David Gray (born 9 February 1979) is an English former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Gray turned professional in 1996 after becoming the youngest ever winner of the prestigious English Amateur Championship. He went on to win the 2003 Scottish Open, break into the top 16 in the world rankings and reach the final of the

2004 UK Championship The 2004 Travis Perkins UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 15 and 28 November 2004 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. During the qualification Jamie Burnett compiled a 148 break, the only ...

(where he made his first of two competitive maximums) - despite these successes early in his career, his form declined until he eventually dropped off the tour in 2010 aged just 31.

Career

Gray turned professional in 1996, after becoming the youngest winner of the English amateur title in 1995. Gray first qualified for the World Championship aged 19 in 1998 where he narrowly lost in round one to future World Champion

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

, who went on to win the tournament that year. He first demonstrated his potential by beating future seven-time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

10–9 in the first round of the 2000 World Championship, a match in which O'Sullivan scored five . However, he was unable to repeat this success in the second round and lost 1–13 to

Dominic Dale Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport. Career Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, ...

, scoring just 208 points, a record low for a best-of-25 match. After winning the non-

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

1998 Benson & Hedges Championship and following his

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

performance in 2000, Gray was a consistent tournament quarter-finalist over the next eighteen months, but did not reach his first ranking final until the 2002 Scottish Open. In this tournament, Gray eliminated defending champion

Peter Ebdon Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English former snooker player. The winner of the 2002 World Snooker Championship, Ebdon won nine world ranking events, placing twelfth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. In addit ...

6–3 in the semi-finals, having already taken out

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

and

. Stephen Lee eventually defeated Gray in the final, 9–2. However, in the same tournament a year later, Gray again eliminated Higgins and Hendry en route to the final, and this time won the event, defeating newcomer (and another eventual world champion)

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

9–7. Although Gray was unable to qualify for the 2003 World Championship, his success at the 2003 Scottish Open (his only ranking tournament win) saw him break into the top 16 in the 2003/2004 world rankings, where he remained through 2005/2006. In the 2004 World Championship, he advanced to the quarter-finals, losing 13–9 to

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...

. This performance helped him to no. 12 in the 2004/2005 world rankings (to date, his best-ever position). On 28 November 2004 he reached his third – and to date, latest – ranking final in the

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan h ...

. He lost 10–1 to

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional i ...

in the final. It was during this tournament that Gray scored his first

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 ...

– the 50th ever made in professional play – in the fifth frame of his last-32 match against

(whom he had defeated in the 2003 Scottish Open final). His semi-final against Joe Perry was particularly memorable as Perry appeared to have won the match 9-7 by potting a colour leaving Gray requiring a snooker, but Perry himself was snookered on the next red, failed to hit it, and didn't score another point as Gray cleared the table then hit a 139 total clearance in the deciding frame. Gray defeated

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

(his long-time practice partner) 10–5 at the 2006 World Championship, but in the second round Peter Ebdon beat Gray 13–2 with a , becoming one of the few players to have lost two best-of-25-frame matches in a World Championship so emphatically. Gray never advanced beyond the quarter-finals in a World Championship. In the 2006

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

, he advanced from the group stage (in which the world's top 32 plus sixteen qualifiers are split into groups of six, who play each other round-robin with the two most successful players in each group progressing), before losing 2–5 to O'Sullivan in the last 16. He did not qualify for the 2007 World Championship, losing to 1991 winner

John Parrott John Stephen Parrott, (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player and television personality. He was a familiar face on the professional snooker circuit during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and remained within ...

, and dropped out of the top 32 in the 2007/2008 rankings. A lack of success continued into the next season, with defeat to Liu Chuang in World Championship qualifying ensuring that he would be outside the top 40 of the rankings for the following year. Gray fell off the circuit after the 2008–09 season but a World Snooker wildcard was awarded to him to allow him to remain on tour for the 2009–10 season. After a disappointing 2009/2010 season he finished 77th for the 2010/2011 season and on 28 May 2011 Gray failed to qualify for the professional tour for the next season losing in the Q school qualifying stages. After yet another poor performance in the Q school stages in May 2012 also saw him fail to qualify for the 2012/2013 professional tour. The same was to follow in May 2013, as another poor performance in the Q School qualifying rounds led to disappointment, as he failed to qualify for the 2013/2014 tour. He did however enter himself into the first tournament of the season; the Bulgaria Open and was drawn against

Gerard Greene Gerard Eamonn Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Chatham, Kent) is a Northern Irish professional snooker player. He represents Northern Ireland in international events, as his parents are from Belfast. Greene has enjoyed moderate success in his ...

in the last 128, however he withdrew from the tournament before it started and has not played another match since.

Personal life

On 7 October 2009, whilst on holiday in Thailand, Gray was found unconscious and rushed to hospital after blacking out. The 30-year-old was rescued by paramedics after being found collapsed and wearing only his underpants in a grove in the Thai holiday resort of

Pattaya Pattaya ( th, พัทยา, , ) is a city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, within, but not part of, Bang Lamung district in the province of Chonburi province, Chonburi. Pattaya City ( ...

. He blacked out after drinking with friends and woke to find himself on a trolley in the Banglamung Hospital. 110sport Group chairman Lee Doyle said he will offer every assistance to help Gray.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 3 (1 title)

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2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Scottish Open , , 2–9 , - , style="background:#98FB98", Winner , 1. ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, Scottish Open , , 9–7 , - bgcolor="dfe2e9" , style="background:#ffa07a;", Runner-up , 2. ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, , 1–10

Non-ranking finals: 2 (2 titles)

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Merseyside Professional Championship The Merseyside Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament held in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. ...

, Paul Sweeny , 5–2 , - , style="background:#98FB98", Winner , 2. ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, Benson & Hedges Championship , , 9–6

Amateur finals: 5 (3 titles)

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IBSF World Under-21 Championship The IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and Sn ...

, , 10–11 , - , style="background:#98FB98", Winner , 1. , 1995 ,

English Amateur Championship The English Amateur Championship, an annual snooker competition, is the highest-ranking and most prestigious amateur event in England. It is also the oldest and longest-running snooker tournament in the world, having been established in 1916, a ...

, , 8–7 , - , style="background:#ffa07a;", Runner-up , 2. , 1995 , EBSA European Championship ,

David Lilley David William Lilley (born 31 October 1977 in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional footballer who usually plays at centre back but has also played at right back. Lilley was most recently the manager of Bellshill Athl ...

, 7–8 , - , style="background:#98FB98", Winner , 2. , 2013 , Snookerbacker Classic 2013 - Qualifier 6 - Gloucester , Anthony Harris , 3–1 , - , style="background:#98FB98", Winner , 3. , 2013 , Snookerbacker Classic 2013 - Grand Finals ,

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

, 4–2

References

External links

*
Profile on worldsnooker.com

Profile at Pro Snooker Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, David 1979 births Living people Snooker players from London People from the London Borough of Merton