Muir explains his glove-hate relationship with game
ROSS Muir spent his formative years dreaming of being a goalkeeper, being scouted by Celtic during his days at Salvesen Boys Club in Edinburgh. While two bad wrist injuries at the age of 10 put paid to that, he never did get round to hanging up the gloves.
While the 23-year-old now earns his crust as a snooker player, he is one of the few men on the tour who wears a glove on his left hand, to allow the cue to pass smoothly over a sweaty bridge hand.
“I used to have really sweaty hands so it was a suggestion to wear the glove,” says Muir. “It’s not as big a benefit now as it was when I was a junior. But it still feels a bit weird if I ever play without it. It wasn’t very common to wear a glove when I started, it was far more common for pool players. I am not the only one on the tour now, but I was for years.”
It is not the only issue he has had to overcome. Muir, who takes on Alexander Ulsacher of Switzerland in the first round of the Scottish Open first up this morning, also had to take a medical time-out at the UK Championships after developing a condition known as an eye migraine, mainly due to the bright spotlights at snooker venues.
“It is the same as a migraine in your head,” said Muir. “It is only in my right eye, gives it a kind of smoky, blurry feel. It is not ideal.
“There is no medicine I can take for it but it is something I am taking steps to combat. Unfortunately, it is spotlights at the snooker which has been causing it and avoiding that isn’t really an option for me!”