Graeme Dott is a wee Glaswegian but has a big heart and once again demonstrated his considerable fighting qualities by winning the World Series event in Berlin last night.
Three months ago, Dott was sat at home barely able to move.
Diagnosed with depression, the last thing he wanted to do was play snooker.
He was moments away from withdrawing from the 888.com World Championship in April before his manager, Pat Mooney, asked him to give it another week.
Graeme went to the Crucible in the end and, though he lost 10-7 to Joe Perry, put up a good account of himself.
Even so, it was a season to forget. He lost 15 and drew one of his last 16 matches, fell from second to 13th in the world rankings and is languishing in 39th place in the provisional standings.
But what does any of that matter compared to his health?
Dott is still on medication for his condition but no longer seeing a psychologist. He seemed in a positive frame of mind in Berlin and played well against a below par Shaun Murphy to record a 6-1 win and secure the title.
Good for him. I dislike how Dott has attracted so much uncalled for criticism for the manner in which he won the 2006 world title.
That final was not the greatest spectacle but he was up against Peter Ebdon, an arch grinder, and the stakes could not have been higher.
And it had 2.8m BBC2 viewers gripped at just before 1am.
You may have read that 14m watched this year’s final but this is misleading to say the least. This figure has been arrived at by adding together the cumulative audience for all four sessions of the final but as this is reasonably likely to include people who watched more than one session, it involves double, triple and even quadruple counting.
The actual number of people watching BBC2 when Ronnie O’Sullivan potted the final balls was 4.2m.
I don’t clarify this to play down the interest in this year’s final – it was a runaway with little in the way of drama in any case – but to point out that Dott’s triumph was not much less of a draw than that of O’Sullivan.
All that history will record is that this diminutive Scot was world champion. There are currently only 22 names engraved on that famous silver trophy so he has every justification in being proud to be one of them.
Dott has been through a dark period but ended the weekend full of smiles.
Anyone not cheered by such a sight must have a heart of stone.
The end of the final is here.
2 comments:
I'm really pleased for Dott and thanks for writing such a positive piece on him.
It's very sad that anyone should demean his greatest snooker triumph as he showed tremendous character and skill in achieving the ultimate goal of any professional sportsman.
I wish him luck dealing with his depression.
Snooker is lucky to have him.
Des
Well done Graeme- a quality player with flair and a fighting spirit.
I was in the Crucible that night in 2006 and it was gripping stuff- a fantastic match. Sadly a number of sponsors guests sat in the bar for the last few frames bemoaning the late finish and the delay of the after match party which is what they had really come for. People who are not snooker fans will sadly never appreciate the quality of a fine snooker battle of attrition pitting mind against mind in pursuit of victory. This is the play, with great flair and panache that first brought snooker to the fore through (amongt others) Charlton, Reardon, Spencer, Higgins, Thorburn, Griffiths and Mountjoy.
John H
Post a Comment