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Ssb - the captain has take-off
A few of the form players this season are already out of the Betfred.com World Championship but Ali Carter, who has endured a poor campaign affected by illness, produced a comfortable 10-2 defeat of Mark Davis to reach the second round today.
With the formbook turned if not upside down then certainly askew, Carter may be a dark horse.
He plays Judd Trump next, the tournament favourite as long as he can avoid eating any more dodgy chicken.
Carter described Trump as ‘simple-minded’ in his post match press conference. It sounds harsher than I suspect he meant. What I think he is saying is that Trump is relatively immune to pressure. He glides through tournaments enjoying himself rather than endlessly fretting about how much it all means. (You can hear that quote in context here)
Trump is still at that age where it is all new and exciting. He is also rightly very confident of his own game.
Carter confessed to having dwelt on losing matches he feels he should have won and getting too caught up in the psychology of it all.
This could happen to Trump in time, although it doesn’t seem to have happened to Neil Robertson, another player who always seems to be in a good mood.
Ultimately everyone is made differently. Some people can shrug off disappointments, others can’t stop thinking about them.
Carter can certainly push Trump. Indeed, he can beat him. Players have turned up before with low expectations, often because of illness, and, without putting too much pressure on themselves have had a good run. Steve Davis won the 1997 Masters after a bout of flu.
It's been a difficult tournament to predict so far so nobody can be said to be safe, even the super-confident Trump.
More...
With the formbook turned if not upside down then certainly askew, Carter may be a dark horse.
He plays Judd Trump next, the tournament favourite as long as he can avoid eating any more dodgy chicken.
Carter described Trump as ‘simple-minded’ in his post match press conference. It sounds harsher than I suspect he meant. What I think he is saying is that Trump is relatively immune to pressure. He glides through tournaments enjoying himself rather than endlessly fretting about how much it all means. (You can hear that quote in context here)
Trump is still at that age where it is all new and exciting. He is also rightly very confident of his own game.
Carter confessed to having dwelt on losing matches he feels he should have won and getting too caught up in the psychology of it all.
This could happen to Trump in time, although it doesn’t seem to have happened to Neil Robertson, another player who always seems to be in a good mood.
Ultimately everyone is made differently. Some people can shrug off disappointments, others can’t stop thinking about them.
Carter can certainly push Trump. Indeed, he can beat him. Players have turned up before with low expectations, often because of illness, and, without putting too much pressure on themselves have had a good run. Steve Davis won the 1997 Masters after a bout of flu.
It's been a difficult tournament to predict so far so nobody can be said to be safe, even the super-confident Trump.
More...