Biography

"I realised I had chance to shine when I started going to the tournaments and was beating 15 and 16-year-olds when I was about 11."
(Matthew Stevens)

...what was in the beginning?...

Born in the small Welsh town of Carmarthen on 11th September 1977, Matthew Stevens is a fiercely patriotic Welshman. From the age of eight, it was clear that the talented and largely self-taught youngster was destined for the very highest honours in the world of professional snooker.

He first took up the game as a six-year-old before moving onto full-size tables three years later at his local club in Carmarthen. But it was not until a few years later Stevens realized his blossoming talent was something special. At eleven Stevens made his first century break, and within three years was winning junior tournaments, including the The Welsh Youth title; he even had special dispensation to leave school early without passing the GCSEs, to concentrate on the sport.Shortly before his 17th birthday Matthew Stevens had turned professional.

He was even refused to take part in the European Youth Championship and IBSF Amateur Worlds 1994 because of turning pro that year. Matthew admitted later that was disappointed because he wanted to represent Wales at those tournaments, but he accepted the rules and had to obey them.

A prolific winner on the junior circuit prior to turning professional in July 1994, Matthew Stevens concluded his rookie season ranked a modest 256 but those who witnessed the young Welshman in action were in no doubt as to his immense potential.

Although Stevens had some good wins in the qualifiers, he did not reach the latter stages of any ranking event but did get to the semi-final of the Benson & Hedges championship. A year later Matthew Stevens won that event which gave him a wild-card into the Masters at Wembley. There he beat his friend and mentor, Terry Griffiths before losing to Alan McManus in the second round. Stevens also has some success on the ranking circuit with several last-64 places and a last-16 in the Grand Prix. As a result his ranking leapt from 236 to 67. 1996/97 was less successful for Stevens with just two last-32 finishes but in the following season he reached the semi-final of both the Grand Prix and the UK and, and four months later still inexperienced Matthew Stevens highlighted his debut at the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield by reaching the quarter-finals of the 1998 Embassy World Championship. That catapulted Stevens into the top 32 and a year later he was up to number 9. This followed a season in which he reached his first ranking final in the UK Championship and got to the world quarter-final again.

1998 saw Matthew Stevens voted Young Player of the Year by the World Snooker Association, and from there was no looking back.

1999/2000 he began by winning his first major title in the Regal Masters and was runner-up again in the UK Championship. There were quarter-finals in the Welsh and Scottish Opens as well as the Thailand Masters but his biggest prize came when he defeated Ken Doherty to in the coveted Benson & Hedges Masters. He was one of the favorites to take the world title and he did go all the way to the final. Fellow Welshman, Mark Williams, however staged a great comeback and Matthew Stevens had to be content with runner-up. He was now up to number 6 and great things were predicted for him.

In the 2000-2001 season young Stevens won the most prestigious invitational tournament, the Masters beating Ken Doherty in the final. But since his greatest career triumph he hasn't won a Masters game in the six years since. Stevens' mentor, best friend and dad Morrell's sudden death from an aneurism hours after his son's first round defeat to Paul Hunter in 2001 caused psychological scars that seemed to resurface each time the Carmarthen cueman returned to the Wembley Conference Centre.

The 2001/2 season saw Matthew Stevens reach the world semi-finals again which meant than, in five appearances he has one final, two semis and two quarter-finals to his credit. Other results were a little inconsistent and his ranking fell down.

He admitted later he was going out and getting drunk a lot. "I knew the ability was there, but I abused it for a couple of years. I was just turning up to play, that's all. I was in the doldrums, going home early and watching the other players win the tournaments. I knew I had to change and put in some hard work during the summer".

But with the help of new manager Brandon Parker and fellow professional Mark Fenton, he has managed to rebuild his career. Much to the delight of his growing army of loyal fans, snooker's favorite Welshman Matthew Stevens ultimately achieved the accolade that his undoubted natural ability deserved. The road to success both on and off the table had not always been easy for the young man from Carmarthen but victory was all the sweeter for the wait as Matthew Stevens defeated six-times world champion Stephen Hendry 10-8 to capture the coveted 2003 UK Championship crown, his first world ranking tournament win.

He dedicated the win to his late father. "If it wasn't for my dad, I wouldn't be here today, - said Stevens. - He took me up and down the country, weekend-in, weekend-out to play in junior tournaments, which is where I got all my experience".

On January 6 2004 Matthew Stevens became a dad for the first time when his girlfriend Clare Holloway gave birth to their son Freddie. Then he said, that becoming a father is much more exciting than even his champion's title. "My life couldn't be any better at the moment, - he said. - This is a dream come true for me. I'm having a few sleepless nights but I'm slowly getting used to being a dad". F reddie has been given the middle name Morrell in honour of Stevens's late father. "Ever since we found out that Clare was pregnant we decided that if the baby was a boy, Morrell would be his middle name".

That season was not so lucky for Matthew Stevens, as since then he has failed to win any of his five first-round matches. "My son Freddie was born on 6 January and I haven't won a game since so he's a bit of a jinx, - said then ninth seed. - Maybe I haven't been practicing as much as I could, there are times when snooker has to come second".

However, later this year Stevens, being the snooker star, hit the headlines in an unusual way: by winning $ 500 000 in a high-stakes poker tournament of the 888.com Pacific Poker Open. His opponents were tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov and darts champion Phil Taylor. But it was back to business in the 2005 Snooker World Championships in Sheffield.

Following a winning run of form Matthew Stevens was in the final for the second time, this time up against the relatively unknown Shaun Murphy. Despite a world-class performance however it wasn't to be Stevens' night. In a gripping game Murphy finally managed to win 18-16, in a final ranked by many pundits on the night as one of the best ever.

Stevens promised at the end of the 2005 final that he would be back next year, as he says he's determined to win the World Championship before the end of his career: "I came here to win it and I came very close again. I'll keep my chin up and keep working hard. I've still got plenty of time and one day I will win it".

He met the beginning of a new snooker season 2005/2006 with the win on the Northern Ireland Trophy, where he edged out seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry 9-7 in an action-packed final at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast and also became the first Pot Black champion since 1991 as the popular event returned to television screens on BBC Grandstand.

Stevens was considered to be on of the favorites for the new snooker season 2005-2006, but suffered a sharp decline in form last season. And in that season he got one more sad blow: his best friend and almost a brother Paul Hunter was suffering with cancer and died in October 2006 after a long battle with the disease.

Matthew headed to the Crucible in 2006 knowing that a first round exit would see him drop out of the top 16, but withstood the pressure to score a 10-5 victory over Joe Swail to guarantee his place among the elite. "The rankings have been in the back of my mind although I have tried not to worry about it, - said Stevens. - This is the World Championship and it is a big enough tournament as it is".

He started the new 2006-2007 season better and is confident is can recapture the form which gave him the Masters and UK titles as well as five Crucible semi-finals and two finals since 2000. "I don't think it will be long before I'm winning tournaments again. I'm not looking too closely at the rankings, I just want to get some good results and then my place in the rankings will follow".

the new season turned out to be twice as better than the previos one, still, Matthew was unable to keep his place in the top-16 because of the poor 2005-2006 season. He dropped to the 20th place of the world rankings and has to pass qualification rounds to get to the TV-stages.