Paul Wykes

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Paul Wykes
birthday 15th April 1971 (age 49)
nationality EnglandEngland England
professional 1991-2007
Prize money £ 167,050
Highest break 141
Century Breaks 23
Main tour successes
World championships -
Ranking tournament victories -
Minor tournament victories -
World rankings
Highest WRL place 56 (1999/2000)

Paul Wykes (born April 15, 1971 ) is an English snooker player from Bournemouth . From 1991 he was active as a professional on the Snooker Main Tour for 16 years .

Career

Beginnings and top 64

When the professional tour was opened to all players in 1991 , Paul Wykes began his snooker career. In his first tournament, the 1991 Grand Prix , he narrowly missed the last round of 128. At the subsequent Benson & Hedges Championship he succeeded for the first time, but it was not a ranking tournament. At the British Open he finally made it to a tournament for points for the world rankings . His first placement after the season was 235. This saved him a few qualifying rounds. In his second year he finished in the bottom 128 three times, including at the UK Championship . Against opponents such as Alex Higgins , Gary Wilkinson and Drew Henry , however, he drew the short straw. In the 1993/94 season he defeated players like Peter Lines and Euan Henderson and at the Thailand Open he defeated Nick Terry for the first time a top 64 player and also reached the last 64 for the first time at the tournament. The following year came he was among the last 128 in the first three tournaments, but he lacked consistency over the season. The best result at the 1995 British Open was the Round of 96 after a 5-0 win over Matthew Couch . In the world rankings he was on the threshold of the top 100 after five years.

The 1995/96 season then began with his greatest success to date. At the Thailand Classic he defeated Cliff Thorburn , Terry Murphy and Jason Ferguson and was in the wildcard round before moving into the main tournament of the last 32, but lost 4-5 to local amateur Praprut Chaithanasak. At the Welsh Open and the International Open , he came under the last 64 and again defeated players like Cliff Thorburn and Nick Terry. At the Benson & Hedges Championship 1996 Wykes reached after defeating Joe Perry for the first time the round of 16 of a professional tournament without top 16 players. At the International Open he defeated a young Paul Hunter and with Rod Lawler a top 32 player and only lost in the round of 16 against world number two John Higgins . At the British Open 1997 he won against Joe Johnson and Neal Foulds and lost in the round of 32 to world champion Stephen Hendry .

For the 1997/98 season the professional tour was then split in two, but the Englishman had no problem qualifying for the main tour . The professional tournaments now had fewer participants and fewer rounds, but he was able to maintain his level and reached the round of 32 in three tournaments. At the Grand Prix he defeated Fergal O'Brien and lost to Tony Drago . At the German Open 1997 he was successful against Paul Hunter and again against O'Brien before the world number one Hendry again gave him no chance. At the Scottish Open , Peter Ebdon ended up defeating Rod Lawler . In 1998, he rose to the top 64 in the world for the first time. The following year was not so successful, only once, at the Thailand Masters , he reached the last 48. After all, he reached the last 64 four times. He also got this far for the first time at the World Cup , and because it was the highest-ranking tournament, he could even improve to 56th place in the world rankings. He defended this place in the 1999/2000 season . The highlight was the UK Championship , where he reached the round of 16 after victories over Gary Wilkinson and Mark King . Then, for the third time in his career, Stephen Hendry was unbearable for him.

Second half of your career and farewell tour

This season was the highlight and turning point in his career. The following year there was again only one top 48 placement at the Welsh Open 2001 as the best result and many first round defeats. The following year he didn't lose a single opening game, but he didn't get very far either. It wasn't until the World Cup that he had a sense of achievement again. He defeated, among others, Peter Lines and Bradley Jones and only Dominic Dale prevented in the round of the last 48 his entry into the final round at the Crucible Theater . Nevertheless, after this season he finally dropped out of the top 64 again. In the 2002/03 season he reached the Round of 48 twice: at the UK Championship and the Irish Masters . The following year, he reached the quarter-finals at the Masters Qualifying Event, the successor to the Benson & Hedges Championship. Stuart Pettman and Jamie Burnett were two of the players he beat there. In the ranking tournaments he only got past round 3 once, at the LG Cup , where he lost to Pettman in the round of 64. In the world rankings, he stagnated at number 70.

The 2004/05 season began Wykes with three opening defeats. At the Malta Cup he came back under the last 48. In the World Cup he also reached the round of 48 for the second time after three 10: 9 wins over Stefan Mazrocis , Gary Wilkinson and Robin Hull , but this time he missed against Drew Henry again moving into the Crucible. In doing so, he prevented the loss of his professional status via the one-year rating. The following year saved him the two major tournaments, the UK Championship 2005 and the World Championship 2006 , where he reached round 3 each. Once again, the one-year ranking tipped the scales after he did not return to the top 64. However, this time he lost all points from the previous season under a new rule and he had to start from scratch. In the seven ranking tournaments of the season, however, he came only once, at the Malta Cup , beyond the first round or the preliminary round. He only finished 93rd among the 96 professionals and lost his professional status after 16 years on the Main Tour at the age of 36.

Because of the crisis in snooker at that time, only the top players were able to make a living from their sport, and so Wykes had already built up a professional existence beforehand. In 2007 he ended his professional career and dedicated himself to the profession. Twice in the following years he took part in the pre-qualification of the amateurs for the world championship, but did not make it into the main qualification. Because the conditions in snooker had improved again in the 2010s, he took part in the Q School again in 2013 at the age of 42 , where he could qualify for the Main Tour. In the second tournament he came after wins over Chris Wakelin and Jeff Cundy to the final of his group. Due to the 4-0 defeat against the Swiss Alexander Ursenbacher , he gave away the tour ticket. For the third tournament of the Q School he did not take part.

successes

Ranking tournaments:

Other professional tournaments:

Qualifying tournaments:

swell

  1. ↑ a b c Profile of Paul Wykes on CueTracker (as of January 25, 2018)
  2. ↑ Dave H: When the Curtain Falls. Snooker Scene Blog, February 26, 2007, accessed January 25, 2018 .
  3. ↑ The Benson & Hedges Championship was a ranked tournament in 1996, but with a reduced number of points (minor ranking tournament)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wykes, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English snooker player
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1971