By Elliott West
“I’VE PLAYED SNOOKER ALL OF MY LIFE AND I DON’T REALLY HAVE THAT PASSION FOR ANYTHING ELSE. SO ULTIMATELY IF THE OPPORTUNITY WAS AVAILABLE TO GO DOWN THE PUNDITRY AND COMMENTARY ROUTE I’D GO FOR IT. THAT WOULD BE MY DREAM REALLY, IF I COULD NAIL THAT DOWN I’D JUMP AT IT”.
Joe Perry
It’s tough at the top of the snooker elite and for Joe Perry, there’s no exception. The top 16 feel the pressure the most and are constantly under the media microscope, judging their performances and results in the snooker calendar. Perry had an uneventful last season and is determined to improve as the new season opens with the Championship League later this month. The player from Wisbech, a market town in Cambridgeshire is now 46 and has now set himself an ultimatum, saying that if he doesn’t improve, he would pull the plug and retire.
Joe is no exception in making this statement and we have seen players in the past, carry out their threat with Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry realising that their game had gone and only the Scot has decided to reverse his decision after citing boredom off the main tour. Perhaps this is a temporary blip in Joe Perry’s snooker career with John Higgins and Mark Williams going to the brink of retirement but finding form when they needed it most.
Sink or Swim?
Perry’s performance hasn’t been helped by the absence of last season’s void of snooker crowds and this silence caused him to turn up and perform as if he was playing down his local club. Going into a match, not practice fit, is never a good sign and when you are expected to win a match, defeat is always a bitter pill to swallow. In snooker, you have to be constantly switched on and if that lightbulb dims, the particular player is definitely in hot water.
Thankfully this smouldering touch paper will be lit again on 19 July when players travel to the Championship League at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. An area of the country that has produced players such as Willie Thorne and Mark Selby. With the mouthwatering prospect of the return of the British Open after a seventeen-year absence in August and a new tournament, the Turkish Masters at the end of September, this could be the zing required to put the sting back into Perry’s tail.
Now ranked number 20 in the world rankings, Joe Perry is far from the career drowning stage and results like reaching the last eight of last season’s UK Championship and failing to qualify for the 2021 World Championship after a shock defeat to Jamie Clarke 6-2, definitely do not reflect the true class of this quiet but dangerous player.
Perry is one of the less celebrated ‘Class of ‘92. Unlike the celebrated players such as John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, Perry seems to live in their shadows but should not be ignored as part of the cream of the crop. A clear gentleman in the sport and a breeze that will gather momentum this season.
