Introduction
Gateshead’s Elliot Slessor first became a professional snooker player after qualifying through Q School in 2013 with a 4-0 win over Chris Wakelin. During his first two-year card, he reached the Last 32 for the first time in the 2015 China Open, beating Xiao Guodong and Matt Selt along the way. After dropping off the tour and failing to qualify via Q School for the second, Slessor returned to the amateur ranks. Just a year later, he became a professional again by winning the EBSA Play-Offs, plowing through two deciders against Phil O’Kane and Jamie Clarke in the process.
His second stint as a professional was much more successful. Elliot reached his first quarter-final in the 2017 Indian Open, beating Matthew Stevens, Alan McManus, Joe Perry and Shaun Murphy. He went one step further in the Northern Ireland Open the same year, reaching the semi-finals after emerging victorious against Li Yuan in the final eight. He was defeated by eventual champion Mark Williams 6-2. His knack for taking high-profile scalps continued, such as Tom Ford, Peter Ebdon, Mark Davis and Ronnie O’Sullivan twice! His highest ranking was No. 68 in the table.
We just had a lovely chat earlier and our interview is below. Enjoy!
Interview – Elliot Slessor
CoR: When did you start being interested in snooker in the first place?
Elliot Slessor: I first got interested in snooker when my Granddad bought me a mini table for Christmas when I was about 8-years-old. I took it from there really and the rest is history.
CoR: What was being a professional snooker player like when you first qualified back in 2013?
Elliot Slessor: It was so expensive when I first turned pro. I was 18-years-old with no sponsor. So I had to work a lot to afford the fees to enter the comps and then had to pay my fuel and hotel. So for a long time, I was working and just been able to go to the events without much practice. Luckily for me, Barry Hearn eventually changed all that.
CoR: When you dropped off the tour in 2015, did you consider hanging up the cue for good? What made you try again a year later?
Elliot Slessor: Yeah, when I dropped off the tour, I was so depressed. I lost out by a match on two different lists and to not get a wildcard back on was awful really. I put my cue away for a few months and moped about as I felt so depressed and deflated.
What kept me going I think was knowing I was more than good enough to achieve something. Not to be disrespectful, but seeing people I felt I was just as good if not better than getting results got me playing again.
CoR: Can you describe your run to your first ranking semi-final in the 2017 Northern Ireland Open (ie the atmosphere, coping with the pressure, if that installed belief in your game)?
Elliot Slessor: When I got to the semis in Belfast, it didn’t feel like a massive shock to me. I always felt I had the game and the bottle it was just the case of bringing it together for a few matches on the spin. I have a few close friends over there and we were well looked after so it’s one of the few events I enjoy being away from home from. That atmosphere was great in the main room, and the crowd always seem to love an underdog!
To be honest, the pressure was okay. I feel like I’m a big occasion player. I feel more at home under the lights of the main table then I do in the back room with nobody watching, because I feel more vulnerable and flat. It’s really weird for me and to this day can’t get my head around it.
CoR: It seems that you are not a keen traveller…
Elliot Slessor: Definitely! I prefer the events at home, and I’m not a fan of travelling being honest. But I know it needs to be done.
CoR: If you had to create your own snooker event, what would it be like?
Elliot Slessor: My ideal event would be in the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle. All the matches are best-of-19 minimum.
CoR: You also have the enviable record of being undefeated against Ronnie O’Sullivan, having beaten him twice! Do you prepare any differently against him compared to other players?
Elliot Slessor: Nah I don’t prepare differently from playing Ronnie to any other player. I always play my own game and I don’t care who I play. I just try to play the balls I feel I’ve been around far too long to worry about other players! The only thing I would say is I enjoy it more playing Ronnie on the main stage under the lights. These sorts of matches are what you practice for – the ultimate test against the ultimate player. I love that.
CoR: How do you think the snooker tour has evolved over the past 5 years?
Elliot Slessor: The tour has evolved a lot over the past five years, with lots more tourneys and more earning opportunities. But the biggest change from a player point of view, in my opinion, is the scrapped entry fees. It saved potentially a lot of players careers including my own, that’s how significant it was. It saved us about £6,000 of entry fees per season. If it wasn’t scrapped then I would be completely skint and no sponsor. I hated the game and I really hated not having any money at the time.
CoR: Are you still annoyed with the supposed rise of invitational tournaments you raised about?
Elliot Slessor: I’m not annoyed about invitation events as the top players deserve them. But when we are losing ranking events to cater for invitation tournaments, it not great for the rest of us to earn money to say the least.
CoR: I assume your main goal this season is to stay up?
Elliot Slessor: I’m passed setting goals, to be honest. For me, to stay on should be the minimum. I feel I’m more than good enough to be in the Top 64 and until I get in there, every season is a failure in my book.
CoR: What the camaraderie like on tour? Do you have a group of mates or does everyone keep themselves to themselves?
Elliot Slessor: Everybody has there own little cliques on the tour but I get on with 99% of the tour. They are all good lads and we’re all trying to do the same thing! I’m closer to some than others as you would expect but at the end of the day, we are here to win not make friends.
CoR: Considering you are a Newcastle fan, I assume you have no plans to buy Michael Owen’s new book yet…
Elliot Slessor: Where do I start? From the moment he moved to the club, that bloke wouldn’t put a shift in and wouldn’t put his body on the line. He bled the club dry money-wise too. I think I would rather use tabasco for eye drops than read a line of that junk!
Acknowledgments
Many thanks go to Elliot Slessor for taking his time out to be interviewed by me. I wish his the very best for the rest of the season and to break the Top 64!
I take no credit for the photos used in this interview.
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