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Allister Carter

The 2008/09 season was one in which bags of potential and years of trying finally added up to a ranking event title for Ali Carter.
Long considered among the best players never to have lifted a piece of major silverware, Carter endured more frustration in the early stages of the season as he lost in three consecutive semi-finals.
He ran Ronnie O’Sullivan close at the Northern Ireland Trophy but was edged out 6-5, then went down by the same scoreline against Ryan Day at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix and suffered a 9-7 reverse to Marco Fu which cost him a place in the final of the Maplin UK Championship.
But things finally came right for Carter at the Welsh Open in Newport. He beat Jimmy White 5-1, Graeme Dott 5-4 and Shaun Murphy 5-2 then came from 3-0 down to edge out Anthony Hamilton 6-5 in the semi-finals. That set up a meeting with Joe Swail, who was playing in his first ranking final after 18 years as a professional. The Ulsterman looked stronger in the early stages and led 5-2. But Carter ended any doubts that he has the capacity to bring his best game to the big occasion as he reeled off seven consecutive frames to run out a 9-5 winner, firing in breaks of 54, 116, 109, 61, 91 and 67 in a devastating burst of scoring.
"I put myself under a lot of pressure in the first session because I wanted to play well," he said. "In the evening session I forgot about that and just focussed on the balls.
"It’s a massive achievement and I hope there’s more to come. It means everything to me, it’s what I’ve been practising for since I was a kid. It’s all about winning, to be able to go home and say no one has beaten you."
Going into the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, Carter was considered a real contender for the sport’s biggest title. But after a comfortable 10-5 victory over Gerard Greene in the first round at the Crucible, he went down 13-8 to Neil Robertson, crucially losing a series of frames from winning positions in the pivotal second session.
“I didn’t play to my best, and had a nightmare session yesterday,” admitted the Tiptree cueman. “I just never killed the frames off which I should have done. It’s my own fault and the game comes back to bite you.”
A year earlier at Sheffield, Carter had come of age as a top professional by reaching his first ranking final and making his first competitive 147 break. He beat Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry to get there, and made that memorable maximum against Ebdon, becoming only the sixth player to make a 147 at the Crucible. "I was going for it once I got to 64. On the last few balls I was just playing on instinct because I was shaking like a leaf,” said Carter, who shared the 147 bonus with Ronnie O’Sullivan, picking up a cool £78,500.
However, it was former practice partner and Essex colleague O’Sullivan who had the last laugh, as a physically and mentally drained Carter managed to win just eight frames in the best-of-35 final.
”At this moment in time I don’t feel as if I’ve achieved what I wanted to do,” he said. “The only way I would have done that would be to win it. Getting to the final is a great result and I’ll reflect on it in a couple of weeks and be pleased with what I’ve done.”
Carter turned professional in 1996 and was tipped for the top when he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix three years later. He beat six players including Stephen Hendry and Marco Fu at Preston before his run was finally ended by John Higgins. The following month, Carter won the B&H Championship to earn a wild card to the Masters.
He was also chosen as one of World Snooker’s pioneering six Young Players of Distinction for the 2000-2001 season and finished top of the first YPD League.
Carter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2003 but now has the illness under control. "It’s still there  but it’s in remission and I have regular blood tests now. I’ve seen what happened to Paul (Hunter) and that could happen to any of us.  If you have your health you’re a rich man," he said.
He is training to be a commercial pilot and hopes to be ready to swap 147s for 747s when he retires from professional snooker. Carter also owns and runs Chelmsford Snooker Centre.

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