Frustrated Ding Junhui admits he is 'far away' from tournament-winning form

03/10/2023 07:44

Ding Junhui believes he is ‘far away’ from tournament-winning form, admitting that he is getting annoyed with himself during matches as he searches for his brilliant best.

The Chinese icon had an eventful start to his English Open campaign on Monday, turning up with the wrong clothes and being docked a frame as someone dashed to M&S for him to buy a black shirt and trousers.

The delay saw him docked a frame in his opening round game against Ma Hailong, but he recovered to win 4-3 and set up a second round clash with David Grace.

The 14-time ranking event winner is looking to return to the heights he has reached in the game over his immense career so far, but having not won a ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship, he does not feel at all close to his peak.

The 36-year-old still shows plenty of flashes of brilliance, but felt that a last 16 defeat to Mark Williams at the British Open last week proved to him that he is a long way from top form.

‘No. Far away from there,’ Ding said on reaching his best. ‘I’m trying to get there, the last tournament I played against Mark Williams, I don’t think I’m getting near. There’s still a lot of work to do.

‘I think it’s concentration, I need more concentration. Sometimes I lose it and it kills the match.’