The Nugget Retires From Snooker....

[ToraToraTora]

Unassailable in the ultimate decade, well done Steve and thanks.

[Lie-in King]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/36034458

My favourite player, good luck for the future, Steve :-)

[Mamyalynne]

Have a great retirement Steve, fantastic career.

[Pete65]

A fine player.
Well done, Steve!

[Maydup]

A fine player indeed, but I'd have put everything I have on him having retired from the game years ago! I thought I was reading an old news report for a minute. Has he really been playing professionally in recent years?

[Hopkirk]

Am I alone in being surprised by this?

I assumed he retired years ago.

[dannyk13]

I don't think he is as old as the other Davis's (Joe & Fred) when they retired.

[Togo]

Great lad from Romford I think. Raised the bar for every other player, never said a bad word about anyone even when the pundits were giving him a hard time. Even embraced the sobriquet Mr Boring and turned the gag to his advantage.

[DTCwordfan]

Thanks - had the chance to play him in Belgium, in Mechelen, when they opened a new club there but, alas, was back here in the Uk for a visit. Apparently very friendly and entertaining in visit we amateur players' clubs.

At least, he will still be around for off-table involvement.

[piggynose]

what a bore, wasn't he nicknamed interesting steve?

[New Judge]

Not a bore at all. He was, of course, a superlative snooker player but also quite a wit when he was relaxed. Whilst at the top of his career he was completely focussed and that's what gave the impression he was boring.

It was “Spitting Images” where he gained his nickname “Interesting”.

The sketch was of Steve and manager Barry Hearn. Barry was talking to Steve about other players’ nicknames. It went something like this:

Hearn: “All the other top players have nicknames. There’s “Whirlwind” Jimmy White, Alex “Hurricane” Higgins. I think you ought to have one too. What do you think? ‘Devastating Davis’ or something like that?”

Davis: "Well actually Barry I think I’d like to be known as “Interesting”

And so it stuck. So much so that Davis titled his autobiography “Interesting”. I expect the sketch is on U-tube or somewhere.

I knew he hadn’t retired because I take an interest in the qualifying results for the top tournaments and Steve recently failed to qualify for the Crucible this year. He said he played on longer than he might otherwise have done because his father was still alive and it had been him whom encouraged him and mentored him in his early days. Alas his father died just a fortnight ago. Steve said "He reached 89, which was more than I managed in my last qualifying match!"

[Bazile]

So , why can't players over a certain age be able to continue to be successful and win tournaments .

Afterall it's not a physical; game , is it .

If you have the skill to win in your teens , and up to your forties why would it dissappear in your fifties ?

[Ken4155]

As in many other sports, the standards are getting ever higher and whilst the ability may remain into a players later years, the eyes and, perhaps more importantly, the hunger wane.
Personally i never found Steve Davis to be entertaining (only when he had secured the frame did his play speed up) but more methodical. However, it must be said that he didn't do too badly playing the 'percentage shots' did he?:-) I believe he's now turned his hand (or hands) to spinning vinyl as a DJ!

[Bazile]

Or , i suppose you need to put in the hours on the practice table , in order to practice that screw shot with top spin and a bit of side ; otherwise you get rusty .

So the older you get the less your'e likely to want to put in the 6+ hours a day , practicing .

[New Judge]

Yes that's about it, baz.

Also, despite not being a physical game, the concentration required over the longer matches is immense (just see the players when they have finished one). As you get older (as I can attest !!) the ability to concentrate fully for long periods diminishes.

[Ken4155]

bazille @ 18;01 - if you were to play a screw shot with top spin and a bit of side on, the ball would just explode. That's why you never see it done these days:-) :-)

[New Judge]

"I don't think he is as old as the other Davis's (Joe & Fred) when they retired."

Steve is 58. In 1955, aged 54, Joe Davis made the first officially recognised 147 break in an exhibition match. In 1962, aged 60.he made the first televised 100 break in he first round of that year’s world championship.

Brother Fred reached the World Championship final 12 times between 1948 and 1966, winning the title eight times. He was 53 when he played in his last final. He reached the world semi-finals in 1978 aged 64 (defeating John Virgo, Dennis Taylor and Patsy Fagan on the way) and was still ranked number 8 in the world two years later. In 1981, at the age of 67, Fred played in his last snooker final, the Raffles/Sheffield Shield Tournament, played at the Sheffield Snooker Centre when he lost to Terry Griffiths.