Player Profile - Joe Perry
DOB: 13 Aug 1974
Lives: Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
Provisional Ranking: 7th (Main Tour) Ranking Points this Season
Last 5 Seasons: 18-18-14-20-16
Turned Pro: 1991
Best Ranking Performance: Runner-up - European Open 2001
Last Seasons Prize Money: £90,975
Career Prize Money: (up to start of 2008/09 season): £677,185
Highest Tournament Break: 145 - World Championship 2004

Perry enjoyed perhaps the best season of his career in 2007/08, climbing six places up the official rankings to No 12, and positioning himself at No 7 on the provisional list going into the start of the 08/09 term.
He enjoyed a fine run at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix, progressing from the group stages and getting to the quarter-finals before losing to Gerard Greene.
He also reached the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open – but saved his best until last at the 888.com World Snooker Championship. Perry’s run started in the last qualifying round when he came from 8-4 down to beat John Parrott 10-8. Then at Sheffield he saw off Graeme Dott – champion at the Crucible two years earlier – and Stuart Bingham to reach the quarter-finals, then upset the form book with a superb 13-12 defeat of Stephen Maguire.
”I was a little nervous but I’ve been a lot more nervous before. I was quite surprised actually so when my chance came along I thought I have to grasp it,” said the Cambridge cueman after coming through the final-frame decider. “This is a great chance for me to get into a world final so the pressure is well and truly on.”
The player nicknamed Gentleman Joe dealt with that pressure for most of his match against Ali Carter and stood within two frames of victory at 15-15. But it was Carter who ultimately prevailed 17-15 to reach the final.
”I’m absolutely gutted,” he said. “If you told me I was going to feel like this after being beaten in the semi-final I wouldn’t have believed you. Someone had to win and someone had to lose, unfortunately it was me. It’s a tough one to swallow but in a couple of weeks I’ll reflect on it and when the money comes through the post I’ll be happy.”
Perry reached the final of the European Open on the Mediterranean island of Malta in 2001. He knocked out several leading players including Matthew Stevens and Mark Williams but was no match for Stephen Hendry, going down 9-2.
Perry, whose father is a London taxi driver, is a devoted Arsenal fan and often visits Highbury to cheer on the Gunners. He studied A-level law during his schooldays and his hobbies include playing golf and keeping fit.
He married Joanne at Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire in 2005 and their honeymoon took them to Hawaii and Las Vegas. Their first child, daughter Lexie, was born in October 2006.

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