Matthew Stevens is back at the Crucible for the first time in four years, but the 48-year-old Welshman is not getting carried away about his chances of World Snooker Championship glory. The former world number four, who reached two finals and three more semi-finals in the late 1990s and early 2000s, admits that winning the title is beyond him now.
‘Well, I couldn’t win it when I was in my prime, so I can’t see me winning it, obviously,’ Stevens said. ‘Look at the players you’ve got to beat, the likes of Zhao Xintong and all them players over three sessions. At the end of the day, I’ve probably got no chance of winning it. I’ll just go there, and if I can cause an upset or two, then you never know what could happen.’
Stevens secured his place at the Crucible with a 10-7 win over Stuart Bingham in the final qualifying round. He admitted that seeing Bingham priced as a heavy favourite provided extra motivation. ‘He was a 1/4, 1/5 favourite and I looked at that and I thought, in my own mind, I don’t think that’s the right price. That gave me a little bit of a challenge, really, to prove people wrong.’
The former UK Championship and Masters champion acknowledged that age and reduced practice time have affected his consistency. ‘I’m nearly 50 now! That doesn’t help. I don’t play as much as I used to, but I relaxed today. I’ve probably played three hours in six months, I found something today and played ok. Stuart didn’t play to his best otherwise he’d have beaten me. I can still play a little bit, which I proved today.’
Despite his realistic outlook, Stevens remains capable of causing upsets, having beaten world number one Judd Trump at the Xi’an Grand Prix this season. ‘I’m still a danger if I play well in any match,’ he added.
