The German Masters is a professional
ranking
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...
snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...
tournament held at the
Tempodrom
The Tempodrom (also referred to as Neues Tempodrom) is a multi-purpose event venue in Berlin.
Founded by Irene Moessinger, it opened in 1980 next to the Berlin Wall on the west side of Potsdamer Platz, housed in a large circus tent. After sever ...
in Berlin, Germany since 2011, except for 2021, when it was held at
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
in England because of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. An earlier ranking event, the German Open, was held in Germany from 1995 to 1997. This was followed by an invitation event, called the German Masters, in 1998. The reigning champion is
Kyren Wilson
Kyren James Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering. He has won 10 ranking titles.
Wilson made his professional tour debut in the 2010–11 snooker season, 2010–11 season after finishing fif ...
.
History

The tournament started as the German Open and was a
ranking tournament from 1995 to 1997. The first event was played in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
in December 1995, replacing the
European Open in the December place in the calendar, the European Open being moved to early 1996.
The tournament involved the top 16 players in the world ranking who were joined by 16 qualifiers and 4 wild-card players. The four lowest ranked qualifiers played the wild-card players, winning all their four matches and advancing to the last-32.
[ ]John Higgins
John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by num ...
met Ken Doherty
Kenneth Joseph Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From Ranelagh in Dublin, he is the sport's only World Snooker Championship, wor ...
in the final. The match was level at three frame each before Higgins won the next six frames to win 9–3 and take the first prize of £40,000. Higgins made a break of 139 in the final to also win the high break prize of £5,000.[
The 1996 event was again held in December, at the British military base at ]Osnabrück
Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...
. Only 16 players competed in Germany. The final qualifying round in which the top-16 seeds played 16 players from earlier qualifying rounds was played in Preston, Lancashire
Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...
in November.[ ]Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...
met Alain Robidoux
Alain Robidoux (born July 25, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Robidoux played on the sport's main tour from 1987 to 2004 and reached the final of the 1996 German Open, which he lost 7–9 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Career
R ...
in the final, winning 9–7. O'Sullivan led 7–3 before Robidoux won the next four frames to level the match at 7–7. O'Sullivan then won the next two frames to win the match, finishing with a break of 108. Robidoux took the high break prize for a break of 145 in the final.[
The 1997 event was held in ]Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein () is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
The settlement's original name was Bingium, a Celtic languages, Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the ...
using the same format as in 1996. The final qualifying round was held in Hereford
Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...
in September.[ ]John Higgins
John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by num ...
met John Parrott
John Stephen Parrott (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player who won the 1991 World Snooker Championship. He came to prominence in the mid to late 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 14 ...
in the final, Higgins led 5–3 lead after the first session and then won the first three frames in the evening session to lead 8–3. Parrott won frame 12 but Higgins finished the match with a break of 105 in the next frame, winning the first prize of £50,000.[ In 1998 the event was again held at Bingen am Rhein but became an invitation event with 12 players competing. The name of the tournament was changed to German Masters. The winner received £25,000 with all 12 players guaranteed a minimum of £5,000.][ ]John Parrott
John Stephen Parrott (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player who won the 1991 World Snooker Championship. He came to prominence in the mid to late 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 14 ...
beat Mark Williams 6–4 in the final. Williams led 4–3 but Parrott won the next three to win the match.[ The event then was discontinued, but returned for the 2010/2011 season as a ranking tournament.
The revived tournament has been held at the ]Tempodrom
The Tempodrom (also referred to as Neues Tempodrom) is a multi-purpose event venue in Berlin.
Founded by Irene Moessinger, it opened in 1980 next to the Berlin Wall on the west side of Potsdamer Platz, housed in a large circus tent. After sever ...
in Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
since the 2011 edition. The trophy was named after former World Snooker Tour
The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...
director Brandon Parker in 2021. The event had traditionally been run as a five-day event (from Wednesday to Sunday) with the format being a flat-128 player draw and the first two rounds played as qualifiers away from the venue sometime before the main event. The format received occasional criticism over the years, but the 2023 German Masters
The 2023 German Masters (officially the 2023 BetVictor German Masters) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 1 to 5 February 2023 at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany. Organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by sports ...
received notable criticism as a result of many top players failing to reach the main stages of the tournament and Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...
withdrawing before his first round qualifying match. This led to only four players ranked inside the top 16 appearing in the main draw, two of whom failed to progress beyond the Last 16.
Following those criticisms and with support of the promoter SnookerStars.de, the World Snooker Tour confirmed that the televised stages of the tournament were to be increased from its normal five days to the traditional seven days.
Winners
See also
* Paul Hunter Classic
The Paul Hunter Classic is a non-ranking snooker tournament. It changed from a ranking event to a 16-man invitational event in 2019. From 2010 to 2015 it was part of the Players Tour Championship. Barry Hawkins is the reigning champion. After los ...
* Sport in Berlin
Berlin is a major sporting centre in Germany and Europe. In 2013 around 600.000 Berliners were registered in more than 2.300 amateur sports- and fitness clubs.
Berlin has established a high-profile reputation as a host city of international spor ...
Notes
References
{{Snooker tournaments
Recurring sporting events established in 1995
1995 establishments in Germany
Snooker ranking tournaments
Snooker competitions in Germany
*