Better Days Ahead?
Ryan Day begins his assault on the 12Bet.com UK Championship today against Jamie Burnett in Sheffield, hoping to end the worse run of results in his professional career.
Less than 18-months ago, the talented Welshman was one of the most consistent performers on the circuit ending the 2009 season at number six in the world rankings.
Since then, he has managed to win only four matches in major events, and has not featured in the quarter-final stages of an event since the 2009 Shanghai Masters, sending him into a rankings free-fall into the mid-twenties.
Day is also frustratingly still looking for his first ranking title, having lost in the final of three raking events to Dominic Dale in Shanghai, Shaun Murphy in Malta and John Higgins in Scotland.
Last season was a virtual write-off. He lost his opening match at the Grand Prix, UK and World Championships, suffering heavy ranking point penalties in the process.
As the saying goes, "it doesn’t rain, it pours". In Telford last year, doubts were beginning to creep into his game. Those doubts were compounded by his opponent, Liang Wenbo completing one of the most sustained periods of heavy scoring in the history of the game. The Chinese number two, made 11 breaks over 50 in twelve frames.
However, to coin another phrase, “form is temporary but class is permanent”. So, the chances that this sustained run of poor results is more a confidence issue than one of a more technical nature, are good.
Day hasn’t suddenly become a mediocre player overnight, and it may be just one convincing performance that reminds him of how good he was and as quickly as he faded away, he could become a force in the game once again.
He struggled to adapt in the early stages to the new Players Tour Championship, however there were glimpses of the old Day in the last couple of events, lifting him to number 66 on the order of merit.
In professional sport, winning and losing is habit forming, and it could be that a couple of wins in Germany and Prague break one habit and start another for Ryan.
In today’s match he was facing the winner out of Shanghai Masters finalist, Burnett and talented fellow-countryman, Michael White.
The latter would have had added pressure with possibly more to lose than to gain. Burnett saw off the youngster's challenge, taking some of the pressure off Day. A match against a seasoned professional, could earn a return trip to Telford and begin the return journey to snooker’s elite.
