Dott plays through pain to fine-tune his game with busy schedule ahead
• Scot focused on recovering from neck injury after English Open exit
Graeme Dott’s English Open bid was in serious jeopardy before even potting a ball, so reaching the third round proved a pleasant surprise for the Scot.
A neck injury on the eve of the tournament had left the 2006 world champion questioning whether he should even go to Crawley, instead considering resting up for future events.
But taking the plunge proved worth it, progressing to the last-32 with a 4-2 win over last year’s beaten finalist Mark Davis in his opener, before cruising past Mike Dunn 4-0.
Dott eventually came unstuck against Thai star Thepchaiya Un-nooh, losing 4-2, but it was thanks to painkillers that he was even there in the first place.
“At four o’clock on Monday I wasn’t sure if I was coming,” he said. “I was going to pull out because my neck has been really sore and I’d not picked a cue up since Friday. I’ve taken a lot of painkillers and managed to play through it, but it is still really painful.
“I’ve no idea what I’ve done; I think it’s just over-practising. But when you get into your forties that’s quite normal.
“So to go from not thinking I was playing to making it to the fourth day of the tournament, overall I’m quite happy with how I’ve performed.
“The game was very close and this best-of-seven-frames format means that it’s often down to very fine margins, which was the case today. I played OK and I could’ve easily won the game 4-2 myself. I played a bad shot when it was 2-2 that I would like to take back if I had the possibility, but I didn’t do too much wrong other than that. He’s a good player and he took his chances.”
Un-nooh raced into the lead, but, after levelling the clash on two occasions before his opponent rattled off the final two frames to progress, world No 21 Dott believes there were plenty of positives to take from his run in the competition.
With his exit now confirmed, Dott could be forgiven for wanting to head home and rest ahead of a hectic snooker period, with the first of the Triple Crown events – the UK Championship – just over a month away.
Instead, the 42-year-old from Larkhall must prepare for the World Open in Yushan, China, at the end of the month, where he is scheduled to play world No 77 Jordan Brown.
“I’ve not really got any time off,” he said.
“I’m playing in the Championship League almost straight away, and then right after that I’m going to China.
“But first things first, I need to go straight to the physio and see if I can sort my neck out.
“Overall I’ve played OK this season and I’m ticking over. Long may that continue as we head into the better part of the season when things start to really hot up.”
• Watch the English Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with studio analysis from Ronnie O’sullivan and Jimmy White.