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Berlin is brilliant for snooker, no question about it.
Having spent so much of my life travelling to famous European cities for football or events as big as the Olympic Games or Ryder Cup, it’s felt so special to come here for snooker.
I’ve always been fixated on sporting venues and what I love about the Tempodrom, home of the German Masters, is that it impresses on both the outside and inside.
‘The place knows how to do proper snooker noises’
The building in the centre of Berlin, just half a mile from Checkpoint Charlie, resembles a giant circus tent and could hardly look more distinct.
Once inside the arena, you’re struck by the sheer grandeur. It’s big and bold architecturally. And it feels so gladiatorial, especially when you’re down to just one table over the final weekend.
I’m pretty sure that the more casual snooker fan would regularly struggle to identify a tournament venue within a minute or two of switching on their television to watch an event. That simply isn’t the case with the Tempodrom. You know what you’re watching instantly. That’s priceless with any form of entertainment.
The atmosphere is terrific too, helped by the fine acoustics. Everyone will tell you about the clapping and cheering, but I loved the murmuring. A delightful low hum. Now I think about it, the gasps are first class too. The place knows how to do proper snooker noises.
Runner-up Barry Hawkins is so impressed, he thinks the venue could host a triple crown tournament in future. Winner Kyren Wilson loves it here too and thinks it’s time this event saw the top 16 qualify automatically, with a maximum of two tables in operation at any given time.
Not everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet, mind. Mark Allen has complained about the lighting in the arena in the past and after his second-round exit, suggested on social media that he might not return to play in the tournament again under current conditions.
Other players have pointed out how distracting it can be during the earlier stages, when a number of tables at different angles surround the main television table.
I take all that on board – and I’m not having to play out there – but to my mind watching on, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages a thousand times over.
I agree that the Tempodrom could host a more prestigious event too, even though the venues for the World Championship and Masters are successful and much loved, while the UK Championship is obviously unlikely to move overseas.
Being in Berlin and witnessing the pure passion of fans has added to my lament that we’ve lost other tournaments in mainland Europe.
The European Masters was last held in the German city of Nuremberg 18 months ago. In recent times, the event also went to Romania, Belgium and Austria. Now the tournament seems to have quietly disappeared.
It’s the same for the Riga Masters, which hasn’t been seen since before the Covid pandemic. The Gibraltar Open went in 2022.
The message I heard from fans during my time in the German capital was loud and clear – they want their tournaments back.
I get that money talks in sport, but not to the extent that it shouts everything else down. If it was only about the bottom line, the German Masters may not have survived beyond the first two or three editions. What happened to the bigger picture?
It feels galling to many snooker lovers in all parts to hear those in charge of the sport talk about “globalisation” when events in mainland Europe are taken away.
Beyond setting up shop in Saudi Arabia, which is essentially a money grab dressed up with flowery language, where’s the real evidence of globalisation? It doesn’t feel convincing.
I can’t end by being negative though. That feels all levels of wrong after such a glorious snooker experience.
Walking into the cold Berlin night after Sunday’s final, I felt such a warmth about the game I’ve adored all my days.
Long may snooker be played at the Tempodrom. So much that’s still timelessly good about the sport is writ large there.
Unstoppable Wilson continues to shine as world champion
The final between Hawkins and Wilson in Berlin was everything you could want and more. A top tussle that had us guessing about the result all day and ended with both players receiving a standing ovation after an exhausting finish at gone midnight.
I can’t believe there was anybody present who didn’t feel sorry for Hawkins after he lost the deciding frame. But Wilson continues to grow in stature in front of our eyes.
The history of the sport is littered with first-time world champions who have struggled the season after. Their new status has seen them shrink. Wilson has been the opposite. He’s embracing his time as Crucible winner and running with it.
German Masters Champion!
Unbelievable atmosphere, amazing crowd, thank you to all the fans for your support!
See you soon! pic.twitter.com/4W6sJ906Xf
— Kyren Wilson (@KyrenWilson) February 3, 2025
What I’m maybe most impressed with is that Wilson is not even having a bad patch. He won the Xi’an Grand Prix in August. He followed that up with success at the Northern Ireland Open in October.
The Englishman reached the UK Championship semi-finals in November and then the Masters final last month. Now he’s a tournament winner again at the start of February.
It’s unstoppable stuff and you can’t escape the feeling that this could be the strongest chance we’ve had in some time that a player can defy the “Crucible Curse” in Sheffield come the spring.
“What’s the point of reaching the pinnacle of the sport and letting it destroy you?” Wilson said here over the weekend. “I’m prepared to reach the pinnacle and let it make me.”
Wilson is proving to be a quite outstanding world champion. And he won’t want this to be the last trophy going into his cabinet this season.
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