Jak Jones Archives - SportBlogg

‘To be there is a bit strange’ – Jones admits making world final ‘unexpected’

May 4, 2024

Jak Jones celebrated an “unexpected” appearance in the World Championship final against Kyren Wilson on Sunday after he defeated Stuart Bingham.

The Welshman overcame Bingham 17-12 on Saturday evening at the Crucible, with the final session seeing Jones exploit some inconsistent potting from his opponent.

Jones was not mentioned as a pre-tournament favourite, and he has failed to qualify for the main tour a couple of times in his career. However, a win in the quarter-finals over Judd Trump showed his quality and he followed that up by defeating Bingham convincingly on the final scoreline.

Speaking on Eurosport after his win, Jones conceded that he had not been confident of reaching the final, and said his reaction was tempered by rarely exceeding expectations.

He said: “Sounds good, bit unexpected this season. I think I’ve had so much disappointment in my career that I don’t get too excited, I don’t really get too down.

“I’ve watched the world final every year and thought what a dream that would be, what an amazing occasion it is. So to be there myself is a bit strange.”

Jones discussed the involvement of his parents so far in Sheffield. He first noted that his father’s approach has kept him calm.

“My dad has probably helped. He’s here, we don’t really talk about snooker too much or get too excited about what happens in the sessions,” he said.

“I don’t feel like I’ve played well, I’ve not come here with any confidence. If anything I wish I put on something better for the people watching. I suppose if anything, I’m winning like that, it doesn’t get better.

“If it had been expected it would have been something, but because it’s come out of nowhere, it’s a great moment.”

‘Can‘t we get on with the game please?’ – Referee remonstrates with crowd as Jones closes on win

Prompted by Jimmy White, he then reveals that his mother does not watch him in action, but she had visited recently, washed his shirts, and returned home.

He explained: “My mum… Everyone keeps asking, ‘Is your mum going to come up, now you’re in the semi-finals?’ But she’s just never watched .But she did come up a couple of days ago for the evening, washed my shirts, and went straight home.”

Jones concluded by reflecting on a couple of weeks with little sleep, adding adrenaline had got him through.

He said: “I won’t be expecting any sleep tonight, I’ve just accepted it.”

Stream top snooker action, including the 2024 World Championship, live and on-demand on Eurosport and discovery+

‘Loving every second of it’ – Bingham on battle with ‘best player ever’ O’Sullivan

May 1, 2024

Stuart Bingham believes learning to “relax” played a big part in his stunning victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan in their World Snooker Championship quarter-final.

It is the first time he has reached a ranking event semi-final in over two years.

The 47-year-old says he has taken a new perspective on tournaments recently, and that is helping him return to the top of his game.

“Unbelievable, what a match,” he told Eurosport pundits Jimmy White and Alan McManus. “I enjoyed every second of it, even when I was 8-6 down.

“I thought ‘I’m just enjoying it’, but also, something clicked. I played unbelievable the last couple of frames.

“[We] broke off this evening, he’s made a hundred, it’s an uphill battle. But something clicked in my game. I felt calm out there. I was loving every second of it. I was going toe-to-toe with the best player ever, and looking around, it’s just brilliant.

“Coming here, being out there, playing the best player ever, you can sort of relax.

“My record against him is not great, most probably like everybody else, but just go out there, all of a sudden something clicks in your game and you fancy every shot.

“I remember taking a red down the baulk rail and I think I was 10-9 up. I was like ‘no, I’m going for it. This is my chance, I’m going to go for it.’

“That’s how I played and I came out on top.”

‘The kind of start you dream about’ – Bingham begins second session with century

Bingham, who registered three centuries in the match, has endured a barren couple of years, failing to win a single ranking event title since the 2019 Gibraltar Open.

In the intervening years, he has reached only two semi-finals, here at the Crucible in 2021 and then at the World Grand Prix in the same year.

Even 2024 has not been kind to him, with a run in the Scottish Open the only previous time he had made a quarter-final, until coming to Sheffield.

But the man nicknamed ‘Ball Run’ believes having to come through qualifying to book his place in the main draw stood him in good stead.

“I think the sharpness we’re getting from the qualifiers,” he answered, as to why three players from outside the world’s top 16 have made the semis.

‘Just chill’ – O’Sullivan and referee clash amid crowd noise

“We’ve come here, the tables are a bit nippy, they were in the qualifying. We’re match sharp.

“You get in certain situations, even against the top seeds, that you’re not that bothered [about], because you’ve had at least two games in the qualifiers. You’ve come through that. You’re going through the draw.

“I’ve been around the game near enough as long as Jimmy [White]. I’m not scared of anyone. You just get on with your game and see what happens.”

O’Sullivan plays down conditions, praises Bingham

O’Sullivan, meanwhile, refused to blame the conditions at the Crucible for his below par performance.

On top of that, the pockets at the Crucible have been criticised for being too tight, but O’Sullivan told Eurosport: “You have to adapt and Stuart adapted better than me.

“He made the bigger shots, the bigger breaks, the better safety, he was the better player, I just tried to make him fight for it.

“I’ve enjoyed the tournament. For me it’s been a great tournament. I’ve actually started getting through the ball, which is more important than anything really.

“Tournaments, victories, losses are irrelevant really, you just want to be enjoying the game, so for me there’s been a lot of progress.

“I lost a snooker match tonight, Stuart deserved the victory, he played really well. I tried to fight and I hung in there for as long as I could but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

The 48-year-old also discussed his future in the game.

‘The sportsmanship is exemplary from Ronnie’ – McManus praises O’Sullivan for refusing red

Speculation has mounted over how many ranking events the Rocket will play next season, when he might instead play in more lucrative exhibition events.

“Listen, I’ll be playing,” he added. “I’m off to China next week, I’ll be playing Ding [Junhi] in a series of challenge matches, so I’m really looking forward to that. Then I’m off to Finland. I’m really excited.

“I’ve got a lot of snooker left to play. What tournaments I play in will be first come first served. I just want to be happy playing.

“I’m contracted to play in certain [WST] events. I’m contracted to do certain exhibition events in China. They’ll be first so if I’ve got time to fit in some other bits I will.”

Stream top snooker action, including the 2024 World Championship, live and on-demand on discovery+.

‘Couldn’t get any rhythm’ – Trump laments pace in shock Jones loss

May 1, 2024

Judd Trump believes the pace of his World Championship quarter-final was one of the reasons why he lost to Jak Jones.

The Ace in the Pack was one of the favourites to lift the title this season.

Reflecting on his performance, Trump told Eurosport he could not find any fluency in his play.

“It was tough,” he said. “I tried to enjoy it. I think obviously Jak’s a little bit slower than some of the other players and I just wasn’t able to get any rhythm.

“I tried my best, but it was just too long a period in-between shots. I just couldn’t get any rhythm, couldn’t get any flow.

“Every time I came to the table, I felt like I hadn’t played. It was difficult.

“I’m someone who needs to kind of play to a rhythm. I think maybe I just bogged myself down. I should have maybe played a bit more attacking, quicker. Just learn from it.”

The pair had been near inseparable in the opening two sessions of their last-eight match, and resumed on Wednesday morning locked at 8-8.

That meant there were a possible nine frames remaining, but only six were needed, as Jones sauntered to victory.

‘You can’t be missing these’ – Eurosport commentators shocked as Trump misses routine pink

It brings to a close an excellent campaign for Trump, who has won five rankings events, including the World Open and the German Masters.

“It’s been a great season for me,” he reflected. “Very, very consistent throughout. Obviously there’s just been little periods where a couple of bad games here and there, and this game I didn’t play well from the get-go really.”

The 31-year-old also added that he was far from happy with the table at the Crucible.

There have been questions over the tightness of the pockets, but Trump quipped: “It’s not so much the pockets. I think it’s more the actual table’s not great.”

For Jones, meanwhile, this was the biggest win of his career.

The 30-year-old’s best previous finish at a tournament this season was when reaching the third round of the Welsh Open.

But he is now through to the semi-finals of a ranking event for only the second time, matching his run at the 2022 Gibraltar Open.

‘What is happening?’ – Trump’s struggles continue with missed yellow

“It was a bit edgy at times, but better than my previous matches,” he said.

“I thought Judd wasn’t the Judd of usual. He missed quite a lot of balls that he wouldn’t normally miss, but I thought he started off really well with a century, which kind of motivated me.

“I played a good three frames then to go 3-1 up at the mid-session interval, and I didn’t think he was the same after that. He kind of went into his shell a little bit, which is not normally like Judd.

“I kind of picked up on that and in the end took advantage.”

Stream top snooker action, including the 2024 World Championship, live and on-demand on discovery+.

Trump fights back to level with Jones after gripping morning session

April 30, 2024

Judd Trump and Jak Jones were left all square at 4-4 after a keenly-contested morning session of a gripping World Snooker Championship quarter-final at the Crucible.

Jones was playing some sublime snooker at times and will still be hopeful of causing an upset, but was left to rue several missed chances as he relinquished a 3-1 lead.

A missed pink from Jones in the final frame of the session allowed Trump to hit back and level the contest.

Trump was out of his stall early on with a superb century clearance of 110 in the opening frame after landing a superb long red.

This prompted an impressive response from Jones, as he capitalised on a missed Trump shot to the reds and punished a poor positional shot on his way to an impressive break of 69 to level the scores.

Errors were starting to creep into Trump’s game, and after failing to pot a red to the middle, Jones landed a superb long red himself and took advantage of promising-looking table to take a 2-1 lead.

The 2019 world champion was on the ropes in the fourth frame, with Jones showcasing his excellent potting skills once again to move 3-1 in front with a fine clearance of 94.

Trump potted a red after a fourth attempt in an error-strewn start following the first interval, but progressed to a break of 35 with the cue ball not landing kindly enough to continue ahead of an intriguing safety contest.

That was until Trump worked his way to a crucial break of 36 after landing a final tricky-looking pink and reducing the Welshman’s lead back to one.

Trump profited on a Jones double kiss on the red to work his way into a sizeable 69-21 lead in the sixth frame.

Jones needed two snookers that did not materialise, as Trump cleared up to the brown to level up the scores at 3-3.

Trump makes ‘terrific start’ to quarter-final with century in opening frame

Jones worked his way to another fine clearance of 74 that ended after missing a red to the mid pocket, as Trump conceded the seventh frame to go 4-3 down.

Jones looked to be motoring his way towards a 5-3 lead, but a routine pink to the middle pocket went awry and left Trump with a chance.

Trump needed a snooker but he got that after Jones missed a red, and the Englishman was back in the frame.

A cagey end ensued with just the pink and black left on the table, as Trump landed the former and he audaciously doubled in the black to restore parity at the interval.

On the other table the contest was more one sided as David Gilbert opened up a 7-1 lead over Stephen Maguire.

Gilbert made breaks of 130, 110 and 83 as he took control of the quarter-final.

Stream top snooker action, including the 2024 World Championship, live and on-demand on discovery+

Trump fights back to level with Jones after gripping morning session

April 30, 2024