Anthony Stephen Hamilton (born 29 June 1971) is an English professional snooker player. He has spent five seasons ranked among the game's elite Top 16 and fifteen in the Top 32, reaching a career-high of number ten in the world in the 1999/2000 season. Hamilton is a four-time World Championship quarter-finalist,
a Masters semi-finalist and he has compiled more than 300 century breaks during his long career. He won his first ranking title in 2017, beating Ali Carter 9–6 in the final of the German Masters, doing so at the age of 45.
Career
1991–2000
Hamilton turned professional in 1991, entering the world's top 32 in 1995/1996. Hamilton has reached two ranking tournament finals. In the British Open in 1999, where he lost to Fergal O'Brien, Hamilton opened with two centuries, but O'Brien won five frames on the final black to defeat the Nottingham man. The other was the 2001 China Open. Mark Williams beat him 9–8, despite Hamilton having led 8–5. He made the first of his four World Championship quarter-finals in 2000, losing 3–13 to John Higgins.
2000–2006
He reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship on three later occasions (2002, 2004 and 2007), but without reaching the semi-final stage. In 2002, he lost 6–13 to eventual winner Peter Ebdon. In 2004, he made two consecutive century breaks to come from 0–2 down to level at 2–2 in his quarter-final against eventual champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, but eventually lost the match by 3–13. Hamilton's 438 points scored in this match are a record low for a World Championship Quarter-final. He also has the highest ever points total in a first-round match at the Crucible, 1271 against Chris Small in 1999, though he lost this match 9–10. In 1997 he reached the second round; facing John Parrott at this stage he scored 414 unanswered points in frames 1–5, but still lost the match (this is the second-highest number of unanswered points in Crucible history; the record was set by John Higgins against Hamilton in the second round in 2000). Hamilton did not fare well in the 2006 World Championship, losing 1–10 in the opening round to Mark Williams. However, a strong two seasons ensured that he reclaimed a top 16 place.
Hamilton began the 2007–08 season at the Shanghai Masters, where he lost 4–5 against Adrian Gunnell in the last qualifying round.[13] Hamilton than was eliminated in the round robin stages of the Grand Prix, as he won only two of his five matches.[14] He reached the second round of the Northern Ireland Trophy, by defeating Michael Judge 5–2 in the first round, but lost 2–5 against Shaun Murphy.[15] He could qualify for the televised stage of the 2007 UK Championship, by defeating Barry Pinches 9–6, but lost against Mark Selby 5–9 in the first round.[16] Hamilton then lost in the first round of the Welsh Open 2–5 against Andrew Higginson,[17] and couldn't qualify for the China Open, after losing 1–5 against Marcus Campbell in the last qualifying round.[18] He ensured his qualification for the World Championship with a 10–2 victory over Scott MacKenzie in the final qualifying round, but lost 3–10 to Stephen Maguire in the first round.[19] This saw him drop from number 26 to 31 in the World Rankings at the start of the 2008/2009 season.[12]
2008–2009
In 2008–09 Hamilton did not reach the last sixteen in any of the first five ranking events. He lost in the first round 3–5 against Andrew Higginson at the Northern Ireland Trophy,[20] 2–5 against Marco Fu at the Shanghai Masters,[21] and 0–5 against John Higgins at the Grand Prix,[22][23] while he could not qualify for the Bahrain Championship and the UK Championship, as he lost in the qualifying round 2–5 against Mark Davis and 4–9 against Higginson respectively.[24][25] However he managed a run to the semi-finals of the 2009 Welsh Open. On the way he beat Peter Ebdon, Michael Judge and Mark Selby. In the semi-final he led Ali Carter 3–0 and it looked as though he may reach his third ranking final but eventually lost 5–6 against the eventual winner.[26] Hamilton qualified for the China Open, by defeating Patrick Wallace 5–1,[27] but lost 4–5 against John Higgins,[28] and he couldn't qualify for the World Championship, as he lost 5–10 to Ricky Walden in the last qualifying round.[29] At the end of the season he lost his place among the world's top 32, and was ranked number 33 in the next season.[12]
Hamilton qualified for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, the first ranking event of the 2014–15 season, by beating Andrew Pagett 5–2.[68] He defeated Kurt Maflin 5–1 in the first round, but from 4–2 ahead of Stuart Bingham in round two, he went on to lose 5–4.[69] He failed to qualify for the Shanghai Masters and International Championship, but knocked out Craig Steadman 6–5 in the first round of the UK Championship, despite Hamilton being docked a frame for arriving late.[70] Hamilton said afterwards, "It was rubbish - seriously. I can't play any worse. It was a good attitude but rubbish snooker. I am rubbish now a lot of the time. I am getting old basically. It's no fun but it's better than working".[71] He reiterated these sentiments after he lost 6–4 to Graeme Dott in the second round stating, "I don't practice much anymore. I only play because it is better than working. I will have to work for a long time so I just want to swerve it for as long as possible".[72] Hamilton qualified for the Indian Open and China Open, but was eliminated in the first round of both.[68] He was knocked out in the last 64 of every European Tour to finish 54th on the Order of Merit and 58th in the world rankings.[73][74]
2015–2016
Hamilton began the 2015/2016 season at risk of losing his tour place if his performances were not good enough; despite this, the results proved hard to come by during the first half of the season, with the last 32 appearance at the minor-ranking Event 5 of the European Tour being his best result. Hamilton's form improved slightly after the New Year. In the first round of the Welsh Open he eliminated the reigning world champion Stuart Bingham 4–1. having produced a break of 72 from 0–71 down to take the final frame.[75] He defeated Allan Taylor 4–2, before losing 4–3 to Ben Woollaston in the third round.[76] In the 2016 China Open qualifiers, Hamilton was involved in a high-quality match with Kyren Wilson, in which the two players set a record of six consecutive century breaks between them; this included two from Hamilton, but he was beaten 5–3.[77] Hamilton finished his season by reaching the final qualifying round for the World Championship, but was edged out 10–9 by Robbie Williams for the Crucible place.[78] Hamilton finished the year 71st in the world rankings and therefore outside of the top 64 for the first time since 1992;[79] however, thanks to being placed 64th on the European Order of Merit (one of the eight highest-placed players not in the world top 64), he earned a fresh two-year tour card.[80]
2016–2017: Resurgence and first ranking title
Hamilton at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Hamilton reached the quarter-finals of the English Open by beating Jak Jones 4–3, but lost 5–2 to Liang Wenbo.[81] He also got to the quarter-finals of the next Home Nations event, the Northern Ireland Open and he defeated local favourite Mark Allen 5–2 to make his first semi-final since the 2009 Welsh Open.[82] After the match, Hamilton said "a month ago I was skint and now I'm in the semi-finals."[83] In the semi-final he came from 4–2 and 5–3 down against Barry Hawkins to force a deciding frame in which he had a good chance to win the match, but he feathered the cue ball and Hawkins secured it with a 59 break.[84]
Hamilton came through a very tough draw at the German Masters as he beat Mark Williams 5–3, Mark Selby 5–2 and Barry Hawkins 5–4 to advance to the semi-finals whilst claiming he wasn't playing his best.[84] He then defeated Stuart Bingham 6–4 to get to his third ranking event final and first in 15 years in a match that finished at 1am.[85] Playing Ali Carter in the final, Hamilton fell 2–5 down early on, but went on to win seven of the last eight frames for a 9–6 victory. It sealed the long-awaited first ranking event title of his 26-year career as a professional, and at the age of 45, he also became the oldest winner of a ranking event since 46-year-old Doug Mountjoy in 1989. Hamilton moved from 66th to 38th in the rankings.[86] He beat Bingham 5–1, before losing 5–2 to Ding Junhui at the Players Championship and failed to reach the World Championship as he was defeated 10–9 by Noppon Saengkham in the second qualifying round.[87] From starting the season with no ranking points he finished it 25th in the world, 31 places ahead of the next newly qualified player, Yan Bingtao.[88]
2019–2020
Hamilton beat Sam Craigie 6–3 and Scott Donaldson 10–5 to qualify for the 2020 World Championship but then withdrew from the tournament. Being an asthmatic, Hamilton had criticised the decision to allow a limited number of spectators into the Crucible in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Defending champion Judd Trump said Hamilton should have made his decision earlier because, by participating in the qualifiers despite knowing there would be spectators in the final stages, he had denied a place to another player. This was despite government advice changing after qualifying entries had been announced.[89][90]
Personal life
He is nicknamed the "Sheriff of Pottingham",[91] "Swampy" and "The Robin Hood of Snooker".[92] He now lives in Nottingham, and regularly plays at Spot On Leisure in Hucknall, Nottingham.[93] In 2001 he suffered a broken wrist while attempting to come to the rescue of a friend who was mugged in a nightclub,[94] an injury which kept him out of three tournaments and ultimately cost him his place in the top 16 of the 2001/2002 season.[95]
England_2013-01-31_07.jpg)
_2014-01-30_01.jpg)
