Dennis Taylor

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Dennis Taylor (disambiguation) .

Dennis Taylor
Dennis Taylor in 2004
birthday	19th January 1949 (age 71)
place of birth	Coalisland , County Tyrone
nationality	Northern Ireland
professional	1972 - 2000
Prize money	1,426,294 pounds sterling
Highest break	141 ( Matchroom Professional Championship 1987 )
Century Breaks	80
Main tour successes
World championships	1 ( 1985 )
Ranking tournament victories	2 ( Grand Prix 1984 ; WM 1985)
World rankings
Highest WRL place	2 ( 1979/80 )

Dennis Taylor (* 19th January 1949 as Denis Taylor in Coalisland , County Tyrone , Northern Ireland ) is a Northern Irish snooker player and commentator. Taylor became a professional player in 1972 and achieved his best world ranking in the 1979/80 season with second place in the world list. In 1985 he defeated the Englishman Steve Davis on the last black ball in the so-called match of the century - the final of the snooker world championship 1985 - and thus won the snooker world championship for the only time.

Especially in the 1980s, Taylor played among the world's best. Its results stagnated at the end of the 20th century. He ended his professional career in 2000. In the next season he was still on the world rankings, but did not play any more games. After his career ended, he became a snooker commentator for the BBC , having appeared on various TV shows during his active career.

Career

Beginnings as an amateur and first professional years

Taylor started playing snooker when he was nine. Five years later he won the local adult championship. In 1966 he moved to England near Blackburn and in 1968 won the national U19 championship in English Billiards . Before his career as a snooker player, Taylor worked in a paper mill .

At the age of 23, Taylor took part in the North English snooker championship in 1972 , where he failed after defeating Ron Swift in the quarter-finals at what would become professional Ray Edmonds . In the same year he became a professional player for the 1972/73 season. Because of the small number of tournaments, he only played his first professional game as part of the 1973 World Snooker Championship - the most important tournament of the tour - against the one year older Canadian Cliff Thorburn , which he lost 8: 9 in the last frame . The next season, the Norwich Union Open was another tournament for him, where he won his first professional game as part of the first edition 4-1 against Alwyn Lloyd . In the subsequent round of 16, however, he failed to Alex Higgins , the 1972 world champion from Northern Ireland. At the snooker world championship he lost his opening game with 1: 8 against the Welshman Marcus Owen .

1974–1977: Establishment on the tour

He reached his first finals in the 1974/75 season . At the beginning of the season he defeated at the Canadian Open , which later under the name Canadian Masters were held, including Alex Higgins , before the final at the Canadian Cliff Thorburn 6: failed. 8 After an opening defeat at the Norwich Union Open , he reached the final at Pot Black - in which only one frame was played per game - after surviving the group phase and a semi-final victory over eight-time world champion Fred Davis . Here he lost, however, with 27:81 on points against Graham Miles . At the Snooker World Championship he defeated Perrie Mans , Gary Owen and again Fred Davis before failing in the semifinals at the Australian Eddie Charlton . At the end of the season he was invited to the Pontins Professional , a tournament sponsored by Pontins , where he lost his opening game against the eventual finalist and world champion John Spencer . At the end of the season, an Order of Merit was drawn up for the first time , which was calculated from the results of the last three World Championships and should serve as a seeding list for the next World Cup. Taylor finished ninth ahead of Cliff Thorburn. In May he also took part in the Pontins Spring Open - a pro-am event also sponsored by Pontins , in which professionals and amateurs took part - where he lost to Paul Medati in the round of 16 .

The next season began with the Canadian Open , where he failed this time in the quarterfinals to Alex Higgins. In Pot Black he reached the final again, where he had to admit defeat this time to John Spencer . He then got the opportunity to take part in the Masters , but where he lost his opening game against John Pulman . The Masters was later to be considered a Triple Crown tournament alongside the World Snooker Championship and the UK Championship introduced in 1977 . In the snooker world championship , he managed a victory over Gary Owen, before failing the quarter-finals at eventual world champion Ray Reardon . At the end of the season he took part again in the Pontins Professional , where he lost his opening match against Ray Reardon 4-7. At the end of the season, the order of merit from the previous year was replaced by the first world rankings . Taylor retained ninth place there too. In May 1976 he took part again in the Pro-Am event Pontins Spring Open, where he failed in the quarterfinals against Willie Thorne from England .

At the beginning of the 1976/77 season Taylor lost his opening match at the World Professional Matchplay Championship , which was later also known as World Matchplay , against the Australian Paddy Morgan before he was eliminated at Pot Black in the group stage. After another initial defeat at the Masters , he reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship with wins over Jack Karnehm , Perrie Mans and Doug Mountjoy , where he was defeated by Cliff Thorburn with 16:18. At the Pontins Professional , he was also eliminated from the group stage at the end of the season. In the world rankings, thanks to participation in the semi-finals at the World Cup, they managed to jump to fourth place behind world champion Reardon, John Spencer and Australian Eddie Charlton . At the beginning of May he took part again at the Pontins Spring Open, where he defeated the future professional Mike Hallett , among others , before failing in the semifinals against Welsh Terry Griffiths .

1977–1981: First participation in the World Cup finals in 1979 and establishment among the world's best

At the start of the 1977/78 season Taylor reached the semifinals of the Canadian Open , where he was defeated by three-time world champion John Spencer . After an opening defeat in the newly introduced UK Championship , in which only British players were eligible to participate until the opening in 1984, he played against Alex Higgins in the final of the Irish professional championship , against whom he lost the second edition of the tournament with 7:21. He then lost his opening games at the Masters and the Irish Masters , which would remain on the tour for several decades, again against Alex Higgins, before losing his opening match against Fred Davis in the round of 16 of the World Snooker Championship . After Taylor was eliminated in the group stage by the Pontins Professional and Pot Black , he won the Golden Masters , a tournament that was played only twice , after a semi-final defeat by Doug Mountjoy, the game for third place with 3-0 against Graham Miles . Due to the early defeat at the World Cup, Taylor lost four places in the world rankings, so that he was listed in eighth place for the coming season. In the amateur area, he made it to the quarterfinals at the Pontins Spring Open, where he was eliminated from the amateur Steve Davis , who was to become a professional player at the beginning of the next season.

The next season began for Taylor with an opening defeat at the UK Championship before he failed at Holsten Lager International in the quarter-finals to Graham Miles. He then finished second in the group at Bombay International behind John Spencer . At the Snooker World Championship he then defeated Steve Davis, Ray Reardon and John Virgo , so that he moved into the World Cup final. He met the Welshman Terry Griffiths , who also surprisingly made it into the World Cup final. For large parts of the final, the game was evenly balanced, but at 15:15, Griffiths took the lead and won his only world championship with 16:24. At the end of the season, he also lost his opening match at the Golden Masters , but this had no influence on the fact that Taylor had climbed to second place in the world rankings thanks to his participation in the World Cup finals. For him this remained the best world ranking of his career.

After a year of abstinence, Taylor took part at the start of the 1979/80 season again in the Canadian Open , where he had to admit defeat to Kirk Stevens in the quarterfinals . He then defeated Willie Thorne and Patsy Fagan at the UK Championship before being defeated by John Virgo in the semi-finals. After being eliminated in the group stage of the Bombay International , he survived the group stage at Pot Black , but then lost in the semifinals against Eddie Charlton and in the game for third place against Doug Mountjoy. After an opening defeat at the Classic , which became a ranking tournament in 1985 , against Alex Higgins, Taylor survived the group stage of the Tolly Cobbold Classics , but in the final of the tournament he was again defeated 4-5 by Alex Higgins. After an opening defeat at the Masters against Ray Reardon and the elimination in the group stage of the Irish Masters , he reached the semi-finals of the British Gold Cup after surviving the group stage - the forerunner of the British Open , in which he had to admit defeat to Ray Reardon. Taylor then met Alex Higgins in the fight for the Irish professional championship , but this time Taylor won his first Main Tour title at 21:15. Shortly afterwards he lost his opening game in the main round of the World Cup against Jim Wych , before moving into the final at Pontins Camber Sands after victories over world champions Cliff Thorburn and Doug Mountjoy, where he lost 7: 9 to Alex Higgins. Due to the renewed early defeat at the World Cup, Taylor lost four places in the world rankings and ended up in sixth place. In the amateur area, Taylor won the Pro-Am event Pontins Camber Sands Open with a 7-5 victory over Geoff Foulds .

At the start of the next season , Taylor failed with only one win without a fight in four games in the group stage of the Champion of Champions , another invitation tournament , so that he only won his first real game of the season in the subsequent UK Championship with 9: 6 against Eddie Sinclair . Then, however, he was defeated in the quarterfinals Terry Griffiths . Shortly thereafter, Taylor reached the final at the Classic after victories over Terry Griffiths and Ray Reardon, but lost this 4-1 to Steve Davis. After an opening defeat at the Masters , Taylor failed in the quarter-finals of the Irish Masters to Alex Higgins, before losing again to Steve Davis in the semifinals of the Yamaha Organs Trophy . Then he was able to defend his title at the Irish professional championship against Patsy Fagan with a victory in the decider - with 22:21. In the subsequent World Cup main round , he lost after beating Kirk Stevens in the quarterfinals against Doug Mountjoy , who would later lose to Steve Davis in the final. In his opening game at the end of the season in Prestatyn he met Mountjoy and Taylor lost again - this time 4-5. On the world rankings Taylor was able to improve by one place to 5th place. In May he took part in the Pontins Spring Open for the last time , but where he lost his opening match against Cliff Wilson .

1981–1984: Relegation to the lower top 16

At the start of the 1981/82 season Taylor reached the final of the International Open after victories over Rex Williams , John Virgo and Dave Martin , which he clearly lost with 0: 9 against Steve Davis . But then Taylor lost five opening games in a row, including the UK Championship and the Masters , before defeating the successful youngsters Jimmy White and Tony Knowles at the Tolly Cobbold Classic before he had to admit defeat to Steve Davis again in the final. After Taylor was eliminated in the semifinals group at the International Masters , Taylor won the final of the Irish professional championship with 16:13 against Alex Higgins after a white wash over Tommy Murphy . At the Irish Masters , Taylor lost to Ray Reardon in the quarter-finals before losing his opening match in the main round of the World Cup to South African newcomer Silvino Francisco with 7:10 . At the end of the season he lost - as in the previous year - his opening game against Doug Mountjoy at the Pontins Professional . Because of his defeat by Francisco in the first main round of the World Cup, Taylor lost eight places in the world rankings, so that he should be listed in 13th place in the next season. This was important insofar as at the beginning of the following season not only the World Cup was rated as a ranking tournament, but also other tournaments - such as the International Open - were upgraded to ranking tournaments and thus the world ranking should be used as a seeding list for these tournaments as well.

After a semi-final defeat at the Scottish Masters , which for years was part of the main tour as an invitation tournament , at the beginning of the next season Taylor reached the quarter-finals at the International Open , in which he had to admit defeat to John Virgo . Shortly afterwards he moved to the second round of the last sixteen at the Professional Players Tournament - the second new ranking tournament - where he lost to Jimmy White and was eliminated from the tournament. At the UK Championship Taylor reached the round of 16 after defeating Jim Meadowcroft , where he was defeated by Terry Griffiths . After two opening defeats against Steve Davis at the Classic and the Tolly Cobbold Classic as well as a defeat in the qualifying group for the International Masters , he defeated the Irish Billy Kelly and Patsy Fagan at the Irish professional championship before losing 11:16 to world champion Alex Higgins in the final and thus gave up the title of best Irish professional after three years. Then Taylor lost his opening game at the Irish Masters , before he lost at the World Snooker Championship after a 10: 9 win over Silvino Francisco in the round of 16 against eventual world champion Steve Davis. At the end of the season Taylor took part again in the Pontins Professional , where he failed in the semifinals to Ray Reardon . On the world rankings Taylor was able to keep his thirteenth place because of his quarter-finals at the International Open.

The 1983/84 season began for Taylor with an opening defeat at the Australian Masters , which was held as a small invitation tournament shortly after the start of the season, before he failed at the International Open in the second round to Cliff Thorburn. After a defeat in the opening match at the Professional Players Tournament , which was later a ranking tournament for a long time as a Grand Prix , Taylor finished second in the Professional Snooker League behind John Virgo. After a round of 16 participation at the UK Championship , he reached the quarterfinals at Pot Black , in which he lost to Willie Thorne . After two further defeats at the beginning and a winless elimination in the qualifying group of the International Masters , he reached the semifinals of the Irish Masters , in which he had to admit defeat to the Welsh Terry Griffiths in the Decider . At the end of the season he won the World Snooker Championship over Joe Johnson , John Parrott and Doug Mountjoy , before failing in the semifinals to Steve Davis, who won his third world title shortly thereafter. Through this semi-finals, Taylor was able to improve to 11th place in the world rankings.

Successful years 1984–1986 and winning the match of the century in 1985

The 1984/85 season began for Taylor with two opening defeats at invitation tournaments in Australia and New Zealand, before he won the Costa Del Sol Classic after victories over Murdo MacLeod and Joe Johnson with a 5-2 victory over Mike Hallett . The next tournament - the International Open - also got off to a good start for Taylor with victories over Danny Fowler and Joe Johnson when he learned of the unexpected death of his mother Annie at the age of 62 before the quarter-final game against Silvino Francisco. Shaken by this, he gave up without a fight and at times lost all interest in snooker.

Taylor was about to cancel the next tournament - the world rankings Grand Prix - when his family convinced him to compete and play for his late mother. Despite the grief, he defeated John Virgo , Ray Reardon , Kirk Stevens and Neal Foulds , among others , so that he was in the final. There he defeated the Canadian Cliff Thorburn with 10-2 and won his first ranking tournament. He then reached the round of 16 of the UK Championships , but lost to Tony Knowles . There followed two defeats in the beginning before he moved into the quarter-finals at the British Open , where he had to admit defeat to Kirk Stevens. After an opening defeat at the Irish Masters , he also won the Irish professional championship back with a 10: 5 over Alex Higgins after victories over Jackie Rea and Eugene Hughes .

At the end of the season he also showed top form at the Snooker World Championship when he knocked Silvino Francisco 10: 2, Eddie Charlton 13: 6, Cliff Thorburn 13: 5 and in the semifinals Tony Knowles 16: 5 out of the tournament and even the World Cup Final reached. Furthermore, Taylor won together with Alex Higgins and Eugene Hughes 9: 7 against the English team around Steve Davis , Tony Knowles and Tony Meo the World Cup .

1985 World Cup Final: The Match of the Century

→ Main article : 1985 World Snooker Championship # final

Taylor's Opponent Steve Davis (2010)

In this World Cup final, he met Steve Davis , who had already won three World Championships at this point. Taylor quickly fell 8-0 before Steve Davis missed a green in the ninth frame and lost the thread. Taylor took the chance and caught up to 7: 9. On the second day, Taylor managed another frame gain before Davis increased to 8:11. After Taylor equalized, Davis managed to take the lead at 11:14 and 12:15. Taylor then equalized before Davis took the lead again - this time at 15:17 - and thus only needed one frame for the third World Cup title in a row.

But Taylor equalized with a 42 and a 57 break to 17:17. In the Decider, both players played - according to Davis - as if they were playing in a working men's club "for the price of a piece of cake and a pint". Davis managed to take the lead with 62:44, with only 22 points left on the table. By punching the colors brown, blue and pink, Taylor came up to 59:62, so that only the black ball was on the table.

After two shots to nothing from Taylor and a safety from Davis, Davis failed the second safety so badly that Taylor had the chance of a hole success. But Taylor failed so badly that Davis had a simple push on the table, Taylor sat in his chair and closed his eyes. But to the disbelief of all viewers, Davis - fearful of playing the push too thick - played too thin and missed. Taylor came to the table and punched the black at about 12:20 a.m. local time, so that he won the frame, thus the game and the snooker world championship. The game would later go down in snooker history under various names such as match of the century , match of the century , black ball decision and others, as in addition to the viewers at the Crucible Theater , almost 18.5 million people watched BBC2 .

By winning the World Cup, Taylor reached fourth place in the world rankings. At the same time, about a week after the World Cup final, Barry Hearn , Steve Davis' longtime manager, and his company Matchroom Sport signed him. Taylor particularly benefited from the contract with Matchroom, as he was now invited to Matchroom tournaments such as the World Series . Ian Doyle later became Taylor's manager.

1985/86 season: The season as world champion

Due to his World Cup success in Sheffield, Taylor was invited to more invitation tournaments in the next season , which was immediately noticeable at the beginning of the season: After a semi-final defeat against Doug Mountjoy at Pot Black , Taylor reached the final of the Thailand Masters , where he beat him 4-0 Terry Griffiths succeeded (the Thailand Masters later became a ranking tournament). After three initial defeats in invitation tournaments, he reached the semi-finals of the Matchroom Trophy , where he was defeated by Cliff Thorburn.

He then reached the next final of a ranking tournament at the Grand Prix , in which he met Steve Davis again. Again the match went into the decider, but Davis won in the end with 9:10. At the invitation tournament Canadian Masters he won over John Parrott and Ray Reardon , before he met Steve Davis in the final for the second time in a row. This time again Taylor was luckier and won 9: 5. In the subsequent UK Championship , Taylor continued his winning streak until he lost to Englishman Willie Thorne in the semifinals .

But shortly afterwards he defeated the Englishman Fred Davis and Terry Griffiths again at the KitKat Break for World Champions , so that he was again in a final against Steve Davis. Taylor was better again and won this final 9: 5. After a round of 16 defeat at the Classic and an opening defeat at the Belgian Classic - both times against Alex Higgins - he reached the quarter-finals at the Masters , in which he was defeated by Jimmy White . After two defeats in the beginning Taylor lost with a 6:10 defeat against Mike Hallett in the first main round of the snooker world championship and his world title, which he also succumbed to the " Curse of the Crucible ".

At the end of the season, Taylor won the Irish professional championship with a 10-7 win over Alex Higgins after victories over Billy Kelly and Tommy Murphy . In the world rankings, he rose to third place despite the opening defeat at the World Cup - behind Steve Davis, who had lost a World Cup final for the second time in a row (this time against Joe Johnson ) and the Canadian Cliff Thorburn - the world rankings. At the end of the season Taylor also won the World Cup with Alex Higgins and Eugene Hughes for the second time in a row , this time 9: 7 against the Canadian team consisting of Cliff Thorburn , Kirk Stevens and Bill Werbeniuk .

1986–1989: Success at invitation tournaments

Right at the beginning of the 1986/87 season Taylor reached the final of the Australian Masters , where he was able to defeat Steve Davis 3-2. After an opening loss and a semi-final defeat he reached the fourth tournament back one final time that the only two times the discharged Malaysian Masters , however, where he met with 1: 2 against Jimmy White lost. Directly in the opening match of the next tournament - the Hong Kong Masters , which was held as an invitation tournament for several years - he retaliated before Taylor failed in the final with 3: 8 to Willie Thorne . But Taylor ended the series of final defeats when he defeated Jimmy White 8: 3 in the subsequent Carlsberg Challenge in the final. After a semi-final defeat at the Matchroom Professional Championship , he reached the round of 16 in the first two ranking tournaments - International Open and Grand Prix - in which he always lost.

After an opening defeat at the Canadian Masters and an early loss in the second round of the UK Championships , Taylor reached the semi-finals of Pot Black , which he lost to Kirk Stevens . At the start of the new year he then took part in the Matchroom League , which was also exclusively for Matchroom players, without success , shortly before he suffered an opening defeat at the Classic . This was followed by the Masters , in which Taylor moved into a Northern Irish final with Alex Higgins by winning over Neal Foulds , Silvino Francisco and Cliff Thorburn . Despite a 5-8 lead from Higgins, Taylor won 9-8 in the end, his second Triple Crown title after the 1985 World Cup . Shortly thereafter, he won by a 9-2 win over Joe O'Boye for the third time in a row and for the sixth time overall the Irish professional championship .

Then he reached the quarter-finals of the British Open before coming to an early defeat at the Kent Cup , which in China held , in the semifinals of was Irish Masters lost to Willie Thorne. At the end of the season Taylor lost in the round of 16 of the World Snooker Championship after defeating Welsh Mark Bennett against Neal Foulds. Nevertheless, due to his relatively poor results in ranked tournaments (for example, the Masters was an invitation tournament, so it had no impact on the world rankings ), he lost five places in the world rankings for the next season and ended up on rank 8. Taylor also won the World Cup together with Alex Higgins and Eugene Hughes for the third straight title; In a new edition of the previous year's final, they defeated Canada 9-2.

The next season began for Taylor with a win in an invitation tournament: In the final of the Tokyo Masters he defeated Terry Griffiths 6: 3. After a semi-final defeat by Steven Davis at the Hong Kong Masters and an opening defeat at the Scottish Masters , he won another invitation tournament with an 8: 5 win over Joe Johnson with the Carling Challenge , which was on the Main Tour under different names until 1988. After an early loss to Martin Clark at the International Open , he won the Matchroom Professional Championship with a 10-3 win . Shortly afterwards he reached a ranking tournament finals again after two years at the Grand Prix , but lost that with 7:10 to Stephen Hendry . Furthermore, Taylor lost together with Cliff Thorburn in the final of the World Doubles Championship against Mike Hallett and Stephen Hendry. He then won his fourth invitation tournament within a season at the Canadian Masters , before he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Classics after participating in the round of 32 of the UK Championship . After participating in the Matchroom League , Taylor lost his Masters title with an opening defeat, he was succeeded by Steve Davis, who was to win all Triple Crown tournaments in one season for the first time this season. Shortly thereafter, he also lost his Irish Professional Championship title when he was defeated by Jack McLaughlin in the final . After two restrained tournaments Taylor was eliminated at the end of the season in the round of 16 of the Snooker World Championship when he was defeated by the Maltese Tony Drago . Despite his participation in the final at the Grand Prix, Taylor slipped two more places to 10th place in the world rankings.

The 1988/89 season began for Taylor with a semi-finals participation in the Hong Kong Masters , before he failed at the International Open in the quarterfinals to Steve Davis. After two restrained tournaments, he moved into the final at the Matchroom Professional Championship , also a Matchroom tournament , in which Steve Davis lost 7:10. Shortly afterwards he reached another ranking semi- finals at the Grand Prix , in which, however, lost 1: 9 against Steve Davis. After a quarter-final defeat by Jimmy White at the ranked Canadian Masters , he moved into the quarter-finals at the UK Championship , where he lost out to John Parrott. This was followed by a quarterfinal participation in the World Matchplay and a semi-final defeat by Steve Davis at the Norwich Union Grand Prix (which was again a tournament sponsored by Norwich Union for a long time ) before he had to admit defeat to Steve Newbury from Welsh in the second main round of the Classic . He then lost his opening match at the Masters and moved into the second main round of the European Open , which was the first ranking tournament held on mainland Europe, in which he was defeated by Welsh Doug Mountjoy . Shortly before the end of the season in Sheffield, Taylor lost two opening games in a row; as part of the snooker world championship he managed to win over the Irish Eugene Hughes before he was eliminated in the round of 16 against John Parrott . Parrott then made it to the World Cup final against Steve Davis, but lost it 3:18 - which Steve Davis set the record for the highest win in a final when he last won the World Cup. Thanks to his renewed successes, Taylor made it to eighth place in the world rankings.

1989–1992: last main tour successes

The 1989/90 season began for Taylor with a quarter-finals participation in the Hong Kong Open after he had lost his opening match at the New Zealand Masters invitation tournament . After two defeats in opening games, Taylor moved into the round of 16 at the International Open , where he lost to Brian Morgan . Shortly thereafter, Taylor suffered another opening defeat, but then he only reached the quarter-finals at the Grand Prix and the second round at the UK Championship , in which he had to admit defeat to Dean Reynolds and Mike Hallett . After participating in the quarter-finals at the World Matchplay invitation tournament and unsuccessfully participating in the Matchroom League , he reached the second main round at the Classic , in which he was defeated by Tony Drago from Malta in the decider . Shortly thereafter, he lost his first match at the Masters before he made it to the round of 16 at the British Open . Shortly after another opening defeat - this time at the European Open - he reached the final of the Irish Masters by defeating Cliff Thorburn , Alex Higgins and Jimmy White , which he lost to Steve Davis 4: 9 . Despite this final participation in an invitation tournament, Taylor failed in the first main round of the Snooker World Championship to Neal Foulds , who defeated him with 8:10. Due to his mixed results, Taylor slipped back to 10th place in the world rankings. Furthermore, Taylor had to admit defeat during the season together with Alex Higgins and Tommy Murphy in the final of the World Cup to the Canadian team with Cliff Thorburn, Alain Robidoux and Bob Chaperon .

After a subdued start to the next season , Taylor reached the round of 32 of the Grand Prix , where he was eliminated by Gary Wilkinson . Shortly afterwards he reached a ranking tournament final after three years at the Asian Open after victories over, among others, Nigel Bond , Neal Foulds and Tony Chappel , but lost this 3: 9 against world champion Stephen Hendry . After two opening defeats, including the UK Championship , he won another game at the Classic before being eliminated in the second main round. Then Taylor took part unsuccessfully in the Matchroom League before he lost the round of 32 in the men's individual competition at the World Masters and there against Darren Morgan . After an opening defeat at the Masters , Taylor then reached the quarter-finals at both the British Open and the European Open , where he had to admit defeat first Stephen Hendry and then Tony Jones . At the Irish Masters Taylor managed the third and last victory in his career over Stephen Hendry (there was also a draw in 17 games), but in the subsequent semifinals he was defeated by John Parrott , who was to win the World Snooker Championship only shortly afterwards . There Taylor wins over Joe Johnson and Tony Jones, before failing in the quarterfinals to Steve Davis. On the world rankings Taylor improved one place to 9th place.

The 1991/92 season began slowly before Taylor reached the quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Challenge (a new tournament , therefore not to be confused with the Hong Kong Masters and the Hong Kong Open), in which he was defeated by Stephen Hendry . After two more defeats in his opening matches, he reached the semi-finals in the Senior World Championship - which was only accessible to older players - in which he was defeated by the Australian Eddie Charlton . Shortly afterwards he made it to the quarterfinals at the Dubai Classic , which was the first ranking tournament in the Middle East, where he lost to Tony Knowles . After an opening defeat at the Grand Prix , he reached the second main round at the UK Championship and the quarter-finals at the World Matchplay , which was also the second round in this invitation tournament. After an opening defeat at the Belgian Challenge , he only reached the round of 32 at the Classic and shortly afterwards the round of 16 of the Asian Open , where he failed 5-0 to Steve Davis. After an opening defeat at the Masters , he first reached the round of 16 at the Welsh Open and then made it into the round of 32 at the British Open . Two tournaments followed with subdued results before he reached the round of 16 at the European Open and the quarter-finals at the Irish Masters invitation tournament . In the snooker world championship he suffered an opening defeat against Mick Price before Taylor reached the end of the season after victories over Dermot McGlinchey and Stephen Murphy the semi-finals of the Irish professional championship , where he failed to Joe Swail . On the world rankings he fell out of the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time in eight years, and for the new season he was listed on rank 11.

1992–1995: Crash to world number 32

After a quarter-final defeat by Stephen Hendry at the beginning of the 1992/93 season , Taylor reached the round of 16 at both the Dubai Classic and the Grand Prix . After participating in the round of 32 of the UK Championships , he won just one game in the following three tournaments - including losing his opening match at the Masters . It was not until the European Open that Taylor found his old strength back and moved into the round of 16 with wins over Anthony Harris and Mike Hallett , but where he failed to Stephen Hendry. After an opening defeat, he reached the round of 32 at the Asian Open , before he also lost his opening games in two other tournaments. Only at the end of the season in Sheffield did he win games again. With a 10: 9 win over Tony Drago and a 13:11 win over Terry Griffiths , he moved into the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Jimmy White , who moved into the final for the fourth time in a row and lost there for the fourth time in a row. On the world rankings Taylor slipped four more places to 15th place.

The next season , Taylor's results worsened. So he won - in addition to a game at Pot Black - only a game at the UK Championship , of all things 9: 3 against Alex Higgins , before he was defeated by Tony Drago. This was followed by another victory at the European Open , where he lost to Steve Davis in the round of 16, and an opening defeat at the Welsh Open . His biggest success of the season was at the Masters , where he had to compete for the first time with his 15th place in the wildcard round, where he defeated the youngster and later five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan with 5-1. He then managed a victory over Willie Thorne before he was defeated in the quarterfinals by Neal Foulds . The resulting 18,000 pounds sterling should make up just under 40% of total season revenue for Taylor at the end of the season. After the Masters, he still won his opening games at the International Open and British Open , but lost in the subsequent round. He also lost his opening match at the Thailand Open and at the end of the season, the World Snooker Championship . As a result, his world ranking position collapsed, he lost nine places and landed on rank 24. In the following season he was therefore no longer directly qualified for the main rounds of the ranking tournaments, but had to qualify in advance.

The 1994/95 season began for Taylor with a 5-0 win over Mark King in qualifying for the Dubai Classic , before he failed in the first main round of Peter Ebdon . After an opening defeat at the Grand Prix , Taylor reached the round of 32 of the UK Championship before taking another opening defeat. In the new year he reached another tournament final after five years with victories over Jimmy White , Willie Thorne and Terry Griffiths in the Charity Challenge - an invitation tournament. There he met Stephen Hendry, who defeated Taylor 9-1. For Taylor this defeat was also his last participation in the finals on the Main Tour. In the following four ranking tournaments Taylor made the jump to the main round, but each time he was eliminated - three times in the decider. At the end of the season, however, he lost his qualifying match for the World Snooker Championship against Anthony Davies with 2:10 , so that he missed a World Cup main round for the first time since 1974, when he lost to Marcus Owen in the first round . This was one of the signs that Taylor's professional career was drawing to a close. In the world rankings he was just able to stay in the top 32, he finished 32nd in the world rankings for the coming season.

1995–1998: Brief upturn and subsequent downswing

The 1995/96 season began for Taylor with a main round at the Thailand Classic , where he was defeated by John Parrott . After an opening defeat at the Grand Prix , he reached the round of 16 at the UK Championship , before reaching the round of 16 at the Welsh Open after two opening defeats . In both tournaments, however, it was over there, at the UK Championship he lost to Ken Doherty and at the Welsh Open to John Parrott. In addition, he then reached the round of 32 three times (at the International Open , the European Open and the British Open ), with an opening defeat in between at the Thailand Open . At the end of the season Taylor did not reach the main round of the World Snooker Championship for the second time in a row , he lost his decisive qualifying match against Rod Lawler . Nevertheless, Taylor worked his way up again for the first time in five years through the two round of 16 appearances, he finished 26th in the coming season.

The next season started much worse for Taylor with two opening defeats, so that he only won his first game in the UK Championship against Peter Lines , where he then lost to Ken Doherty, who was to win his first world title at the end of the season. After another opening defeat, he moved into the round of 32 at both the Welsh Open and the International Open , but where he lost both times. He also lost his opening matches at the next two ranking tournaments, with the Seniors Pot Black - a special format of Pot Blacks - reaching the semi-finals, which he lost to Joe Johnson . At the British Open Taylor managed another move into a round of 32 before he missed the main round of the World Snooker Championship again at the end of the season with a 7-10 loss to Lee Walker . In the world rankings, he slipped out of the top 32 at the end of the season - he landed on rank 34.

In contrast to the previous season, the 1997/98 season started much better for Taylor . After an elimination in the pre-qualification for the Scottish Masters he reached the round of 64 at the Grand Prix by a 5-2 win over Jamie Woodman , in which he lost to Chris Small . He then reached the round of 32 at the UK Championship by defeating Wayne Brown and Steve James , in which he was defeated by Mark Williams . But in the following six tournaments, including the World Snooker Championship , Taylor lost his opening matches, so that he landed on the world rankings at number 52 and slipped out of the top 50. The last professional years began for Taylor.

1998–2000: last professional years

Against Allister Carter Taylor achieved his last professional victory

After a miserable start to the 1998/99 season with three opening defeats, Taylor moved to the UK Championship with wins over Wayne Jones and Gary Wilkinson in the round of 32, but where he failed to James Wattana . After three more defeats in his opening games, he won his third and last game of the season against David Coles at the China International , the later China Open . After a subsequent defeat against Peter Lines , he also lost his opening games in the last two tournaments of the season, including the World Snooker Championship . Shortly before the tournament, Taylor announced that he wanted to end his professional career with the 1999 World Cup after becoming more and more commentator due to the deteriorating results. In the course of the tournament, however, he decided to stay on the professional tour for another year. On the world rankings he fell another 35 places, he finished 88th in the world rankings in the next season.

After all, the next season started a little better with a white wash over Peter McCullagh at the British Open , but then lost in the Decider to Mick Price . But the negative streak from last season continued: In the following five tournaments Taylor could not win a single game. It wasn't until he qualified for the Thailand Masters that he won another game when he defeated Allister Carter 5-1. But he failed again in the next round in the decider, this time against Paul Davies . After suffering another opening defeat in World Cup qualification against Sean Lanigan , he lost at the Scottish Open in the round of 128 with 3-5 against Patrick Delsemme . This match should be his last professional game. With the end of his 29th professional season Dennis Taylor ended his active professional career, in the course of which he was world champion and he was able to win 19 tournaments.

At the end of the 1999/2000 season, Taylor fell to 115th in the world rankings. For unknown reasons, he was also listed in the world rankings the following season, although he did not play a single game. At the end of the 2000/2001 season he was therefore listed on the 161st place in the world rankings.

From 2000: Further career

After appearing on The Kenny Everett Television Show in 1981 , Taylor appeared on several television shows during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, including A Question of Sport and Good Morning Britain . Furthermore, Taylor, who was elected to the board of the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association along with Steve Davis and others in 1998 , is one of the most sought-after snooker commentators for BBC Sport and has appeared in this role at the 2016 UK Championship and the 2016 World Snooker Championship as well as at Masters 2017 . However, he had to interrupt his work as a commentator at the 2016 World Cup due to an emergency operation to remove his appendix . In addition, Taylor regularly takes part in senior tournaments or exhibitions, but in which he can only record a moderate success and usually loses his opening games.

During the 2010 World Cup at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield , he played together with Steve Davis on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of their legendary 1985 World Cup final, to the delight of the audience, to the delight of the audience as an entertainment show.

In 2014 Taylor was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame as the second Northern Irishman after Alex Higgins - along with Cliff Thorburn .

Style of play

Taylor's style of play is described by the snooker journalist Hector Nunn, who wrote for various daily and Sunday newspapers, as "courageous and prudent". In his book "The Crucible's Greatest Matches" Nunn also lets Taylor's competitor Steve Davis have his say, who also describes Taylor's style of play as clever. Furthermore, Taylor, who according to Davis was clearly underestimated, worked a lot on his bumps in the run-up to the 1985 World Cup, so that they were no longer jerky but smooth. However, Davis also describes that Taylor played with a lot of self-confidence and was therefore considered a kind of street fighter.

Others

Taylor with similar glasses

Taylor's trademark, who has had problems with his eyes since childhood, is the fact that he wore glasses for the first time in the spring of 1983 and covers part of his face. By wearing these glasses, he was able to significantly improve his overview while playing. The glasses, which were designed and manufactured by ex-snooker player Jack Karnehm , improved his overview while playing.

In general, Taylor was always a fun player and one of the entertainers on the tour and thus a popular player. However, in Alex Higgins he had an enemy who openly wished him dead. The reason for this was that Higgins was a Protestant and Taylor was a Catholic, with the dispute in the time of the Northern Ireland conflict . That dispute escalated in 1990 when Higgins, after losing a Nations Cup game in relation to Taylor, said he would have to shoot him (Taylor) if he returned to Northern Ireland. Then both players met at the Irish Masters 1990 . This game was previously referred to by the media as a "hate duel", and numerous fans from both camps came to the Irish kill. After Taylor beat Higgins 5-2, Higgins apologized for his choice of words.

Taylor lives with his wife Louise in Welsh Llay near Wrexham , where Taylor is a house owner since 2003. His son Damien is a professional golf coach.

Works

In 1986 his autobiography Frame by Frame was published .

• Dennis Taylor: Frame by Frame . Futura Publications, England 1986, ISBN 978-0-7088-3148-9 , pp. 168 .

successes

→ Main article : Dennis Taylor / Achievements

During his career, Taylor reached the final of a tournament or second place in 47 cases. While a list of all of the finals is on this page , the following is a list of his three finals at the Triple Crown tournaments .

output	year	competition	finalist	Frames
finalist	1979	World Snooker Championship	Terry Griffiths	16:24
winner	1985	World Snooker Championship	Steve Davis	18:17
winner	1987	Masters	Alex Higgins	8: 9

Web links

Commons : Dennis Taylor  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dennis Taylor in the snooker Database (English)
• Profile of Dennis Taylor at CueTracker
• Profile at World Snooker
• Profile at snooker.org
• Dennis Taylor in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Dennis Taylor - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2019 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Dennis Taylor. World Snooker , June 11, 2015, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
3. ↑ Tinker, Tailor… Snooker Player? In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , May 31, 2019, accessed February 16, 2020 .  
4. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1971-1972 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2019 .  
5. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1972-1973 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2019 .  
6. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1974-1975 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2019 .  
7. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1974-1975 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2019 .  
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Chris Turner: Historical World Rankings. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on June 8, 2012 ; accessed on March 2, 2019 .  
9. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1974-1975 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
10. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1975-1976 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
11. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1975-1976 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
12. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1976-1977 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
13. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1976-1977 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
14. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1977-1978 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 3, 2019 .  
15. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1977-1978 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
16. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1978-1979 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
17. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1979-1980 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
18. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1979-1980 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2019 .  
19. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1980-1981 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
20. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1980-1981 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
21. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1981-1982 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
22. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Dennis Taylor. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
23. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1982-1983 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
24. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1983-1984 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
25. ↑ ^{a b c} Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1984-1985 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2019 .  
26. ^ ^{A b c d} Hector Nunns: The Crucible's Greatest Matches - Forty Years of Snooker's World Championship in Sheffield . Pitch Publishing, Worthing 2017, ISBN 978-1-78531-284-7 , pp. 67-78 .
27. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chris Turner: World Cup / World Team Classic / Nations Cup - Team Events. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2011, archived from the original on January 7, 2012 ; accessed on May 12, 2019 (English).  
28. ↑ Steve Davis : Interesting . 1st edition. Dragonstars Eventmanagement, Fürth 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-053061-6 , p.  208-214 (English: Interesting . Ebury Press, London 2015.).
29. ↑ Steve Davis : Interesting . 1st edition. Dragonstars Eventmanagement, Fürth 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-053061-6 , p.  217 (English: Interesting . Ebury Press, London 2015.).
30. ↑ ^{a b} Davis leads fight for change. British Broadcasting Corporation , December 23, 1998, accessed August 27, 2019 .  
31. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1985-1986 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 4, 2019 .  
32. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1986-1987 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 5, 2019 .  
33. ↑ Chris Turner: World Doubles Championship - Non Ranking Event. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2008, archived from the original on January 7, 2012 ; accessed on May 12, 2019 (English).  
34. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1987-1988 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 5, 2019 .  
35. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1988-1989 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 5, 2019 .  
36. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1989-1990 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 6, 2019 .  
37. ↑ Ron Florax: Head-to-Head: Dennis Taylor Vs Stephen Hendry. CueTracker.net, accessed March 6, 2019 .  
38. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1990-1991 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 6, 2019 .  
39. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1991-1992 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 6, 2019 .  
40. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 6, 2019 .  
41. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 6, 2019 .  
42. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1994-1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 6, 2019 .  
43. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1995-1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 7, 2019 .  
44. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1996-1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 7, 2019 .  
45. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1997-1998 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 7, 2019 .  
46. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1998-1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 7, 2019 .  
47. ↑ ^{a b c} Chris Turner: Player Profile: Dennis Taylor. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2009, archived from the original on January 12, 2012 ; accessed on May 12, 2019 (English).  
48. ↑ Ron Florax: Dennis Taylor - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 7, 2019 .  
49. ^ Snooker: Dennis calls time on great career. Belfast Telegraph , March 29, 2000, accessed May 22, 2019 .  
50. ^ ^{A b c} Dennis Taylor - Biography. Internet Movie Database , accessed March 7, 2019 .  
51. ↑ David Yound, Cate McCurry: Snooker hero Dennis Taylor is rushed to hospital for urgent surgery to remove his appendix. Belfast Telegraph , April 23, 2016, accessed May 17, 2019 .  
52. ^ Dennis Taylor - All Available. snooker.org, accessed March 7, 2019 .  
53. ↑ Simon Briggs: World Snooker 2010: Dennis Taylor backing Steve Davis to roll on at the Crucible Theater. The Telegraph , April 26, 2010, accessed March 30, 2019 .  
54. ^ O'Sullivan named Player of the year. World Snooker , May 8, 2014, accessed March 7, 2019 .  
55. ↑ ^{a b} Carsten Scheele: 111 reasons to love snooker . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf , Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86265-607-3 , pp. 79 .
56. ↑ Hugo Kastner: Humboldt Ratgeber Snooker - Players, Rules & Records . Humboldt Verlag , Baden-Baden 2006, ISBN 978-3-89994-098-5 , pp. 37 ( google.de ).
57. ^ ^{A b} Victoria Williams: Weird Sports and Wacky Games around the World . Greenwood, Santa Barbara 2015, ISBN 978-1-61069-639-5 , pp. 289 .
58. ↑ Carsten Scheele: 111 reasons to love snooker . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf , Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86265-607-3 , pp. 91 .
59. ↑ Carsten Scheele: 111 reasons to love snooker . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf , Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86265-607-3 , pp. 169-170 .

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 23, 2019 .