By Elliott West
“To be honest, over the last two or three months I’ve had dreams about winning a tournament. When I’ve woken up, I’ve been absolutely distraught. After Chris Wakelin beat my highest break in the Shoot Out, which I wasn’t happy about, I said to my friend that normally means something good is around the corner. It certainly was”.
Ali Carter
Introduction
Ali Carter is no stranger to adversity, someone who has battled and survived testicular and lung cancer and lives day to day with Crohn’s disease. To be precise, a player who harks from a hotbed of snooker, Essex, Colchester even has a professional pilot’s license. Despite staring down the barrel of adversity, Carter is a survivor and at only 43 years of age, still continues to bounce back, a man with a lengthy endurance fuse. Despite slipping out of the top 16 in recent years, Ali remains that player on the tour that would probably not want to be drawn against. He is dangerous and gutsy and is quite capable of a good run in any tournament.
Fighting Back
Ali Carter’s return to form has been highly influenced by his close friendship with Peter Ebdon. Peter who encouraged him to go on a vegan diet to help manage his Crohn’s disease, has also been mentoring the player to help him with his game. Key to this development has been improving his mindset and bringing a breath of fresh air to his game. Carter has already shown what a great player he is, having reached two world championship finals, losing both to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2008 and 2012. Losses that still propelled him into the top 8 for a period of time, rising to number 2 in the rankings in 2010.
Carter, like Jack Lisowski, has often been accused of choking in a match, running out of petrol at the crucial moment. However, this player, nicknamed ‘The Captain’ has never lost his fighting spirit and determination to win. A quality that dates back to his junior days and the reason he made it onto the main tour in 1996. Up until recently, he had already won the 2009 Welsh Open, 2010 Shanghai Masters, 2013 German Masters and the 2016 World Open. So it was only a matter of time before this great player would again bubble to the surface and win another trophy.
Seizing the Opportunity
With many of the top 16 players failing to qualify for this year’s German Masters and Ronnie O’Sullivan declining to enter, this was the perfect moment for Ali Carter to pounce. Some were tipping Jack Lisowski to win this as his maiden title but Jack sadly tumbled in the last four, missing a crucial red to allow Tom Ford to take his place in the final. Carter who had already won in Berlin in 2013, produced some sublime snooker in the final. His opponent Tom Ford looked like a shadow of his former self and made too many mistakes when he was given the opportunity. Carter was frankly all over him and Ford couldn’t stop drowning in his pool of negativity.
Carter made it look easy and produced a 10-3 win. A victory that was inspired by a Whitney Houston track Step by Step that he had been listening to prior to the final. It certainly worked because he produced eight half-centuries and one century in the final. This victory pushes him up to 15th in the rankings, a rise of eight places and he now takes pole position in the race to win the £150,000 BetVictor Series bonus at the end of the Welsh Open. Ali must be ecstatic, he is now £80,000 better off for winning the German Masters and has already qualified for Llandudno, taking his prize money to £122,000. In his first match, he faces amateur Ian Martin.
Afterthoughts
Ali Carter’s victory in Berlin ends a seven-year title drought and what a way and place to end it. I have a feeling that much of this success has been down to working with Chris Henry, a man who can perform snooker miracles on players in his corner when it counts. His programme is of course secret but whatever he says and does with anyone he works with in any sport works. Thanks to a great team and the love and support of his partner Lee, Carter is again treading the success boards and it frankly feels good. Watch out because Ali Carter is back!
