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Joe Perry

Joe Perry made a strong start to the 2008/09 season, but tailed away towards the end and finished it where he started on the official world rankings list – in 12th place.
He won his opening match in each of the first five ranking tournaments of the campaign. His best run took him to the quarter-finals of the Maplin UK Championship, thanks to a career-best performance in the last 16 as he came from 5-2 down to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-5.
“I’ve played him a few times this season and I feel comfortable against him now, I’m not intimidated.,” said Perry, who also beat O’Sullivan on his way to reaching the semi-finals of the Premier League. “I’ve got the fear factor out of the way.”
He was disappointed to lose 9-7 to Marco Fu in the next round, and the second half of the campaign yielded few highlights for Perry. He was edged out 6-5 by O’Sullivan in his opening match at the Masters, then lost his first round game in each of the last three ranking events of the season.
After a 10-6 reverse against Jamie Cope at the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, Perry said: “I had chances but every time I missed a ball he cleared up. He had me under pressure, every time he went to the table he won the frame. It’s hard to play when it’s like that. All in all the season was pretty good, I’d just like to have more left in the tank at the end next time. I ran out of steam a bit early so maybe I need to pace myself better."
Perry enjoyed perhaps the best season of his career in 2007/08, climbing six places up the official rankings to No 12.
He reached the quarter-finals of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix and the Welsh Open – but saved his best until last at the 2008 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.
Against Ali Carter, the player nicknamed Gentleman Joe 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.”
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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