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Peter Ebdon

The 2008/09 season was one of several lows for Peter Ebdon – but one particular high.
The first six ranking events of the campaign offered little reward, as he won just two matches. That left him outside the top 16 of the provisional rankings, and staring at elimination after 15 consecutive seasons among the elite.
But it all came good for Ebdon at the Bank of Beijing China Open, as he beat Tang Jun 5-3, Dave Harold 5-4, Stephen Hendry 5-1 and Stuart Pettman 6-1 to set up a final clash with John Higgins in Beijing.
Neither player hit his best form in the absorbing clash, but Ebdon fought his way to the title, closing with a superb break of 71 to seal the 10-8 scoreline.
"I hung in there and played some good safety, then I found something when I needed it at the end,” said Ebdon after winning the eighth ranking title of his career. “I showed composure in the last frame which I didn’t have before. It’s amazing, when I came here I was probably the last player that anyone expected to win. To win here is a dream and a reward for all the hard work I’ve put in. I’m incredibly proud of this achievement, and in terms of what it means to me, I’d put it close to winning the World and UK titles.”
That victory gave Ebdon a boost of confidence going into the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, but he was unable to retain the form that he showed in China as he went down 10-5 in the first round at the Crucible against Nigel Bond.
The player nicknamed The Force finished the campaign with a drop of five places down the rankings to No 14.
In 2006, Ebdon joined the select band of players to have won snooker’s two biggest ranking titles.
At the Maplin UK Championship in York, he beat Mark Selby, Stuart Bingham and Ding Junhui to reach the semi-finals then produced what he described as one of his best ever performances to beat Higgins 9-7.
In the final he faced old adversary Stephen Hendry and came from 3-1 down to score a 10-6 victory. That made him only the ninth player in snooker history to have lifted both the World and UK crowns, joining Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, Alex Higgins, Hendry, John Parrott, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams.
He first reached the final at the Crucible in 1996, losing 18-12 to Stephen Hendry, but gained his revenge on the Scot in 2002 and fulfilled a lifelong ambition.
Ebdon probably prepares more thoroughly for the Sheffield event than any other player, swimming a mile a day and following a strict diet in order to maximise his physical fitness and stamina.
This proved vital as he beat Hendry 18-17 in an epic final, making a crucial break of 59 in the 35th and last frame. "I always believed that I could win it but to actually do it is something else," he said.
The Northamptonshire-based cueman was also Crucible runner up in 2006, losing 18-14 to Graeme Dott.
Among the many strings to his bow, Ebdon is an expert on equine breeding and studied Latin and Ancient Greek at school. He is a devotee of Napoleon Hill’s classic motivational book Think and Grow Rich and presented a copy to each of 116 pupils at the school he attended as a teenager, Highbury Grove.
Passionate about music, father-of-four Ebdon played the oboe at school and has sung on two pop singles.

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