Ali Carter at the Crucible Theatre during the 2007 World Championship |
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| Born | 25 July 1979 Colchester, Essex |
|---|---|
| Sport country | England |
| Nickname | The Captain |
| Professional | 1996– |
| Highest ranking | 2 |
| Current ranking | 10 |
| Career winnings | UK£922,380[1] |
| Highest <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn> | 147 (2008 World Championship) |
| Century breaks | 131 |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 2 |
| Non-ranking | 2 |
Allister "Ali" Carter (born 25 July 1979, Colchester, Essex, England) is an English professional snooker player, who lives in Tiptree.[2] He reached the final of the 2008 World Championship, his first major final. Although he lost heavily to Ronnie O'Sullivan, this run allowed him to reach the top 8 of the rankings for the first time. Since then he has won two ranking events. During the 2011 UK Championship, Carter announced he would be retiring at the end of the season.[3]
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Carter turned professional in 1996.[2] He first emerged in 1999, winning the WPBSA Association Young Player of the Year award after winning the Benson and Hedges Championship in 1999 – this earned him a wild card place in the Masters.[2] He also reached the semi-finals of the 1999 Grand Prix.[4] It was eight years before he reached another ranking semi-final, the 2007 Malta Cup.[5]
He was close to the elite top 16 for three successive seasons ranking as 17, 19, and 19 through 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06, respectively, before reaching it in the 2006/07 season and remaining there in 2008.[6]
He reached the last 16 (second round) of the World Championship in 2005, after scoring the first 10–0 victory in the event since 1993 against 1993 semi-finalist James Wattana in qualifying.[7] At the 2007 World Championship he beat Andy Hicks in the first round, 10–4, before beating World No. 1 and seven-time champion Stephen Hendry 13–6 to reach his first World Championship quarter-final and guarantee a place in the Top-16. Carter now has a 5–4 record against Hendry; conversely, he has never beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan in 11 attempts.[8]
Carter has a reputation for 'choking', losing his nerve at critical moments in a match, such as being in front and allowing his opponent to stage a comeback. As an extreme example, in the first round of the 2007 UK Championship, Carter led Barry Hawkins 8–3 before Hawkins won the next six frames to win 9–8.[9] However, Ali got his own back on Hawkins during the 2008 World Championship by beating him 10–9 in a 'controversial' finale. Hawkins had leveled the match to 9–9, when the players were pulled out of the arena to allow the evening matches to begin. They returned after one of the evening's two matches had been completed – on a table they had not previously played on. Hawkins felt this break interrupted his momentum, handing the match to Carter.[10] He followed this by defeating two former champions in succession; provisional World Number 1 Shaun Murphy 13–4 in the second round and then 2002 winner Peter Ebdon 13–9 in the quarter-final. In the semi-final on 4 May 2008 he beat Joe Perry 17–15 to book a place against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final. Carter lost the final 18–8.[11]
Carter scored his first 147 break on 29 April at the 2008 World Championship, one day after Ronnie O'Sullivan had made one in the same tournament. This made Carter the sixth man to achieve this feat at the Crucible (the eighth made there, as O'Sullivan had previously achieved it three times), and the first to have done so without previously winning a tournament. It is the first time two 147s have been made in the same event.[12]
Carter soon showed signs of carrying this form forward in subsequent events. He won his second non-ranking tournament, the Huangshan Cup in China, with a 5–3 win over the reigning Grand Prix champion Marco Fu.[13] In the 2008/09 season Carter reached the semi-final stage on three separate occasions. He progressed to the semi-finals of the 2008/09 season's first ranking event, the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy before losing 5–6 to O'Sullivan having led 5–4.[14] He reached the same stage of the Grand Prix, defeating veterans Steve Davis and John Parrott before losing to Ryan Day, again 5–6[15] The third occasion was the UK Championship where wins over Peter Ebdon and Mark Williams were followed by a close 9–7 defeat to the man he was victorious against in the Huangshan Cup final in China, Marco Fu.
After thirteen years as a professional, Carter defeated the likes of Jimmy White, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy, Anthony Hamilton, and Joe Swail to finally win his first ranking tournament – the 2009 Welsh Open.
Carter made a slow start to the 2009/2010 season, losing 0–5 to Liang Wenbo in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters and losing in the first round at the Grand Prix, before reaching the quarter-finals of the UK Championship. As the defending champion at the Welsh Open he progressed to the final but was beaten by John Higgins, the reigning world champion at the time. He finished the season strongly by reaching the semi-finals at the China Open and the World Championship, losing in the latter to eventual champion, Neil Robertson, by 12–17. Of the six ranking tournaments that were staged during the 2009/2010 season, Carter's campaigns were ended by the eventual champion on four occasions, and on another by the runner-up. Carter finished the season by moving up to a career high position of 4th in the world rankings.
Carter won the 2010 Shanghai Masters. Carter had to recover from 1–4 down in the quarter-final to defeat Matthew Stevens 5–4, Stevens missing the final black off its spot in the deciding frame. He then won six frames in a row from 0–2 down to beat Mark Selby 6–2, and edged past qualifier Jamie Burnett 10–7 in the final.[16] The following events were not very successful for Ali Carter,as he was eliminated in the last 32 of the World Open by Mark Williams 1–3,he suffered an early exit against the young talent Mark Joyce in the first round of the UK Championship by 6–9 and also lost his first round match of the 2011 Masters against Peter Ebdon by 5–6.
Carter's 2011/2012 season got off to a poor start as he exited the first two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, in the first round.[17][18] At the UK Championships he defeated Robert Milkins, but then lost 6–2 to Mark Allen in the last 16. After the match Carter stated on Twitter: "I'm going to retire at the end of the season! And I can't wait!" and that he was "dead serious" about the threat. Later on he admitted the comments were made "in the heat of the moment" but that he did have some "serious thinking to do at the end of the season".[19]
In 2003 he was diagnosed with the auto immune disease Crohn's disease.[2]
He practiced at Chelmsford's Rivermead Snooker Club before buying the club and being the new owner.[2]
Carter also has a keen interest in flying. Although he views snooker as his career at the moment, he has a pilot license which he trained for during a break from the game.[2]
His first child, a son named Max, was born at one minute past midnight on 1 October 2009, weighing in at 8 lbs 2oz.[20]