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

Published 26/06/2023 at 12:27 GMT

The 2022/23 snooker season was another remarkable campaign with a smorgasbord of unforgettable memories bewitching millions across the globe on Eurosport, the home of snooker. We pick 10 of the most memorable moments from the past 10 months. Today we recall Ali Carter ending a seven-year title drought in Berlin. Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com.

'This is what the whole week has been about' - Carter seals emphatic win over Ford to claim German

After the conclusion of another extraordinary snooker season, we pick 10 memorable moments from the 2022/23 campaign as captured by the Eurosport cameras. You can vote for your personal favourite when we reveal our final list of contenders later this month.

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.

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Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins retrieved a seemingly impossible position from with his fellow Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor doing likewise against Davis from 8-0 adrift in an 18-17 win in the celebrated 1985 'black-ball' world final.

Stephen Hendry famously reeled off 10 straight frames from 14-8 behind against Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White in the 1992 Crucible final while new world champion Luca Brecel looked a goner in the semi-finals of this year's event trailing Si Jiahui 14-5 to incredibly complete a 17-15 sporting act of escapology.

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.

Carter's remarkable powers of recovery and positive thinking are reminiscent of fabled British jump jockey Bob Champion overcoming testicular cancer to win the Grand National on Aldaniti around Aintree's imposing fences in 1981.

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

A smiling Bob Champion and Aldaniti win the Grand National in 1981.

Image credit: Eurosport

"When I first got over my illness, I said I'll never worry about a game of snooker ever again," said Carter, who has twice lost world finals to fellow Essex man Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2008 and 2012.

"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."

'It was nothing short of hell' - Carter on impact of Crohn’s disease and cancer

After defeating Joe Perry 10-8 in the 2016 World Open final, Carter claimed a second German Masters title with a 10-3 win over Tom Ford in February a decade after his 9-6 victory over Marco Fu. He also lost the 2017 final 9-6 to Anthony Hamilton.

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.

Much is made of the artifice of snooker's self-styled 'Triple Crown' in the UK, but Carter was right to point out the significance of the German Masters, an event that will grow in stature in January when it moves to a full week in the calendar for the first time since its debut year in 2011.

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

'Right up there with Masters and World Championship' - Carter on German Masters win

"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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Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com

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