Top 10 moments of 2022/23 snooker season: No. 3 – Ali Carter displays champion powers of recovery at German Masters

No. 3 – Captain flies high with German Masters victory

Snooker has always been a sport ripe for rousing recovery stories since the inception of professionalism in the modern televised era.

Yet such a scattering of memorable comebacks from the vast vault of living memory pale into insignificance when you consider the obstacles Ali Carter has overcome to remain among the elite of his potting life and times.

Speaking to Eurosport ahead of this year’s World Championship, Carter opened up on the severity of health issues he faced away from the table having twice battled cancer over the past decade after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease 20 years ago.

He was given the all-clear from testicular cancer in 2013 before fighting lung cancer a year later and twice undergoing an intensive course of chemotherapy.

Life’s hurdles continue to come in all shapes and sizes.

“It’s no big deal. It’s little balls rolling around a table. But in reality, those balls rolling around a table dictate how I feel in myself, how I live, and the sort of lifestyle that I can provide for my children. It’s my career, it’s my job, and it’s more than a job. It becomes your life.

“To win and be as good as you can be means more to me than it probably ever did in the last 20 years of being a pro.”

2,000 fans inside a packed Tempodrom in Berlin saw him join Mark Williams and Judd Trump as the only double winners of the prestigious tournament with breaks of 120, 75, 73, 69, 67, 63, 62, 60 and 57 seeing him wipe out an early 2-0 deficit.

Reaching the final of the Players Championship, losing 10-4 to Shaun Murphy, and a semi-final appearance at the WST Classic helped the Colchester-born cueman end the season as world No.12 from a starting position of 24.

The Tempodrom, the Alexandra Palace in London and the Hong Kong Coliseum are the most atmospheric venues on the World Snooker Tour circuit.

“I’m really proud of the way I played today,” said Carter after his fifth ranking career win. “There’s no better tournament than this. This is right up there with the Masters and the World Championship.

“The German fans are magnificent. They’re such polite people, and they appreciate us being here.”

For a man nicknamed ‘The Captain’ due to his aviation ability, appreciating life is the name of the game.

Continuing to fly high in snooker since first turning professional in 1996 has seen him defy turbulence in ways he could never have foreseen.

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