Louis Heathcote is a professional snooker player based in Leicester. He first came onto the scene by reaching the final of the 2015 European Under-21 Snooker Championships in Malta at just 17 years old. Despite beating Chris Totten, Brian Cini and Dylan Craig, he came unstuck against Manx Darryl Hill 6-3.
After four years of working his way through the amateur ranks, Heathcote finally became a professional at 21 years old in 2019. Heathcote qualified in the second event of Q School, beating wonderkid Si Jiahui in the deciding frame, despite being 3-0 down.
Louis Heathcote made a very successful start during his rookie season with 19 victories and 16 losses. He beat a number of high-ranking players including Ryan Day, Noppon Saengkham and Lu Ning. He reached the Last 32 of a professional tournament for the first time in the 2019 Northern Ireland Open. His biggest scalp came in the 2020 World Championship qualifying rounds, beating two-time finalist Ali Carter 6-3 and halting his streak of 19 straight appearances at the Crucible. Heathcote received the 2020 Rookie of the Year award for his achievements.
Lockdown proved to be a struggle for Heathcote during his second professional season. However, he continued to beat higher-ranked players, reached No. 66 in the world and made his first ranking quarter-final bow in the 2021 Snooker Shoot-Out. After losing to 6-5 to Ryan Day in the third round of the 2020 World Championship qualifiers, Heathcote was in danger of falling off the tour. However, Heathcote received a fresh tour card for being one of the high-ranked players on the One Year List.
Louis and I had a lovely chat, as shown below. Enjoy!
Interview – Louis Heathcote
Reaching the Promised Land
CoR: What attracted you to snooker in the first place?
Louis Heathcote: I went to Florida when I was quite young and I didn’t really go on any rides or anything like that. I think I was annoying my Mum and Dad, so they just kept giving me money to go pool so I’d get out their hair. When we got back my Dad took me down the local snooker club, Club 147 in Leicester, and I really got into pool. As I got older, I gradually got into snooker and went from there really! I just loved playing and trying to better myself at it.
CoR: You almost qualified back in 2015 by reaching the final of the European Under-21 Snooker Championships. Was it difficult to be resilient having come so close to qualifying after losing the final?
Louis Heathcote: It was hard. It was my first European tournament so I wasn’t expecting much as I was only 17 years old back then. I was devastated to come so close to getting a tour card and missing out. But looking back, if I had won that final, got that tour card and became a professional then, it would have probably been the worst thing to happen to me. I would have just got battered for two years and lose all my confidence.
When I qualified in 2019, I felt as if I got on tour at the right time. I felt mentally ready and good enough to get on tour.
CoR: I’ve heard a lot about Q School and how unforgiving, brutal and nerve-wracking it is. What were your experiences with it?
Louis Heathcote: Q School is horrible. You can play well for an entire year and win every amateur event but if you lose enough matches at Q School, you’re back to square one. Or you can play rubbish all year but find some form and get on tour – it all depends on how you play that week.
Q School hasn’t been too great for me till I qualified. I had some sticky draws here and there. I remember one event when I was in the latter stages and I played Michael Georgiou. I was 3-1 up and later 56-0 up in the deciding frame and I played a bad safety and he cleared up to win 4-3. I remember getting in the car with my Mum and burst into tears! He ended up getting on tour and I really felt like I’d let one slip away there because I felt like I was playing well enough to get my tour card.
But I suppose every cloud and all that. It is very brutal but it’s not meant to be easy to become a professional. It’s also not just snooker that has Q School – darts and golf do too. It is what it is…
CoR: Can you remember how you felt from when you were 3-0 down against Si Jiahui to beating him 4-3 to earn a tour card?
Louis Heathcote: Yeah! I’d previously lost to Si 4-0 in Event 1 in about 30 minutes! When I was 3-0 down and needing a snooker in the final of Event 2, I’d more or less given up. I was so close to shaking his hand and getting ready for the next event.
But I played on and managed to get the snooker and cleared up. Then I needed a snooker again at 3-1 down and I managed to get that, fluked a red and ended up winning that frame! That’s when I felt like I could win the match and I ended up making breaks of 51 and 55 in the next two frames to watch the match.
Achieving my dream was the best feeling in the world. I still watch the video of myself winning that match now, It still gives me goosebumps, especially the way it happened.
Reflections on his Rookie Season
CoR: What sort of things did you learn during your first two years as a professional?
Louis Heathcote: I think you learn so much without even realising.
Preparation is key on tour. If I play at noon, I always go the day before and get a hotel. Or I could book a hotel for the same day I have a 7pm match, relax and prepare properly. It is for the sake of £60-£70, but you’ve got to give yourself the best chance at winning. It’s your livelihood at the end of the day.
I’ve learned a lot about shot selection and safety. I’ve always been decent at scoring and my long game is probably up there with the best, but my safety snd shot selection has always let me down. I’ve learnt and am still learning now that a good safety is just as important as a good long pot. Good composure and trusting your technique under pressure is so important as well and if you have any doubts in your head whilst playing a 9/10 shot, you’ll probably miss it.
Louis Heathcote: They are both amazing compliments, but I would say winning Rookie of the Year was a bigger compliment. It’s something that I achieved myself, put the work in and got the results to become the best out of all the newcomers. It was a huge goal for me to win and you only ever get one chance at winning that award and I managed to do so!
Ronnie’s compliments were incredible too. It gave me goosebumps when I read what he said, but I’m also aware that in reality, it means nothing unless I put the work in and prove him right and get to the top! But again, that was a huge confidence boost.
Lockdown Life
CoR: Would you hold lockdown solely responsible for your struggles during your second season? What were the other factors?
Louis Heathcote: I think it’s hard to say. You never know what it would have been like without lockdown. It wasn’t for a lack of practice as I always work hard. I just think it’s so tough to win on tour. Everyone can play so no match is easy!
When you look at it, I qualified a couple of times to go to China and got to the last round of Worlds Qualifying last year. This season there were no China events and I got to the second last round of the Worlds Qualifiers, so there’s the 10k difference from last season. Of course, I was disappointed to not improve from last season.
CoR: How did you cope during the lockdown and did you pick up any weird hobbies during that time?
Louis Heathcote: Lockdown was really tough for me. I’m probably out of the house doing things five nights a week, and I get bored very easily! I enjoy going out drinking with my mates on a weekend, going on holidays, enjoy eating out, going away with my Mrs and always loved playing golf.
I was 23 when we first went into lockdown and to not be able to do them and be trapped at home was really hard mentally. The third lockdown was the hardest because I had the immense pressure of staying on tour. I probably wasn’t the best person to be around then. I felt like I had the world on my shoulders and that I lost nearly two years of what was supposed to be the best years of my life.
Restrictions are easing now and hopefully, there will be no more lockdowns and we can get back to some normality! I need to make up for lost time haha! I didn’t really pick up any weird hobbies. I tried running but I hated that and that lasted one day! I couldn’t wait to play golf so I was buzzing when they reopened!
CoR: I think the shot most people remember you for was when your outrageous fluke against Ryan Day in the last World Championship Qualifiers. Did you expect the shot to get the attention that it did?
Louis Heathcote: Haha the fluke! No, not at all!
When you’re in the moment, you don’t think about it. I was just happy to hit it! It was obviously really lucky it went in and I just carried on with the frame. I actually probably played one of the worst shots ever on the brown later and ended up losing the frame so the fluke didn’t even mean anything in the end.
It was crazy to see it on Sky Sports News. Gary Lineker was retweeting and commenting on it. Someone sent me a video of it on the news in New Zealand as well, which was absolutely mental!
CoR: What ambitions do you have this season now that your tally has been reset to zero?
Louis Heathcote: I really want to start getting deeper into all the tournaments, baring the shootout, which was my best event as I reached the Last 32 then.
I feel like I’m consistently winning my first-round games but not really doing much after that! So I want to start getting so some Last 16 and quarter-finals, and show everyone and myself what I can do! Then ultimately, I’ll get in the top 64!
CoR: Why do you think Leicester is a fantastic hub for snooker players? You have Mark Selby, Tom Ford, Ben Woollaston, Joe O’Connor…..
Louis Heathcote: I think probably Willie Thorne’s snooker club plays a huge part in that. That club was like the home of snooker tournaments 20-odd years ago. From what I was told there were tournaments there all the time and all the pros used to go in them. I’m very lucky to be surrounded by quality players and probably have Willie and Malcolm Thorne to thank for that!
CoR: If you had to change anything on the snooker tour, what would it be?
Louis Heathcote: That’s a tough one for me to comment on I think. I’ve only had 2 seasons on tour and for more than half of that we were in lockdown and had no crowds.
I would probably say the money structure in the earlier rounds. You could reach the Last 16 or the quarter-finals and only win £2,000 more than someone losing in the Last 64. Maybe the ranking system could get looked at too because too top-heavy sometimes. It seems unfair that someone earns £20,000 for being a Home Nations semi-finalist compared to £6,000 for reaching the same stage at the Gibraltar Open. This seems unfair since these events are the exact same format and almost the same schedule too.
SPORTS, SPORTS, SPORTS
CoR: How did you cope during the lockdown and did you pick up any weird hobbies during that time?
Louis Heathcote: Lockdown was really tough for me. I’m probably out of the house doing things five nights a week, and I get bored very easily! I enjoy going out drinking with my mates on a weekend, going on holidays, enjoy eating out, going away with my Mrs and always loved playing golf.
I was 23 when we first went into lockdown and to not be able to do them and be trapped at home was really hard mentally. The third lockdown was the hardest because I had the immense pressure of staying on tour. I probably wasn’t the best person to be around then. I felt like I had the world on my shoulders and that I lost nearly two years of what was supposed to be the best years of my life.
Restrictions are easing now and hopefully, there will be no more lockdowns and we can get back to some normality! I need to make up for lost time haha! I didn’t really pick up any weird hobbies. I tried running but I hated that and that lasted one day! I always loved playing golf so I was buzzing when they reopened!
CoR: Why are there so many snooker players that love golf? I can’t understand it whatsoever.
Louis Heathcote: I think it’s because everyone is stuck indoors, unable to practice and not seeing any sunlight! It’s so nice to get out with your mates outside, put your phone away, have a few beers afterwards and just relax!
I think it’s a buzz as well. I’m quite competitive and you want to beat your mates playing golf for a fiver or even a beer. I think snooker players are obviously all competitive so it’s finding that rush from something else outside of snooker.
CoR: Do you have any interests outside sport?
Louis Heathcote: Not really to be honest. I’m quite a sporty person and a lot of what I do revolves around sport. I love going out on a Saturday with my mates for a day to watch all the football scores coming in and hopefully get a winning accumulator. I still play pool quite a lot. We have a pool team so I’m always down the club playing that on a Thursday evening with the lads!
Acknowledgments
Many thanks go to Louis Heathcote for taking his time out to be interviewed by me.
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