Ryan Day: Road to Recovery?

As explained during my previous post, there are a number of pre-tournament interviews up on the 110sport website at the moment ahead of the UK Championship which starts on Saturday. One such interview is with Welshman Ryan Day who having been in the doldrums for some time, is now showing signs of rediscovering the form that took him to number 6 in the world last season…

AFTER a hugely disappointing run of form Ryan Day can see some light at the end of tunnel.

A 9-5 victory over Jamie Burnett helped Day to his first venue stage of the 2010-11 season and the Welshman is hoping his win is a major step towards re-discovering his best form.

“I am really pleased to pick up a win in a proper tournament,” Day confessed.

“I have been working really hard and shown some glimpses of form however I’ve not been able to produce that sort of form anywhere near as consistently as I would like.

“My win against Jamie was more like what I am aiming for so it’s a nice boost to my confidence.”

Day now heads to the 12BET.com UK Championship hoping to end another disappointing run.

The Welsh player has never progressed beyond the last 32 in the tournament and faces a tough clash with Mark King as he bids to end his UK hoodoo.

“My qualifying victory was my first in the UK Championship in quite a few years,” Day admitted.

“I have come up against some very difficult opponents – Matthew Stevens who is a former champion, Marco Fu just after he won the Grand Prix and Liang Wenbo in a match where there were eleven breaks over 50 in the twelve frames we played.

“There’s no doubt I would like to progress further but I know I will have to play very well. I have played Mark many times before and have a good idea of what to expect – he is a very good match player and won’t give me many chances.”

Currently ranked No.20 in the provisional rankings Day still can obtain an automatic place at The Crucible when the rankings change again in the New Year.

Despite this he maintains his focus is simply on improving his form and beginning to enjoy playing again.

“I haven’t really worked the rankings out, there are points to come off and some to be added. I am just really focusing on getting back to enjoying playing the game and hopefully my results and ranking position can improve as a result.

“The next week is really important for me and I am really looking forward to it.”