Moment of the Month: May: Neil Robertson finishes the season with 103 century breaks

We're almost halfway through my moment of the year countdown as I look back on the best snookering moments of 2014 on a monthly basis. Today we go back to May for a moment that certainly grabbed the snooker public's attention throughout the season and that is Neil Robertson's century of centuries. Here are my thoughts:

May of course saw the end to the 2013/2014 season and a beginning to the 2014/2015 season at the back end of it, which meant there was one stand out achievement that deserves the heavy credit and recognition that it was given by the snooker community, and that is Moment of the Month for May – Neil Robertson’s 103 century breaks in the 2013/2014 season.

To achieve something such as a century of centuries is something so astounding to us now that it’s particularly hard to put into words. When you consider that the previous for best for centuries in a season is around 40 less than this, it shows how out of the ordinary and unexpected it was that somebody could make that many centuries in a season. The record setting moment came during the World Championships at the Crucible with the Australian hitting his hundredth hundred during his quarter-final game against Judd Trump. The moment came as one of relief (having missed several chances between 99 and 100, particularly in the final session against Mark Allen where he broke down in the 90’s on two occasions) and huge celebration to Neil who had had his eyes on the milestone for some considerable amount of time, along with his father who was constantly ringing him up to keep tabs on how he was doing.

A further three centuries in his May World Championship semi-final against Mark Selby set the new centuries in a season record at 103, but the real moment of celebration, not only for Neil but for all of his fans and snooker fans as a whole who had been keeping a track on his run to the line for some time. I had believed in fact that he would certainly get close to the ton of tons from as early as the previous December where he was already into the 50’s post UK Championships. If his form continued and he went deep in tournaments throughout the rest of the season (which he did) then surely a century of centuries would be close.

The question now is: Will anyone get close to make 100 centuries in a season again? Well, it’s not impossible as Neil Robertson showed but it would have to be one of the very top players that entered all of the ever growing number of events on tour and made the latter stages in a great amount of them. As the standard of snooker grows though and centuries become more common, and the milestone has been achieved now, players like Judd Trump will believe that if they can play well all the way through a season that they too can come close to making their own fantastic moment as they reach a century of centuries in a season.

Has that made you hungry to look back on more of 2014's best snooker moments? Then be sure to come back in a days time where i'll reveal moment of the month for June.