Player List

Tom Ford

Ford jumped eight places up the ranking list to No 41 after an excellent 2009/10 season.

He got to the last 32 of the Pukka Pies UK Championship and the totesport.com Welsh Open, then qualified for the televised stages of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship for the first time in his career.

He beat David Hogan 10-3, Anthony Hamilton 10-6 and Judd Trump 10-3 to book his place at the Crucible.

"I got to a quarter-final in Malta in 2005 but since then I've not done enough," said Ford after beating Trump. "I didn't practise hard enough. I had too much time on my hands and I was drinking too much - it's hard to practise with a hangover.

"At the end of last season I lost to a player who I knew I should have beaten, and I realised I had to get my head down. I've knuckled down this season and treated snooker as a job.

"I was good friends with Mark Selby when we were kids, then when we were 18 I took the wrong path. He is very dedicated to snooker and I wasn't on the same wavelength. Seeing him do well on TV winds me up because I know I should be doing the same."

However, Ford's Crucible debut didn't go to plan as he lost 10-4 to Mark Allen.

Ford made the first competitive maximum break of his career at the 2007 Grand Prix, during a 4-0 defeat of Steve Davis which also included breaks of 122 and 117. Even more remakably, Ford had been hospitalised with gastroenteritis in the early hours of the morning, but discharged himself because he was determined to take on Davis.

"I would have been happy to make a 50 break today because I could hardly cue up when I got to the venue," he said. "I’d only had half an hour of sleep all night. So to make a 147 is unbelievable."

Ford’s best ranking event placing was achieved in Malta in 2005 when he beat Ken Doherty to reach the quarter-finals, where his run was ended by Stephen Hendry.

English under-15 champion at the age of 13, Ford beat Bristol’s Judd Trump 5-1 in the final of the 2001 English under-18 Championship.

Back to all Players