Mark Williams was up to his old tricks as he made his way into the Crucible on Friday. The Welsh prankster pounced on an opportunity to tease former world champion Dennis Taylor about his age, and he did so in front of a watching World Snooker Championship crowd.
Williams could have been forgiven for rocking up to the venue with his serious head on, having slipped 5-3 behind against world No. 1 Judd Trump in Thursday’s opening session. But he was seemingly determined to maintain a light-hearted mood, and he drew a chuckle out of 76-year-old Taylor with a sarcastic gesture.
Calling the second session of Williams’ clash with Trump live on the BBC, Taylor explained: “He was in great spirits on the way down to the venue. I walked down with him and his wife Jo, and he had his phone blaring out his walk-on music, ‘Delilah’ by his good friend Tom Jones.
“He was a bit naughty because there were a lot of fans out there, and he helped me down the three steps, pretending that he was helping an old man. He’s always playing practical jokes.”
The irony is that Williams is no spring chicken himself. The 50-year-old would be the oldest world champion in the modern era if he goes all the way this year.
And fellow veteran John Higgins was keen to remind Williams of his age when he tripped up a step in their quarter-final. Without breaking stride, Higgins had the Crucible crowd howling as he said: “Watch yourself, old man.”
Williams maintained the two-frame gap between himself and Trump by the mid-session interval on Friday. And he knows he is up against it in his quest to reach the final, with Trump establishing himself as the firm title favourite
Reacting to Trump pocketing a £100,000 bonus for reaching a century of centuries this season, Williams said: “There’s no other player who has got a sniff of winning that bonus. He’s relentless. He knocks hundreds in for fun.
“What is he on? A thousand [career] centuries? I take my hat off to him and I think probably he doesn’t get the credit he deserves really. All he’s missing on his CV probably is another World Championship and if he gets another one of them, he has to be one of the greatest of all time.”
