Liam Pullen had a blast on his Crucible debut, but is desperate to get back there and put right the ‘annoying’ way his first match panned out.
The 20-year-old won four matches to come through qualifying and walk out onto snooker’s most iconic stage for the first time this year.
Those four wins to get there were seriously hard earned, beating two tournament winners from last season along the way to book his Crucible debut.
At the famous Sheffield theatre he acquitted himself well, at one stage level at 5-5 with number 13 seed Chris Wakelin, before falling to a 10-6 defeat, while knocking in his first Crucible century along the way.
A performance to take pride from on debut, but Pullen wanted a lotmore.
‘Obviously I was gutted,’ he told Metro. ‘I wanted to do damage at the Crucible, but it was a special experience because a lot of snooker players never play there.
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‘I relished it, it was good fun, the walkouts were class. Really, really fun. It’s just a shame about the result, but obviously you can’t control when you’re going to win.
‘At 5-5, I don’t remember doing a lot wrong to go 8-5 down, to be honest. A couple of the media people said, “oh, do you think experience showed?” I don’t think it did, to be honest. I think it’s just the way the match panned out.
‘It was a bit annoying really. I was sat in my chair just a bit annoyed because I didn’t feel like I did a lot wrong at that stage. I had the ton to go 9-6, but it was too little too late, really.’
Pullen and Wakelin get on well, with the youngster beating the Scottish Open champion only a couple of months previously at the Welsh Open.
‘We’re easy going. There’ll never be anything sour,’ Pullen said. ‘I beat him in the Welsh Open. I remember shaking hands with him and I said, “oh, sorry, mate.” Later that night, he said, “don’t say sorry. I wouldn’t have been.”
The sheer scale of the World Championship is different to any other tournament, with Pullen coming through qualifying on April 14 and not playing his first round match till eight days later.
‘I was quite nervous, actually,’ he said of the wait. ‘I think the Worlds is just so long, especially starting from qualifying round one. The tournament was 15 days for me and I was only in the first round at the Crucible!
‘I’m like a TARDIS for food, I do eat a lot, but during the World Championship I really struggled to eat what I normally can. That was weird for me. I’ve never had that before in any competition that I’ve played.
‘But it was more like healthy nerves, though, the whole time was so enjoyable. Special. Yeah, just special really. That’s the word.’
The length of the tournament might be mind-boggling, but the biggest surprise about stepping out to play at the Crucible for Pullen was the size of the arena.
Famously tight, cramped and claustrophobic, the Yorkshireman found it more spacious than expected.
‘Obviously, they changed the actual setup, didn’t they?’ Pullen said of the new VIP seats at the black cushion end. ‘I’ve talked to other players who said before when the commentary box was literally right there, apparently it felt really small.
‘But to be honest, it felt a bit spacious, not as tight as people make out. I didn’t really have any problems with it.’
A very short summer break saw Pullen spend a slice of his £20,000 prize money on a road bike and he has been working hard on his fitness, both cycling and with running shoes on.
Then it has been back on the practice table, reassured by the Crucible debut that his career is heading firmly in the right direction but wanting much more than just a first round exit in future.
‘It’s like fuel, isn’t it? It’s fuel in the tank,’ he said. ‘It’s just what you want to be doing for the rest of your career and your life.
‘I think it’s maybe comforting to know that you can do that sort of thing. Getting to the Crucible is a big achievement, but obviously that’s not what I want to do. I want to go better places than that. It’s a box ticked that everyone wants to tick on the journey.
‘At the start of last season results were harder to come by, but I know now I can do it.
‘I think I’ve improved quite a lot from the start to the end of last season. Obviously I’m still young in snooker terms, but I’ve just got to keep on improving. That’s the target.’