Ali Carter has been handed a tough test in the World Snooker Championship opening round against John Higgins, but at least he has avoided awkward conversations in the supermarket.
The Captain is a two-time Crucible finalist and has been as high as number two in the world rankings, but has now slipped outside the top 16.
The 46-year-old had to go to qualifying and navigated it impressively, beating Julien Leclercq and Anthony McGill to book his spot in the main draw.
Carter has failed to qualify for the Crucible before and he is glad not to deal with the questions that come with that.
‘It’s a lot of pressure, you don’t want to be losing on Judgement Day,’ said Carter after beating McGill. ‘I’m probably one of the more well-known players and if I’m not in the World Championship, I walk in Tesco and they go, “Oh you alright? When are you playing?” And I’m like, “Oh I’m not in it.”
‘Then you have to go chapter and verse who you lost to. “Oh, I’ve never heard of him!” Yeah, it gets a little bit monotonous and you tend to want to hibernate for three weeks if you’re not in the Championship. So hey, I haven’t got to do that just yet, so I’m pleased.’
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Carter pointed out just how tough the qualifiers are these days by pointing out some of the big names not at the Crucible this year.
‘You’ve got Luca Brecel, a former World Champion from three years ago, who has not qualified,’ he said. ‘You’ve got Jack Lisowski, who won the [BetVictor] bonus, won the Northern Ireland Open. Stuart Bingham. The list goes on. It’s really tough.
‘Look at Rob Milkins, he won the Welsh Open three years ago and the bonus. In one way that’s probably the best and the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. And now he’s off the tour. So that’s how tough it really is.
‘If you don’t dedicate yourself, if you don’t put the work in, all these boys, particularly the Chinese, they’re all practising, they live their lives to play snooker. We sort of play snooker to live, especially at our age.
‘Jack got found out [against He Guoqiang], if he’s not on it, you get beat. It’s as simple as that.’
Carter has had a difficult time at the Crucible in recent years, not winning a match there since 2019, but he feels his 2008 and 2012 final runs show what he can do.
‘Everyone knows that I’ve got the game and I’m capable of doing well there,’ he said. ‘Who really believes they can win it when you just turn up? You’ve got to play yourself into the tournament, hope you get better.
‘I’ve got plenty of experience, I’ve got plenty in the locker, I’ve played in every round now, I’ve made 147s there. So I’ve got nothing to prove. So I’m going to go there and enjoy myself.’
The Captain is certainly one of the trickier draws a top 16 player could have been given, with six ranking titles to his name, but Higgins says he is unfazed by who he plays in Sheffield.
‘It did not matter,’ he said of his draw. ‘I think back in the day you’d be watching the draw and you’d be thinking, “Oh I wouldn’t want him or I’d want him or I wouldn’t want him.” I think now it’s just Ali came out, difficult game as they all are, your game’s just got to be ready as good as it can be.’
On the the world number 23, who has twice recovered from cancer, Higgins added: ‘Listen, you’ll probably think he’s disappointed that he’s never got his name on the trophy, but he’s been in two finals and he’s played O’Sullivan twice.
‘Listen, he’s a fighter off the table as well. He’s been through a lot in his life, and he brings that on to the snooker table as well. He’s a tough competitor. It’s going to be an incredibly tough game for me.’