1.10.08

THE BREAK DOTT DIDN'T WANT

It's just Graeme Dott's luck that - as first revealed here last night - he has broken his arm playing football.

It rules the Scot out of the Shanghai Masters but, with an operation, he may be able to compete in the forthcoming Royal London Watches Grand Prix.

How it will affect his career depends on the nature of the injury. Dave Harold missed five tournaments in 2004 after breaking his wrist on New Year's Eve. Anthony Hamilton's career was similarly hampered when he broke his wrist intervening in a mugging in London in 2000.

But Stephen Hendry won the 1994 World Championship despite fracturing a bone in his elbow during the tournament.

Dott went to defend his world title in 2007 as provisional world no.1. He is now 44th in the latest standings and sure to fall lower.

This injury follows his diagnosis last April for depression. It has been a rough year for Graeme and I for one wish him well.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish Graeme a speedy recovery. After all his issues, hopefully the only way is up from now on in.

Sam T

Anonymous said...

It's getting to the point where I think that staying in the top 32 would be a decent achievement. Maybe if he gets his form back, goes on a good run at the Crucible and gives himself a solid base from which to recover from next season.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, i've little sympathy on this one. You have a big snooker match the following morning so you go and play a football match or kick around which surely provides every opportunity to pick up an injury. Obviously Graeme Dott lacks any common sense and this is simply asking for trouble. Yes 99 times out of a 100 you won't get injured but you simply don't take that risk in the first place. What an idiot!

Anonymous said...

Didn't Quinten Hann get all of his points for several tournaments after jumping out of a plane? I'm sure whatever injury he picked up cost him his place in most events that season, but he still got all his points.

The ranking system is a shambles anyway. If you project the players points to include minimum figures for the remainder of the season, he's only about 38th, and therefore a few first round wins away from a top 32 place. It's not as big a disaster as you'd think.