Steve James (snooker player)

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Steve James
birthday 2nd May 1961 (age 59)
place of birth Cannock
nationality EnglandEngland England
professional 1986-2002, 2004-2006
Prize money £ 758,213
Highest break 143 (UK Championship 1999)
Century Breaks 72
Main tour successes
World championships -
Ranking tournament victories 1
Minor tournament victories -
World rankings
Highest WRL place 7 ( 91/92 )

Steve James (born May 2, 1961 in Cannock ) is a retired English snooker player . Between 1986 and 2006 he was active on the professional tour for a total of 18 years .

Career

Beginnings and rapid ascent

Steve James took in 1985 at the newly-introduced Pro Ticket Series of WPBSA to qualify for the pro tour in part. The following year he was admitted at the age of 26 and was allowed to take part in the major professional tournaments from the 1986/87 season . Initially he did not get past the second round, it was not until the English Professional Championship that he defeated, among others, old master Fred Davis and top 32 player Steve Longworth and made it to the second round. At the British Open he defeated the Australian John Campbell 5-1 and achieved his best result in a ranking tournament with the round of 32. At the beginning of the following season he defeated Campbell again at the International Championship , he reached the TV phase for the first time and made it to the round of 16. At the British Open , he repeated the previous year's result. But in between there were also some early defeats. He made his first big leap forward at the 1988 World Cup . He not only made it through the qualification, on his first appearance at the Crucible Theater he defeated the world rankings -12. Rex Williams and then even number 5 Joe Johnson . Only in the quarterfinals did he lose just 11:13 against Cliff Thorburn . After two years he had placed himself in the top 32. This saved him from qualifying for the ranking tournaments.

In the 1988/89 season he set up a new record at the beginning of the International Open in 1988 and reached the semi-finals. He defeated, among others, young star Stephen Hendry and only the world number one Steve Davis was able to stop him, albeit clearly with 9: 1. At the only non-European ranking tournament, the Canadian Masters he came into the quarter-final and four more times with the last 32. Also in the World Cup he was for the second time at the Crucible and lost narrowly with 9:10 against John Parrott . Overall, that brought him to 16th place in the world rankings. The next season started mixed. Two rounds of 16 faced two opening defeats. Only the Classic at the beginning of the new year was a new career highlight. In the second round he defeated the world number two John Parrott, in the semifinals he successfully took revenge on the number 1 Steve Davis and finally he also won his first final with 10: 6 against the Australian Warren King and secured his first professional title. However, it was also the only victory he achieved in a ranking tournament. He then made it to the semi-finals twice, at the British Open and the European Open . At the final World Cup he was set for the finals for the first time. In the first round against Alex Higgins he achieved the first official "16 Red Clearance" : He used a free ball as an additional red and then cleared the entire table with the 15 regular reds and all colors. In the tournament he reached the round of 16 and lost to Steve Davis. Despite the difficult start, he had improved to 9th place in the world rankings by the end of the season.

Career in the top 16

At the beginning of the 1990/91 season he successfully took revenge on Davis and beat his compatriot at the Scottish Masters 6-1. Shortly afterwards, he managed another victory over one of the top 3 at the Grand Prix : he defeated John Parrott 5-3. In both tournaments he reached the semifinals. This was followed by a weaker phase with first and second round defeats, including at the Classic and the British Open . He made it to the quarter-finals for the first time during his second Masters participation, and at least to the second round at the European Open . At the World Cup he came to the quarterfinals for the second time after a 13:12 over Dean Reynolds . There he played against defending champion Stephen Hendry. The Scot kept taking the lead, but James kept up. At 12:11 he took the lead for the first time and then finished to a 13:11 victory. He had beaten the top 3 in the world in one season. He was only unsuccessful against number 4: Jimmy White defeated him in the semi-finals 16: 9. It was the best World Cup result of his career. It put him in 7th place in the world, which was also his best career result.

Steve James had established himself in the top 16, but his performance remained unsteady. In addition to the health problems caused by diabetes, his alcohol and marital problems were to blame , which repeatedly set him back. At the small tournaments at the beginning of the following season there were early defeats again, but at the Scottish Masters he made it to the semifinals, including another win over John Parrott. He achieved the same result at the first ranking tournament of the season, the Dubai Classic . At the UK Championship , the Triple Crown tournament, in which he had always done the worst until then, he achieved his best result with 18 participations in the quarter-finals. At the Masters , however, he lost his opening match against qualifier James Wattana . More early defeats followed and at the World Cup he surprisingly lost his opening game against New Zealander Dene O'Kane with 9:10. The bottom line was that this meant a step backwards in his career and 10th place in the end of the season. At the end of the season, many professionals met in Wales at the Pontins Professional . There he reached the final and won the second title of his professional career with a 9: 8 win over defending champion Neal Foulds .

In the 1992/93 season he reached five ranking tournaments, including the UK Championship and the World Cup , the round of 16, but was also eliminated three times in the first round. He only achieved better results in invitation tournaments. At the Indian Masters he reached his third professional final and suffered his first final defeat against Steve Davis. At the Masters he reached the quarter-finals again, but lost again to Jimmy White. In the two-year ranking of the world rankings, he could not defend the points from the previous season and he lost three more places. The following year he reached the semi-finals in his second Pot Black participation and the quarter-finals one last time at the Masters , but again all ranking tournaments ended in the last sixteen at the latest. At the World Cup he lost 3:13 to Steve Davis and lost 10 frames in a row after 3: 3. Only four times he was in the last 16 and so he fell out of the top 16 again after five years.

Steady decline and last career years in the 2000s

The downward trend continued dramatically in the following year. James lost a number of his opening games and only got two wins. Only for the second time in his career did he not make it into the Crucible. It was only thanks to the privilege of being seeded for the main tournaments that he did not drop further than 26th place. It wasn't until the 1995/96 season that he recovered. In the Masters qualification , he finally got a few clear wins again, even if he was eliminated in the round of 16. And immediately afterwards at the Grand Prix he defeated Steve Davis again, a top 3 player. Stephen Hendry was the last stop until the semi-finals. He finished two other ranking tournaments in the round of 16 and at the World Cup he came back to the main round after a 10: 7 over Mark Davis . The following year he did not achieve another high point and no round of 16, but at least he collected enough opening wins to stay in 24th place.

However, due to an elaborate lifestyle, he got into considerable financial problems, he had to sell his snooker table, lost his apartment and finally filed for bankruptcy. He later lost his driver's license and his mobility was restricted. His performance suffered as a result. In the 1997/98 season he would have had to improve again to make up for the points in the two-year standings, but he remained without the last sixteen and at the level of the previous year, and so he dropped out again after 10 years at the age of 37 Top 32 out. So he had to go back to the qualifying tournaments before the main events. Often he was defeated, but the two most important tournaments, the UK Championship and the World Championship , he reached the round of the last 32. At the World Cup it was his ninth and last appearance at the Crucible, in which he and 3:10 against Ken Doherty lost . The results saved him beyond the season. In the following year he reached the main tournament only three times and only at the Scottish Open 2000 he came under the last 32. Nevertheless, he stayed in 64th place and thus kept his affiliation to the professional tour. He was able to hold out the following year after reaching round 3 three times. It wasn't until 2000/01 . Without a single win, he fell out of the ranking and lost his professional status after 16 years without interruption.

But he did not end his career, but tried to qualify again via the Challenge Tour . This failed in the first year, but in 2003/04 he reached the final once and ended up among the best overall, so that he returned to the professional tour in 2004/05 . At the Welsh Open 2005 he reached a main tournament for the last time. After two initial defeats in the 2005/06 season , he stopped playing and ended his active career in 2006 at the age of 45.

successes

Ranking tournaments:

Other professional tournaments:

Qualifying tournaments:

swell

  1. ↑ a b c Profile of Steve James on CueTracker (as of November 26, 2019)
  2. ↑ 1999 UK Championship - Tournament Ranking . CueTracker - Snooker Database. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  3. ↑ Snooker Worls Records: 16 Red Ball Clearances , snooker.org, accessed November 26, 2019
  4. ↑ a b Bankrupt snooker ace Steve on cue for return.
  5. ↑ Snooker: James steps up a gear , Independent, February 15, 1997

Web links

personal data
SURNAME James, Steve
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English snooker player
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Cannock , England