It is the semi-final of the 888.com World Snooker Championships.  Stephen Maguire, having started the tournament shakily, has started to produce his true form, demolishing Anthony Hamilton 13-7 in the quarters, and is now facing fellow Scot and former champion, John Higgins.  Maguire is 14-10 up at the end of the third session.  Going into the final straight, three frames to go, he just has to see it out…

And we all know happened next.  Maguire won just one more frame; Higgins snatched victory, and went on to lift the trophy. It was disaster for Maguire, who looked in charge for the whole game, and who appeared to be cruising. 

But much can still be taken from Glaswegian’s performance.  He is still young, (26) and has plenty of time to build on what he achieved when he initially burst onto the scene in the 2004 season, winning the European Open and UK Championship. 

Since this rapid rise to prominence, ‘Livewire Maguire’ has struggled to live up to his highly ranked reputation.  Hopefully, reaching the semi-finals of the most lucrative and competitive snooker tournament in the world, coming within three frames of making the final, as well as making the second highest break of the tournament, with 143, will stand Stephen in good stead for the future.

In The Winning Zone was lucky enough to catch up with Stephen in the days leading up to the famed Crucible tournament.  Little did he (or we) know that a week later, he would be one of the stars of the show, coming back to Scotland with his reputation thoroughly enhanced.

WZ:  Hi Stephen, thanks for taking the time to speak to us with such a big week coming up.  First of all we’d like to talk about the psychology of snooker.  How do you train yourself to concentrate so intently for such long periods of time? 

SM:  It will be the same as goalkeepers, or cricketers, or other sports. I think you go into automatic pilot mode. It’s only when your concentration is upset or broken sometimes that you realise how intense you’ve been.

WZ: Can you break into percentages how much of the game is down to skill and ability and how much is down to mental strength and concentration?

SM: There are some players who might not be as naturally gifted who use mind games to upset your rhythm. But skill and ability ninety-nine times out of a hundred will win through. So I’d need to say 99% is down to skill.

WZ: What do you see as the most important attribute for a top snooker player to have?

SM: Ability, will-to-win, knowledge of what it takes to win, good support, dedication and an element of single-mindedness. There are a couple there I’ve struggled with, but that’s the difference between great and good.

WZ: What aspects of your skills do you think could translate into more physical sports such as football, rugby or tennis?

SM: None. I think snooker is the one game that you can either play or you can’t.

WZ: Do you ever look to psyche-out an opponent?

SM: I’m not that clever!

WZ: Do you work with any psychologists or mental strength conditioning coaches?

SM: No, but Terry Griffiths gave me a lot of tips and things to think about in terms of match-play.

WZ: OK, let’s move onto your background.  At what stage in your childhood years did you begin playing snooker, and how much did you play it?

SM: I think around 10 was when it started to take over my life!

WZ: Is the story about your grandparents knocking a wall out to make room for a table true?  How important was it to have that family support structure around you as you tried to break through?

SM: It was a huge sacrifice on their part, and one I could never thank them enough for. I remember thinking it was a great idea, but then the local paper got hold of the story and that’s when I kind of realised that this wasn’t normal … it was something special they had done.

WZ: When did you realise you could go far, and what sacrifices / commitments did you have to make in order to achieve those goals?

SM: By the time I was in my teens I was almost semi-pro anyway, not that you made money out of it, but in terms of practising and the number of events you played in. You played nearly every weekend in competitions, which added to the practice.  It did take over your life. It wasn’t as if I was ever going to make a choice between snooker and uni, for instance. I was going to play snooker, or at least give it my very best shot.

WZ: What gave you the drive to do that?  Was there anyone in particular who was instrumental in helping you?

SM: I think people give credit to those around them, which is right. But the individual is the most driven person because you always want to play at your very best. If you made a break of 130, you’d be trying for 131 the next time, or if you came from 50 points down, you’d remember the next time you [need to] come from 60 points behind. So you are constantly trying to improve.

WZ: So what has been the most significant moment of your career? Why was that? 

SM: The European Open in 2004 [his first ranking tournament win]. That was when all the potential that everyone had talked about became a reality, not just because I won, but because of the players I beat to get to the final.

WZ: What do you see is the difference between winning just once, and doing it consistently?  Why is that so important?

SM: Winning once is tough. Winning more than once is harder again. Keeping winning is just so hard because every time you go out people want to kick your backside. God knows how [Stephen] Hendry or [Steve] Davis managed to keep doing it for so long, when every frame is like a cup final.

WZ: What is the key to building a winning streak?  What effects a snooker player’s form and ability to win?

SM: There are some events you really feel up for and others you don’t want to be at. That could be because you’ve turned up either playing great in practice or rubbish. Then when you’re playing well you lose in the first round, and when you’re tired and not playing well you end up getting to the semi-finals or something like that [Stephen did say he was unhappy with his performance after the first round, and look what happened!]. So I don’t know how it works – if I did, I’d try it.

WZ: What has been the low point of your career, and what did you have to do to fight your way back from it?

SM: Since winning the UK Championship my form has gone down.  Maybe too many distractions. My biggest disappointment was losing to Ronnie [O’Sullivan] in the first round of the world’s a few years ago when 9-7 up and I missed a simple pot. It was a long summer that year.

WZ: So how would you like to see your career panning out long term? 

SM: Win several world titles and make lots of money!

WZ: What is your ultimate ambition and what will you have to do in order to achieve that, looking at where you are now?

SM: I think everyone would want to win the world championship. I look at one or two who have done it recently and they were not better than me at my best, so I could do that. But doing it is always the tough part.

WZ: Will your desire to play snooker out-last your ability to win?  Will you keep playing if you drop down the rankings significantly as you get older?

SM: I think I’d need to be seriously fed up with the game or how I was playing not to ever pick up a cue again.

WZ: What advice would you pass on to the younger generations coming through the snooker ranks today?

SM: Enjoy the highs … they can be few and far between

WZ: Would you recommend a book, quote or a mantra that you feel has helped you in your career?

SM: If you read any biographies of top sportsmen you get a feel of the drive and determination they have. Read a few, and some of that might rub off!

WZ: Thanks Stephen.

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