Jack Lisowski has admitted frustrations over a 'terrible' season as he prepares to defend his Northern Ireland Open title in Belfast this month. The 35-year-old, currently ranked 18th in the world, produced one of the most memorable moments of last season when he edged out Judd Trump 9-8 in the Belfast final, securing the first ranking title of his career just months after tragically losing his father.
Struggles since Belfast triumph
Many had tipped Lisowski to win a string of titles after finally claiming his first, but those floodgates are yet to be opened. He reached the Welsh Open final in March, but otherwise victories have proved difficult to come by since Belfast. This season has been particularly challenging, with Lisowski expecting to miss events in January and February as his fiance will be giving birth to their first child in Brazil, and he will be by her side.
'So frustrating. Yeah, very frustrating so far,' Lisowski said of his season. 'And I've known for a few months that I'm going to probably be out of action in January, February. So I've been trying to get ahead.'
'I thought, right, I've got to try and crack on now. So if I have a few months off or whatever, it's not going to do too much damage. But yeah, it's been a terrible start. Not been very good and it's been frustrating.'
Qualifying woes
Lisowski has been in and out of the top 16 this season, so has had to qualify for the main stages of most ranking events. These have not been going well, and he has missed out on trips to the China Open, Wuhan Open, Shenzhen Open and International Championship.
'The standard's getting so much better. Everyone's just a lot better these days,' he said. 'You've got players the public would have probably never even heard of, but they can make one visits all day long and play good snooker, especially in these qualifiers.'
'So yeah, the standard of qualifying is very good. It's tough. I think it's four out of four I haven't qualified for China this season, which is really bad. I think on a couple of them games, I've ran into players playing really well. So yeah, I'm not in some crisis yet, anyway.'
Emotional return to Belfast
Lisowski will be buoyed by a return to the scene of his greatest triumph, though, as he prepares to play Huang Jiahao in his Belfast opener on Sunday. 'It's going to be emotional going back there,' he said. 'I'm so grateful to the people at Belfast for the support they gave me. There's going to be so many memories going back there.'
'I'm going to feel pressure because I really want to do well again. Because I know how incredible it can be when you do well there. It's going to be very special. But still, I can't be like, "Oh, this is amazing to be back here" because before I know it, I'll be 3-0 down!'
'I'm under pressure and I've just got to block it out, I guess. Play the snooker table. If you win, then you can take it all in after and look back on it in good memories. But at the time, I've just got to try my best and not get distracted. It'll be very difficult.'
Support from fellow professionals
The snooker world seemed united in their happiness for Lisowski a year ago at the Waterfront Hall, and he recalls special messages from fellow professionals, some of which he would class as his heroes. 'The fact that probably…I think every single player messaged me and that meant so much,' he said. 'Really top players were saying they cried. You know, my heroes. So that was very special.'
'Messages like that off those people. You never expect it. And when it happens, yeah, it's very special.' Asked who those heroes are, he said: 'I can't say, you know who the heroes are! Everyone's heroes.'
