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Ben Woollaston says he is starting to believe he is capable of breaking back into world snooker’s top 30 after years of struggling with chronic fatigue.
The 36-year-old, who has previously reached a world ranking of 27, has had his career stalled in recent years by illness.
He says he feared for his future at times, but an upturn in results in the past year and improved health in recent months has him optimistic once more.
“I know what I’m capable of,” he said.
“And I think quite a few of the other players know that I’m a better player than what my results have suggested in the past couple of years.
“So yeah, I’m still hopeful to get back contending or winning a tournament.
“I do feel like if I get fully better, even through this, I really think I will get back to where I was or even further.”
Woollaston, now ranked 57 in the world, has competed on snooker’s world tour since 2009.
It was before his illness in 2021 that he produced one of his finest showings, coming within a frame of winning the 2020 Championship League title before being edged out by Belgium’s Luca Brecel.
Chronic fatigue, which has left the Leicestershire father of two sapped of energy and dealing with dizziness, left him barely able to pick up the cue.
“I think I have done well to to even keep professional with the amount of practice and the way I have been feeling,” he told BBC Radio Leicester.
“For six months I was bed ridden, sleeping 18 or 20 hours a day and I couldn’t really stand up without feeling like I was going to pass out again.
“I’m still not perfect now, but there has definitely been an improvement in the last three or four months.
“Before, on a good day I’d try to practice for an hour then I’d be drained. I’d struggle to stand up for that long so, it has been really hard, and hard on my family because I have two boys and I can’t even kick a football around with them.”
Woollaston said a run of victories at the UK Championship in late 2021, which saw him reach the last 16 at York’s Barbican Centre, was an unexpected leap forward in his recovery at the time.
In recent months he has managed to build his stamina at the table, practicing for longer and more often against fellow professionals.
“I dropped from 30 in the world to 63,” he said of his tumble down the rankings while dealing with the worst of his health problems.
“I wasn’t playing. I was just turning up to a tournaments with probably an hour’s play over a few weeks.
“I was just trying to get through the match, not having any expectations to win. But then I won a couple of matches in the UK Championships, which was a massive surprise.
“I hope in the next 12 months I’ll see another massive improvement again because I feel like I’m at 60 or 70% most days. But I’m never 100%.
“You just have to keep going and be positive that I will have my week winning a tournament.”
