Introduction
Suzie Opacic started her snooker career very well indeed. At just 17 years of age, Suzie won the 2006 World Ladies Junior Championship. She later reached four semi-finals on the women’s circuit. After that, Opacic decided to take a break from snooker to study and complete a Masters degree in Development Planning at Reading University. Since 2013, she is a fully chartered town planner.
Thankfully, Opacic returned to the women’s circuit in 2015 and continued to make strides in the sport. She reached three quarter-finals and the 2017 Women’s 10 Red World Championship semi-finals! Over the next few years, she reached the latter stages numerous times, such as the 2018 Women’s Masters semi-finals. She became runners-up in the 2017 and 2018 Women’s Pairs Championship with Laura Evans.
Before the lockdown, she managed to go on an exhilarating trip to Antarctica. It was great for the current No. 8 in the world to answer questions for me! Our interview is underneath and I hope you enjoy it!
Interview – Suzie Opacic
Lockdown Life
CoR: How are you coping with the current lockdown?
Suzie Opacic: My family and I are well at the moment so that’s the important thing. I’m fortunate that I’m able to do my job as a Town Planner for Heathrow Airport from home, so my weeks don’t differ too much with a normal working day but I’m about to go on furlough shortly.
I am missing the routine and physical contact with the office and my colleagues. Virtual meetings are never quite the same as face to face! I know many who can’t work from home so I feel thankful, especially to key workers and NHS front line staff.
CoR: How have you been keeping yourself occupied during these strange times?
Suzie Opacic: Monday to Friday is work as usual. However, I used to have a fairly long commute to work so I’ve been using that time to exercise and build up my fitness. I’m lucky to have a treadmill and cross-trainer at home so I have been making use of them each morning, and I try to get out once a day for a walk or bike ride.
I’m lucky to live on the edge of the New Forest so have some great rural cycle tracks nearby and isolated walks which is ideal. At weekends I’ve been doing jobs around the house and sprucing up the garden, painting fences and staining decking. The veg patch is underway so that’s kept me occupied! No snooker though unfortunately!
I’m also planning a trip to New Zealand next year so I have a lot of research to do for that (assuming travel gets underway by Christmas). I got engaged in February so I also need to start planning a wedding!
CoR: What’s the support been like from Women’s Snooker Tour (WWS)?
Suzie Opacic: WWS has been great. It’s easy to keep up to date with their news. They’ve given clear and early messaging on tournaments and cancellations, so we knew early on that the Women’s Festival of Snooker in Leeds and the World Championships in Thailand wouldn’t take place.
This helps with player’s costs and cancellation fees especially for those travelling abroad. It’s been nice to keep in touch with players on social media and see what everyone is up to.
CoR: What is the camaraderie like among WWS? Do you keep in touch with other players during the lockdown?
Suzie Opacic: The WWS tour is very social. That’s one of the big appeals of the circuit. Regardless of what happens on the table, we enjoy having fun together off the table. We enjoy meeting up and have a few drinks after the tournaments!
I’m keeping in touch with the other girls mainly via social media during the lockdown.
Best Beginnings
CoR: How have you become interested in snooker?
Suzie Opacic: I started watching snooker on TV when I was about 8. My Granddad had a small table which I had a go on. He got me a little table for home and I started playing in the junior leagues at the Chandlers Ford Snooker Club. It’s my local, which is still thriving today.
I was in awe at the large tables and from then I was hooked! I used to play once a week in the junior leagues. It was when I was about 16 that I started playing a bit more often and taking it more seriously.
CoR: Who’s been your inspiration since you started growing up playing snooker?
Suzie Opacic: Growing up, I used to love watching Ronnie O’Sullivan play and admired his natural flare. You also had the likes of John Higgins, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, and Ken Doherty all competing to such a high standard in the late 90s/early 00s.
I think I was 13 when I saw Judd Trump play at my local club in a national Under 14s tournament. Everyone was in awe of his talent. My main inspiration though was my Granddad as he took an interest in my snooker and loved to see me doing well.
CoR: How has women’s snooker changed since you won the 2006 World Ladies Junior Championship?
Suzie Opacic: The tour has been through waves since then I think. It went through a phase not too long after 2006 where you didn’t seem to have as many international players. Tournament numbers would be pretty low and it also wasn’t very well known. It was partly this and studying for a Masters degree alongside work which meant I had a 4-year break from the tour from 2010.
When I came back, the tour was on the up. Now we are getting much better tournament entries, sponsors and tournaments all over the world, which is how it should be.
Snooker Reflections
CoR: What would you say are your main strengths and weaknesses are as a player?
Suzie Opacic: I think I’m quite a natural player. But I do feel that not having a coach at an early stage in my career had hindered me. It is difficult for me to make small tweaks to improve cue action when you’ve been set in your ways from 9 years old! My head is also a weakness at times. I don’t always have enough self-belief or confidence in my game.
CoR: What has been your greatest achievement during your snooker career?
Suzie Opacic: Winning the World Junior title in 2006 at my first-ever women’s tournament was a great feeling, although I always play it down as there weren’t very many entries at that time! Getting to 5th in the rankings was also a highlight.
CoR: What would be your ideal tournament (location, length of frames, etc.)?
Suzie Opacic: The Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds is always a great UK venue and has become a ‘home’ for many of the women’s tournaments. However, I like to travel so I always see tournaments in different countries as a great way to see new places and sights. Although this conflicts with my desire to travel elsewhere to other places. Five weeks of annual leave doesn’t always stretch far enough!
I came across an amazing backstreet open-air snooker club in Borneo once. The locals played slightly different rules and there were holes in the tables and cigarettes left on the cushions. But it was a great experience – I’m not sure the tables would fit WWS standards though!
In terms of tournament length, it’s always a tricky balance between how much time off work is required to travel and play. Most of the girls have to take annual leave to attend events. I favour BO5 matches as a minimum. I find BO3s very nervy or scrappy and they don’t always bring out the best form.
WWS events are usually played over a weekend, apart from the Festival and the World Championships. So there’s a balance to be had if group stages are included before knockouts, so the groups tend to be best of 3 followed by best of 5 and 7 in the knockouts, which works well.
Global Ambitions Of Women’s Snooker
CoR: It was amazing when Rebecca Kenna made national headlines a couple of years ago by leaving a snooker league because she highlighted that she wasn’t allowed to play league snooker in ‘men’s only’ clubs. I read you had similar experiences yourself, have things improved since then?
Suzie Opacic: I’m aware of a very small handful of clubs across the country that perhaps still have outdated ‘men only’ rules when it comes to women playing in league matches. I’ve been lucky that I’ve not had any real animosity in the Southampton & District league, which I play in.
In my experience, everyone’s always been very encouraging regardless of gender. I’ve played in the league since I was 17 and have only ever come across one club that I wasn’t allowed to play at – that has now changed.
CoR: How do you think the Women’s Snooker Tour is progressing at the moment? What would you like to see introduced in the future?
Suzie Opacic: I think it’s going from strength to strength. All credit to the WWS team who are making such strides with organising tournaments and publicity, attracting sponsors and building the women’s game. It’s great to see the tour becoming truly global with tournaments taking place across the world.
The standard on the tour is also improving, especially with players from Thailand and Hong Kong. This can only help attract sponsors and get more women playing.
CoR: It was quite nice to see Nutcharut Wongharuthai break the duo domination of Reanne Evans and Ng On-yee by winning the 2019 Australian Women’s Open…
Suzie Opacic: Yes, I think it shows that the standard is going up and the field is levelling. It’s great to see Mink and others rising quickly up the ranks. Mink’s a great talent and her 147 last year pushed women’s snooker up the agenda by showing the talent that is out there.
Reanne and Ng are fantastic players and role models for women’s snooker. Without them raising profiles and publicity, I don’t think the circuit would be where it is today.
We now truly have an international circuit to be proud of.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks go to Suzie Opacic for taking her time out to be interviewed by me.
I take no credit for the photos used in this interview. Women’s World Snooker is the owner of some of the photographic material.
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