| Born | 23 April 1979 Dartford, Kent |
|---|---|
| Sport country | England |
| Nickname | The Hawk[1] |
| Professional | 1996– |
| Highest ranking | 12 (2006/2007) |
| Current ranking | 22 |
| Career winnings | GB£369,200[2] |
| Highest <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn> | 147 (Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 3) |
| Best ranking finish | Semi-finals (4 times) |
| Tournament wins | |
| Non-ranking | 2 |
Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979, Kent, England) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached three ranking semi-finals, and spent five seasons inside the top 32 of the rankings. He has also played in the World Championship the last six years running.
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Before taking up snooker professionally he was an office clerk.[1] He reached the Top 32 in the rankings in 2004/2005, having reached the semi-finals of 2005's Welsh Open, as well as the last sixteen of three other tournaments.
In 2005/2006, he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix [3] and the Welsh Open again, and also beat the high-ranked Ding Junhui to qualify for the World Championship for the first time.[4] This cemented Hawkins' place in the Top 16 of the rankings for the 2006/2007 season.
At the World Championship in Sheffield, however, Hawkins faced former Champion Ken Doherty in the first round, and in the intimidating Crucible Theatre lost 10–1. He told the BBC that "I just couldn't perform and I don't know why... I'm gutted after such a good season to have performed like that." [5]
The 2006/2007 season saw Hawkins disappointed following two strong seasons. He reached the final of the non-ranking Kilkenny Irish Masters,[6] however his only run past the last 16 in a ranking event was at the China Open, when he reached the semi-finals, again beating Ding along the way. He had one foot in his first final against Jamie Cope in the semi final, but Cope was able to obtain the snookers he needed to stay in the match and went on to win 6–5. A first-round defeat to Fergal O'Brien at the World Championship [7] cost him his Top 16 place, and left him outside the Top 32 on the single-year rankings.
Early in the 2007/2008 season, Hawkins won the qualifying tournament for the 2008 SAGA Insurance Masters, beating Kurt Maflin. He won five other matches, also beating top-32 players Nigel Bond and Jamie Cope. He also reached the last 16 at the Grand Prix, UK Championship and China Open.
He started the 2008/2009 season with a quarter-final appearance at the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy, by beating Jimmy White 5–3, Marco Fu 5–2 and Ryan Day 5–3 where he played Ronnie O'Sullivan, losing 5–4 after producing a brave fightback from 4–1 to level at 4–4. He then won at least his opening match in the next four ranking events, reaching the provisional top 16. He did not qualify for the events in Wales and China, but made it to the World Championship by beating Daniel Wells 10–9,[8] but lost in the first round, finishing one place short of a return to the top 16.
From 2006-2010, Hawkins's record at the World Championship was unsuccessful, with a win–loss record of 0–5. As well as the aforementioned one-sided defeat to Doherty, Hawkins narrowly lost in the first round the following two years as well, to Fergal O'Brien and Ali Carter respectively. Coincidentally, on both occasions Hawkins lost by very close 10–9 defeats, having recovered from 9–6 behind each time. In 2009 Hawkins missed out on a chance to take his match with former champion Graeme Dott to a deciding frame, and lost 10–8. The following year, Hawkins led defending champion John Higgins 5–3 before Higgins won seven of the next eight frames to progress.
Hawkins played well at the World Open (formerly the Grand Prix) in defeating Mark Selby (3–2) as well as former World Champion Ken Doherty (3–1) before losing 3–2 to Mark Williams.
Hawkins qualified for the World Championship for the sixth year running, where he was drawn against Stephen Maguire in the first round. Having never won a match at the Crucible before, Hawkins led Maguire 4-0, 5-1, 6-2 and 8-4 before seeing Maguire level the match at 8-8 and then 9-9. However, Hawkins held his nerve in the deciding frame to finally end his losing run at the World Championship.[9] In the second round, Hawkins was defeated 13-12 by world #11 Mark Allen.
Although right-handed, Hawkins normally plays snooker left-handed. However, he plays shots requiring a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">rest</dfn> with his right hand.
Hawkins has been with his girlfriend Tara since 2001 and in January 2009 they had their first child, a son named Harrison[8]