Dale Sadly Out Of Tune
Welsh snooker ace Dominic Dale admits that a failure to prepare fortournaments properly since moving to Vienna has affected his career.
Depiste satisfying his love of the opera with regular visits to see performances at the world famous Opera House, Dale hasn't been able to fine tune his game and recapture the form that has seen him win two major ranking titles.
He moved to the Austrian capital in 2007, shortly after winning the second ranking title of his career at the Roewe Shanghai Masters.
Having climbed to 16th place in the provisional rankings with that victory, he has since slipped to 29th and is hoping for a run in next week's Welsh Open to secure his top 32 place."There are no other professionals to practise with in Vienna, which means that preparing myself mentally for matches is more difficult," said the 37-year-old from Neath.
"I'm playing well on my own in practice, but matches are a completely different thing. I recently played Gerard Greene in the China Open qualifiers, and I felt confident going into the match, but then lost 5-1. I had flown to the UK the day before the match and I flew back to Austria the day afterwards. I realise that what I need to do is fly back a few days earlier and get some practice with Matthew Stevens or Ryan Day, to sharpen me up for the match situtation.
I wouldn't say that moving to Vienna has damaged my snooker career. I love it so much there. But it's true that my performances have not been as good, and I blame myself because I haven't adjusted well enough. Since losing in the China qualifiers I have been rebuilding my game andworking on the mental side. I will be back at least a few days before the Welsh Open to make sure I am ready."
It's a crucial time of the season for Dale as his home tournament is followed by the World Championship qualifiers."If I lost my opening match in both of those then I could drop out of the top 32, so I need to do well," added the 1997 Grand Prix champion. "I love the Welsh Open and I always want to perform well there for the home fans.I'll be commentating for BBC Wales during the tournament which I really enjoy and it helps take a bit of the pressure off the matches."
Dale plays his opening match at the Newport Centre against Liang Wenbo at 7pm on Monday, February 16. Also in action in the same session will be the two-times World Champion from Cwm, Mark Williams.
Having been given special dispensation by World Snooker to play their Last 48 round match at the final venue, Welsh fans are assured the chance to see their favourites as Williams, Stevens and Dale all line up at a final venue for only the second time this season.
