Reanne Evans is having a very solid start to the snooker season, having been tempted to retire as recently as the end of the last campaign.
The 12-time women’s world champion has picked up more wins already this season, which only started in June, as she did over the whole of the previous campaign.
Asked what the upturn in results is down to, she reckons it’s an attempt to take the pressure off with a more carefree attitude at the table.
‘I’m trying to take a different attitude, a bit of a Mark Williams attitude,’ Evans told Metro. ‘If you miss you miss, carry on, but it’s harder to do than you think. My tremor hasn’t been too bad as well.’
That last point seems an important one. Evans is not alone in the professional snooker ranks to suffer from an essential tremor, which makes the absurdly difficult table game even harder as she sometimes shakes while down on the shot.
‘I’ve had it years now,’ she explained. ‘They can’t really do anything for it. It can come and go, it can do whatever it wants basically.
‘Obviously when you’re in certain circumstances, if you’re a bit nervous a bit anxious, it’s going to be highlighted a little bit more. I’m just trying to be a bit nonchalant with it.’
The tremor has not been the only thing holding Evans back, with long-standing neck and shoulder issues as well, although they too have eased of late, helping her good recent form.
‘I still get them here and there, but it’s just been mainly my tremor,’ she explained. ‘I learned to play with my neck and shoulder pain, to a degree. But then if you combine it with another thing as well, in your head it’s like: ” oh, “Why am I carrying on for?”
‘I had that mentality for a long time. Thinking, “why me?” Feeling a bit sorry for myself but, it’s just the way life goes sometimes.’
It is understandable why the 39-year-old was down about the situation. She racked up 12 Women’s World Championships but that did not result in great riches or fame. Her most recent world title in 2019 came with a top prize of just £5,500, played in a club in Bangkok.
Shortly after the opportunity came to compete on the professional tour, with places given to the highest-ranked players on the women’s circuit, but that opportunity arose at the same time as the health issues.
‘It is frustrating,’ she said. ‘A few years ago it was off-table stuff, then it was the tremor and injuries and it just felt constant. I haven’t enjoyed snooker for a long time, for a good few years now. Just because I can’t perform to where I think I can.
‘To show it once in a blue moon would be alright, but it was frustrating that I couldn’t do it and I was thinking: “Why am I putting myself through it? Why am I putting myself through it and then getting abuse as well?” It’s both barrels.’
The social media abuse Evans refers to is depressingly run of the mill, whether she wins, loses or is on punditry duty.
‘It’s just the usual stuff. Everyone gets it, but I get even more abuse when I win! It’s non-stop,’ she said. ‘I could post a picture of a tree and I’d still get abused.
‘You try and take no notice of it, sometimes you really want to retaliate, but it’s not worth it. I just don’t understand people. If you don’t like me or don’t want to watch me, why do you do it?
‘I can’t even find my matches to watch them back. If I potted a good ball in that match, I see if I can find it and I’ve got no chance, but they seem to!
‘When I’m working on a tournament, I’ll get it there as well. I just think no matter what you do in life, you’re going to get those on social media that just get bored with the life and they need to do something. That’s how I look at it. So I think, right, bless you. I feel sorry for you.’
The form struggles, injury frustrations and relentless abuse has badly damaged Evans’ confidence, but there are signs that it is coming back.
Although she is brutally honest about the level her game is bouncing back from.
‘I have been terrible, not bad, I’ve been terrible. I’m not going to lie,’ she said. ‘Everyone says to just try and enjoy it, be confident, but it’s easier said than done when you’re not winning matches.
‘I have been a bit better this season. Winning matches helps, then your opponent knows that you’ve started to win a couple of games so it can get to them a little bit, maybe
‘I’m just winging it, to be honest. I’ll see how my body holds up, see how I’m feeling. If you’re playing okay and getting a few wins and picking up a few titles on the women’s tour, it’s happy days, it’s how you want it to be and it’s easier to want to carry on, but we’ll see.
‘I’ve got that sort of a freer mentality because I was going to pack in, maybe that’s the reason I’ve got a couple of wins under my belt.’
