Carter thinks his time has come
Tuesday, 6 December 2005 09:30Ali Carter feels the time has come for him to fulfil his abundant potential - and that winning the Travis Perkins UK Championship in York would be the ideal way to start.
The world number 19 from Essex has long been regarded as one of the brightest talents in the game, but over the last 12 months Stephen Maguire and Shaun Murphy have leapfrogged him to become the top young guns.
Maguire is defending his title at the Barbican Centre while Murphy shocked snooker by winning this year's World Championship.
Now Carter believes he should establish himself as the next hot prospect who is capable of converting his promise into silverware.
"I think it could be my turn," said Carter after he began his quest for snooker's second most prestigious ranking title with a 9-3 win over another rising star, Jamie Cope.
"Shaun Murphy performed miracles to win the World Championship and Stephen Maguire had a great spell last season, but I don't believe they are better players than me even though results say they are.
"What I must do now is go ahead and achieve what they have done by winning a tournament."
Carter still rues squandering a chance to open his account in this event last year when he ran out of patience in the quarter-finals with victory still a real possibility.
"I've learned a lot from that," he admitted. "I let my head go at 7-7 against Joe Perry when the tournament was wide open and it was a harsh lesson to learn. I must keep control in future and hopefully push on to go one or two steps further, or even three and win the tournament."
