Andy Hicks Interview: Scaling new heights in his late-40s

Gary Moss
05 March 2022
4:00:00 min read

Hicks continues to roll back the years

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Snooker's global roadshow is back in business. Our snooker writer Gary Moss spoke to Andy Hicks ahead of the exciting new Turkish Masters event...

"I’ve obviously been doing something right. I’m still competing at a pretty high level at 48-years-old and hopefully it’ll go on a little while longer"

Like many other snooker veterans, life on the professional circuit began many moons ago for Andy Hicks at Blackpool's famous Norbreck Castle Hotel.

Fast forward three decades and the Devonshire potter is boarding a plane to Antalya to play in the sport's first ever ranking event in Turkey.

The Nirvana Turkish Masters might be worlds away from the popular seaside town where it all started for Hicks but he is in the kind of form which has him dreaming of playing the game he loves at the highest level into his 50s.

"I certainly couldn't have envisaged that I would have been a pro for over 30 years, but it's just the way the game's evolved," he told Betfair.

"The game's changed, the venues have changed but the great thing from my point of view which gives you hope is that there's a lot of top players in their 40s.

"It makes you think 'well, if they can do it, then there's room for me to still do it'. I've obviously been doing something right. I'm still competing at a pretty high level at 48-years-old and hopefully it'll go on a little while longer."

The highlight of the season so far Hicks was a run to the quarter-finals of the UK Championship which was the furthest he'd progressed in event since reaching the last four back in 1995.

This performance has given him a boost up to number 73 in the world rankings.

"I've had a pretty good season and, obviously, doing well in the UK helped a lot because it's better prize money and it set me up for a pretty good season.

"It gives you more positives to want to practise more because you know you're winning matches and playing well."

Among the players Hicks beat on his run in York was world number 19 Dave Gilbert, who he edged out 5-4 to qualify for next week's trip to Turkey.

"He's obviously a good player, and a top player, so it was nice to beat him again. I was pleased to get through because Turkey's going to be a good event, hopefully."

Work before beers

Awaiting on the other side of the flight is a spectacular venue in the shape of luxurious Nirvana Cosmopolitan Hotel on the Mediterranean Coast.

But with a £100,000 top prize up for grabs for the winner, Hicks is ready to knuckle down to business.

"I think there were a lot of players in the qualifiers really wanting to make it through. I'm really looking forward to it. It seems like a nice place to be going, obviously, and the hotel looks amazing," explained the former Crucible semi-finalist.

"It's difficult to not treat it as a holiday but it is a job at the end of the day.

"From a snooker player's point of view, as soon as you go out there and play your match, it doesn't really matter where you are. It doesn't matter whether you're in Thailand, Turkey, or in this country. I just give every match my all.

"I'll be going out there to do my best and then, if I get beaten, maybe I'll have a couple of beers after."

Looking to go deep

First up for Hicks is a last 64 tie against world number 53 Elliot Slessor on Tuesday who himself is playing well having reached the last 32 of the Welsh Open courtesy of an impressive win against former world champion Stuart Bingham.

"We've never played before actually," said Hicks. "I've seen bits of him playing and he looks a pretty good player, that's for sure. He looks like a definite candidate for an up-and-coming prospect in the next few years.

But having dispatched of Gilbert, an opportunity of a deep run in Turkey is what Hicks is now focussed on.

"He's probably looking at it and thinking it's quite a good draw to play me, and I'm probably looking at it that it's not too bad draw for me either," he explained. "There's no easy match - don't get me wrong - but we're probably both looking at it as quite a good draw and we're probably wanting to go fairly deep in the tournament."