break-building quality that marked him out as a genuine contender for years to come. At just 23, he has time on his side—and a growing Chinese contingent around him to push his development further.
Alfie Burden — the ultimate fairytale
And then there is Alfie Burden, whose story reads like fiction. The Londoner first turned professional in 1994—more than 30 years before his maiden title. A former schoolboy apprentice at Arsenal whose football career was ended by a broken leg, Burden switched to snooker and spent decades as a journeyman professional, never climbing higher than 38th in the world. He retired in 2020, returned via Q School in 2021, and was relegated from the main tour again in April 2025.
Burden was about to jump into a swimming pool when he noticed a missed call from the World Snooker Tour. Alex Clenshaw had withdrawn from the Snooker Shoot Out, and Burden was offered a last-minute spot as a top-up amateur. He drove four hours up the M1 to the Tower Circus in Blackpool and proceeded to win all seven of his single-frame matches, defeating Stuart Bingham in the final. The day before his 49th birthday, Burden became the oldest maiden ranking event winner in snooker history, surpassing Doug Mountjoy’s record from 1988. His celebration—leaping onto the table—captured the sheer disbelief and joy of a moment 31 years in the making.
Three very different players, three very different paths, but a shared theme: persistence. In a sport that can be brutal in its demands on patience and mental fortitude, the breakthroughs of Lisowski, Wu Yize, and Burden remind us that in snooker, timing isn’t everything—but when your moment finally arrives, you have to be ready to take it.
