It could have been a quiet start to the season for Ali Carter but a bonus trip to the Shanghai Masters has put a spring in his step early in the campaign.
The Captain is number 17 in the world so was due to miss out on the elite event, but Mark Allen withdrawing due to personal reasons meant the Essex man stepped in.
It is a boost for the 46-year-old who was disappointed to drop out of the world’s top 16 thanks to Zhao Xintong storming to a World Championship win in May.
‘Getting in Shanghai is a result,’ he told Metro. ‘I was buzzing to get the call because it’s a good event.’
Allen broke the news to Carter, who recalls: ‘He just texts me and said, “Merry Christmas, mate.” I didn’t quite understand what he meant, but then I read between the lines and he said, he’s not going to Shanghai. I was like: “Thanks, mate. I owe you a vodka!”
The news has improved Carter’s mood which was not great after Zhao dislodged him from the top 16 as there was serious debate over whether that should have been the case or not.
Zhao was competing as an amateur and many players were under the impression that he could not earn ranking points as a result, while World Snooker Tour admitted the wording of the players’ entry pack on the subject ‘could have been clearer’ as the world champion has now kept all the points he earned.
‘Everyone’s interpretation was that amateurs didn’t get their ranking points,’ said Carter. ‘But World Snooker’s interpretation wasn’t that, so it is what it is and at the end of the day, they’re the governing body, they make the decisions and we’ll see what transpires in the future.’
The Captain may have been a surprise entrant into the Shanghai Masters, but he has been working hard for it, changing direction thanks to a split from coach Chris Henry.
‘I’m going to have a season on my own,’ he said. ‘I’m going to get out and practice with a few other players, which I haven’t done for years, and I’m really enjoying the challenge.
‘I’ve been up to Harlow with Zak Surety. I’ve got a lot of time for him and he’s like a hungry fighter ain’t he? He wants to be where I am in the world.
‘I’ve achieved a lot in the game and done really well for myself and got a beautiful house, cars, motorbikes and whatever I want to do, I can do, so playing with a hungry fighter again, it sort of sharpens you up.’
It can be the case that players can lose a grip on what they’ve achieved as they strive for more and more success, but Carter is aware he’s enjoying a career that almost all other players would envy, even if it has been hampered by health issue.
‘F***ing right! I’ve been in the top 20 for, well, for just about all of my career,’ he said. ‘In and out of the top 16 probably for 15 years.
‘I’m probably in the top one per cent of all-time snooker players, winning six or seven ranking events. I should have won more and maybe I would have done if I hadn’t been for my health and all that. But all being told, it’s not been too bad has it?’
Carter faces Chinese amateur Qiu Lei in the opening round in Shanghai, with a meeting with Mark Williams the prize for victory.
The 50-year-old was beaten by Zhao in this year’s World Championship final and Carter had sympathy for how the veteran had to go into the showpiece after a draining run.
‘It’s unbelievable isn’t it?’ Carter said of Williams’ ongoing success. ‘It was unbelievable and I think it was unfortunate, really. I think he ran his race after winning the semi-final.
‘He had such tough matches against Wu Yize, John Higgins, Judd in the semis and Xintong’s fresh as a daisy. I felt like Judd would’ve probably beat Xintong if he’d have won, but I didn’t think Williams was going to, because of all that. I spoke to him in Finland [over the summer] and he said he was dead.’
Williams also spoke out in Sheffield on eye problems he has been dealing with, although Carter is not convinced they are as bad as the Welshman claims.
‘No, he loves winding people up. Nothing wrong with his eyes,’ said the Englishman. ‘You don’t win the Champion of Champions and get to the final of Saudi [Arabia Masters], final of the Worlds if you can’t see.
‘No doubt your eyes deteriorate as you get older. But everyone’s in that boat, aren’t they?’
Carter may have been disappointed to see Zhao win at the Crucible for his own rankings, but feels the 28-year-old is going to be an impressive world champion.
‘I think he’ll be great for the game,’ he said. ‘I think he’s got that nonchalant sort of character that I don’t think that he’ll carry the burden, I think he’ll excel over it, like Kyren [Wilson] relished it. I don’t think he’ll be a Luca Brecel, put it like that.
‘He deserves it. I played him in the China Open when he was a wild card 12 years ago and I beat him, but he was unbelievable even then. Every long ball you left out, he just cracked it in.’
Carter’s own Crucible campaign this year ended in the first round in defeat to old rival Ronnie O’Sullivan, which he says was a high profile game he didn’t relish at the time.
‘It was a big game, to be honest, I’ve had a lot going on behind the scenes, family stuff, and it was probably a game I didn’t need,’ he explained.
‘When I drew Ronnie, I was like oh f***ing hell, but he was good as gold. It’s fine between me and him now, but it was the draw no one wanted, wasn’t it?
‘And despite what people say, in the second half of the match he was unbelievable. I missed the boat in the first half really due to not quite being on it and then he got stronger.’
The Captain watched the Rocket go on to reach the semi-finals where he lost 17-7 to Zhao and Carter could not believe that he chose to change his tip and ferrule mid-match, with the score at 4-4.
‘He cruised through to the semis really, then he decided to make that decision to change his ferrule and, for me, he couldn’t win that match when he’d done that,’ said Carter.
‘I just can’t understand why he done that. You’ll have to ask him. He wasn’t 8-0 down or 7-1 down, he was 4-4!
‘Ronnie plays everything with side, he moves the ball around and that’s hard enough to do with a new tip on a new cloth as it is but to throw that in with a a new ferrule going from titanium to brass and having all those factors in the semis of the Worlds, you’re gonna be a million no matter how good you are!
‘Whether he wanted to give himself an easy out if he lost or whatever, I don’t know, but it was a very, very strange decision and the people around him, what are they doing?
‘The guy who’s even done his cue should be saying, listen, I ain’t doing it for you. But he’s his own man and you make your own decisions and if they go wrong, so be it.’
Carter faces Qiu at 2.30am UK time on Tuesday July 29 at the Shanghai Masters, with the winner meeting Williams on Wednesday at 7am.