Snooker
Exclusive: Mark Allen Hoping Champion of Champions Success Can Spark a Return to Form
Snooker star Mark Allen seeks a confidence boost at the Champion of Champions tournament to reignite his season. The defending champ shares insights on his form struggles and approach to success. Snooker betting fans will be watching closely.
Image Credit: World Snooker Tour (WST)
Mark Allen is desperate to find a spark to kickstart his season at the Champion of Champions.
The world No.3 is the defending champion this week in Bolton and is bidding to complete a hat-trick of titles at the prestigious 16-man invitational tournament.
But the 38-year-old potter is suffering with a crisis of confidence with his game despite winning six big titles in the past two seasons.
Expectations have changed for the Northern Irishman, who firmly feels he should be competing at the backend of events on a regular basis.
It was only a year ago Allen hammered Judd Trump 10-3 in the final and went on to win the Shoot Out and Players Championship ranking tournaments shortly after.
But the Antrim revealed to SportsBoom.com “I’m just struggling for confidence, if I’m honest. I’m just making too many mistakes and not making the most of my chances.”
“Expectations are maybe different now. I feel like I should be winning or competing for every tournament that I enter at the minute and I’m not quite doing that which is frustrating.”
I don’t feel like I’m doing anything different on or off the table. That can be frustrating because I’m doing all of the right things and it’s just not happening for me.
Mark Allen
“I probably need to be a bit more patient and not be as hard on myself as I currently am. That’s not my best attribute sometimes.”
“I have good memories from last year and that transformed my season. I hadn’t really done much up to that and then I won the Shoot Out and Players Championship after that.”
“Hopefully it can do the same thing for me again this year. Even if I don’t win it and I just get some good performances and some confidence.”
Allen came through his group on the opening day with wins over World Seniors champion Igor Figuiredo and World Championship runner-up Jak Jones.
He has become one of the toughest match players on the tour in recent seasons and has been criticised by pundits for being too methodical at the table.
But seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry was pleased to see the left-hander to the game be the scruff of the nerve when the deck was stacked against him against Jones earlier this week.
“I felt like that match with Jak Jones was really getting away from me early doors. I had so many chances those first two frames,” admitted Allen, who returns for Friday night’s semi-final.
I was a bit frustrated with myself at 3-0 so I upped my tempo, tried to be a bit more aggressive to get myself into the game.
Mark Allen
“We mentioned something inspiring you for your season, sometimes you need that for a match. That’s why I tried to make the 147 in the fourth frame just to get myself going. I missed on 72 and could have left the frame, but I just needed something.”
“I didn’t feel like I was playing well enough to poke around, play the right shots and wait it out.”
“I went aggressive to try and score a bit heavier and that’s what happened.”
Shane is a respected journalist who has covered a range of sports for a number of years.