Name: Graeme Dott

DOB: May 12th 1977

Nationality: Scottish

Turned Pro: 1994

Highest Ranking: #2 (2007/8)

Current Ranking: #28

Highest Break: 147 (British Open 1999)

Career Highlights: 2006 World Champion, 2007 China Open Champion, 2008 World Series Berlin Champion, 2004 World Finalist, 2005 Malta Cup Finalist, 2001 British Open Finalist, 1999 Scottish Open Finalist

In short

Early in 2004, Graeme Dott was at a crossroads in his career which ultimately ended with him snapping his cue at a service station having suffered one defeat too many. Within two years however it had all turned around and Graeme won the World Championship for the first time, beating Peter Ebdon in the final to end the week of his life.

The cornerstone of Graeme’s game, and indeed his world title triumph is his steely determination and his highly competent safety game that makes up for anything he lacks in the break building department. Unfortunately since that world title victory however, his form has been overshadowed by a number of personal problems that led to Graeme receiving treatment for depression.

Though he has now dropped out of the top 16 after a seven year spell in that elite band of players, he showed improved form towards the end of the 2008/9 season and if he can get his confidence fully back, will no doubt be back up there before too long.

Early career

Following a successful amateur career highlighted by victories in the 1992 British U-19 Championship and the 1993 Scottish Amateur Championship, Graeme turned professional at the start of the 1994/5 season.

His first few years on the tour were unspectacular, though he did show consistent improvement and moved up into the top 32 for the first time at the end of the 1997/8 season. This steady pattern continued at the start of the next before he made an impressive run to his first ranking final at the Regal Scottish Open, beating John Parrott, Paul Hunter and Ken Doherty along the way. In the final itself however he was to be brought back down to earth with a bump, suffering a 9-1 mauling at the hands of Stephen Hendry.

Still, the week was a good one overall and Graeme was to make his first competitive 147 a month later at the British Open and went on to end the season ranked at 25th.

Top 16

Although he continued to improve during the next season, reaching the Scottish semi-finals and his second appearance at the Crucible, defeat to Steve Davis in his final match of the season meant that a place in the top 16 would have to wait another year. It was to be just that one year though as another solid season in 2000/1 moved him up to 14th place, meaning that he no longer had to qualify for the final stages of events.

This was expected to be the time when Graeme would kick on and establish himself in the top ten but things just did not seem to work out for him as his form dipped. Ultimately this was to culminate in him destroying his cue at a service station following another defeat at the 2004 Welsh Open.

2004/5 was steady if not spectacular, though he reached his third ranking event final in Malta where he came up short once again to countryman Stephen Hendry. Ending the season at 15th, Graeme knew he needed a good season to maintain his ranking though I doubt even he could imagine what was to come.

World Champion

Entering the 2006 World Championship, nobody really gave Graeme a chance but following victories against John Parrot, Nigel Bond and Neil Robertson in the early rounds he found himself up against O’Sullivan again at the Crucible in the semi-final. With the match level at 8-8 and Ronnie struggling with the tip of his cue, Graeme remarkably won all eight frames in the third session of the match and put himself just one away from the a place in the final. Although O’Sullivan rallied in the evening, it was to be Graeme’s night and he took the victory, 17-11.

This time in the final Graeme found himself up against 2002 champion Peter Ebdon and carried on where he left off against O’Sullivan, moving to a 15-7 lead at the start of the final session. In what was an epic session for the tension if not the quality of snooker, Ebdon won the first six frames of the night to move within two frames, but Dott held his nerve to close out the match 18-14. Given where he had been just over two years previously when in that Welsh service station, this was a fantastic achievement for the Scot and moved him up to number 6 in the rankings.

In 2006/7 Dott was to have a mixed season, reaching the UK semi-finals before losing out yet again to Hendry, as well as taking his second ranking event title at the China Open. His prospects of becoming the new world number one were to end in an extremely disappointing fashion however as his defence of his world title ended on the opening day of the 2007 World Championship with defeat to Ian McCulloch. This match led to some angry comments from Dott about McCulloch’s style of play though I doubt that Ian was too bothered. As a result, Dott had to settle for second in the rankings, albeit a new career high.

Decline

From this high, 2007/8 was to be something of a disaster as Dott failed to win a single ranking event match after the season opening Shanghai Masters. With various tragic events occurring in his personal life, Graeme was to receive treatment for depression and it was clear to see that he was not right on the table. Although he retained his place in the top 16 at the end of the season, he left himself facing an uphill battle to even retain his top 32 place for the 2009/10 season.

2008/9

Having won a World Series event in Berlin over the summer, Graeme entered the 2008/9 season feeling as confident as he had done for a long time, but unfortunately another set-back was to be just around the corner. During a football match between the players taking place prior to the start of the Shanghai Masters, Graeme suffered a broken wrist which meant that he would not only miss that tournament, but the subsequent Grand Prix as well. He returned for the Bahrain Championship in November but despite making a century, he lost out to Barry Pinches as his slide down the rankings continued.

Finally though he did manage to win a match at a ranking event in the UK Championship as he defeated former world champion Ken Doherty to reach the last 16. Though he lost out to Mark Williams in the next round, it was clear that Graeme was looking much better and this has continued in the following events as he looked to retain a place in the top 32.

Though he lost out to eventual winner Ali Carter in the Welsh Open, he did push him all the way and his improved form was finally rewarded with a run to the quarter-finals in China, including a terrific win over Mark Selby along the way. Next up was the World Championship and needing at least one win to secure his top 32 status for next season, he duly delivered with a 10-8 victory over Barry Hawkins before Selby got exacted swift revenge for that defeat in China in the last 16.

Hopefully now Graeme has come through the worst in terms of his poor form and will soon be back among the top 16 as soon as possible.

Tournament Victories:

Ranking Event wins (2)

Non-Ranking Event wins (1)

Profile supplied by Matt Huart (http://prosnookerblog.com/)