Joe Perry believes snooker needs to make changes in its career structure to help those at the bottom of the rankings.
David Caulfield, SnookerHQ
Joe Perry, who became a professional player in the same year as Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams, believes that the previous professional rating system should be reintroduced on the Tour.
"I am happy to speak out on this matter." Joe Perry spoke to host Michael McMullen on a WST podcast earlier this week.
"It's just because I love the sport and I want snooker to be very good in every way. I don't want what's best for me, what's best for the game. ”
'I don't have many years left in my career and I'll continue to watch snooker after that, so I hope snooker can have a more benign development."
"I think we've had a golden period of games after game. The expansion of Chinese events, the high prize money of the events, and the arrival of one big event after another, but we are now a bit stuck in a bottleneck period. ”
"I think now may be a good time to restore the occupational grading system. We have a lot of bottom-ranked players struggling to make ends meet. ”
"Even though they're already in a much better position than the bottom of the rankings a decade ago, they're also trying to make a living through the competition."
"I think it may be time to recover, by disrupting the unevenness of prize money between different events, so that more matches can be played under a tiered structure with guaranteed prize money."
"It's a little bit of pressure on the bottom players, it's really hard for the downstream players to survive."
"Like I said, by today's standards, even the 90th to 100th ranked players are exceptional."
In addition to talking to the host about his years of friendship with Neil Robertson and his love for arsenal at the club, Joe Perry looks back on some of the most important moments of his career.
Perry recalls his regrets in the 2008 World Championship semi-finals against Ali Carter and the 2017 Masters final against Ronnie O'Sullivan.
"Ronnie wasn't in 100 per cent form that day, especially at the beginning of the game. I was 4-1 ahead and put him in trouble, and similar to Carter's game, I didn't take advantage of the lead – I didn't take advantage of that moment. ”
"I did feel something in that moment, but I didn't have the ability to move on. I could have led 6-2 in that game, or at worst, 5-3. ”
'That would give me the buffer I needed and when I go back to the late game, taking the lead is a feeling I've never felt before or since.
"When I was standing at Alexandria Palace waiting for the final to play, there were 2,000 people there. It was definitely the feeling of an electric flint, but I really felt cold about it. I was so nervous, I didn't relax, I lost a few balls and made the situation worse. ”
"I was terrified in the late race. It would have helped if I could have had a buffer, but the score was 4:4, with no room for buffering, and Ronnie went straight to an 8:4 lead. ”
"It wasn't a match at all and my poor form made it so easy for him to win. I was supposed to regroup and get back into shape at half-time, and then he had to do well and put in the effort to win. ”
"But that was definitely an opportunity I missed – even though I've been playing for a long, long time, I haven't experienced enough moments like this to be ready for an occasion like that."