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Matthew Stevens

Postby SnookerFan

From the World Snooker website;

Matthew Stevens is thrilled to be back at snooker's most prestigious invitation tournament, The Masters, after a five year absence.

Welshman Stevens won the tournament back in 2000, beating Ken Doherty 10-8 in the final. He dropped out of the world's top 16 in 2007, therefore missing out on the Masters, which is exclusive to the sport's elite players.

But Stevens has now regained his top 16 berth and can't wait to take to the stage again and compete for the £150,000 top prize, in the tournament which runs from January 15-22 at Alexandra Palace.

"It's one of the tournaments all the top players want to be in," he said. "I've not been involved in it for a few years so it's great to be back. The event gets such a massive audience on TV and in the arena so it just feels really special.

"I'm sure Alexandra Palace will be completely different to Wembley so it's a fresh start for all the players. I've watched the darts at Ally Pally on TV - it looks like a really good venue with a great atmosphere.

"Being back in the top 16 has made a massive difference for me. With all the new tournaments the calendar is very busy, so if I had to go to the qualifiers as well it would be a lot tougher. I'm winning matches that I was losing before, just the odd 5-4 here and there, but when you add those up it makes a big difference."


Stevens will turn 35 this year and it's seven years since he reached the second of his two World Championship finals. But he believes he has plenty of time to add to his haul of trophies.

"I still feel as if I've got a lot of good years ahead of me in the game," he said. "My eyes aren't going and I'm in decent nick. Hopefully I'll still be playing at a high level when I'm 40 and beyond."

He takes on World Champion "Honest" John Higgins at 12.30pm on Tuesday January 17.

Re: Matthew Stevens

Postby SnookerFan

Has it really been five years since Matthew Stevens appeared at The Masters? :shock:

I remember watching him thrash Jimmy White a few years back at The Masters. Steves won 6–1 in the Wildcard round. I just googled it, and it was indeed the 2007 Masters. Time flys.

It seems odd that Jimmy White has appeared at The Masters more recently than Matthew Stevens. <laugh>

Re: Matthew Stevens

Postby kostasmad

The weird thing is that Stevens has won only 1 game (that wildcard round) after he became the Masters Champion and I doubt he has won any other match prior to that.

So in reality his match against Higgins is a match beetween 2 people that when they win in Masters they life the trophy...

Re: Matthew Stevens

Postby SnookerFan

kostasmad wrote:The weird thing is that Stevens has won only 1 game (that wildcard round) after he became the Masters Champion and I doubt he has won any other match prior to that.

So in reality his match against Higgins is a match beetween 2 people that when they win in Masters they life the trophy...


Just to point out, he has won more than one match since he became Masters champion. <laugh> Only one of them was in the same tournament though. :D

Re: Matthew Stevens

Postby Rocket_ron

SnookerFan wrote:Welshman Stevens won the tournament back in 2000, beating Ken Doherty 10-8 in the final.

"It's one of the tournaments all the top players want to be in," he said. "I've not been involved in it for a few years so it's great to be back. The event gets such a massive audience on TV and in the arena so it just feels really special.


He takes on World Champion "Honest" John Higgins at 12.30pm on Tuesday January 17.


I'm really happy he is back where he deserves. I can remember the 2000 final like is was yesterday.

Come on Masters!!!!!!!!! good stuff!!!!!!