Matthew Stevens

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Matthew Stevens

Born	September 11, 1977
Nationality	Welsh
Nickname(s)	The Welsh Dragon
Professional	1994–
Highest ranking	#4 (2005/06)
2006/07 ranking	14
Highest break	145 (1996, 2001)
Tournament wins
Ranking events	1
Non-ranking events	3

Matthew Stevens (born September 11, 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player.

Stevens was born in Carmarthen, Wales. Turning professional in 1994, Stevens reached number six in the world rankings in 2000. He had to wait until 2003, however, for his first, and so far only, ranking tournament victory: the UK Championship.

Stevens has always had the ambition of once claiming the World Championship trophy. In 2000 he reached the final but lost 16-18 to Mark Williams after having been up 10-6, 13-7 and then 14-10 with only the final session to play. In 2005 he was again runner-up, losing 16-18 to Shaun Murphy in the final, having been up 10-6 and then 12-11 with only the final session to play. He has also been a semi-finalist on three occasions.

Like Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stevens is right-handed but sometimes plays certain shots left-handed if necessary. However, unlike O'Sullivan, the benefit of this to his game has been called into question as it has created unnecessary mistakes. Regardless of this, he considers it a calculated risk and will always try to avoid using the rest.

Stevens had a promising start to his career and is always considered a real threat in major events, as the longer matches appear to suit him. However, the unexpected death of his father Morrell, also his manager and friend, in 2001 was tough on him. This caused Matthew to have an uneventful few seasons. Stevens now has a two year old son, christened Freddie Morrell, and has moved up to number four in the world rankings for the 2005/06 season, but only won one match in the first four tournaments of the season, putting his top 16 status in some danger. He reached the last 16 of the world championships before losing to Ken Doherty, and can be considered fortunate that none of the players around him in the rankings progressed any further. He retains his top 16 status, but slipping 10 places to 14, a position which does not reflect the talent most experts believe he has. Stevens has also compiled 150 competitive centuries during his career.

Matthew Stevens was a coffin carrier at his friend, Paul Hunter's funeral.