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Alain Robidoux

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Alain Robidoux
Born (1960-07-25) July 25, 1960 (age 64)
Sport countryCanada
Professional1987–2004
Highest ranking9 (1996–1998)
Maximum breaks1
Best ranking finishRunner-up (x1)

Alain Robidoux (born July 25, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Robidoux played on the sport's main tour from 1987 to 2004, and reached the final of the 1996 German Open, which he lost 7–9 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Career

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Robidoux was born on 25 July 1960 in Canada.[1] He joined the professional snooker circuit in the 1987–88 snooker season as a "non-tournament" professional. This entitled him to play only in the World Championship. He amassed enough points in the 1988 World Championship qualifiers to finish in the top 128 players, which allowed him to join the tour full-time.[2][1]

In September 1988, Robidoux became only the sixth player ever to record an officially ratified 147 maximum break, achieved in the qualifying rounds of the European Open.[3][4] He won the Canadian Professional Championship by defeating Jim Wych 8–4 in the final.[5] He reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix in October 1988, where he won six consecutive frames from 1–8 down against Alex Higgins, but ultimately lost the match 7–9.[6]

In the first round of the 1996 World Championship, Robidoux was beaten 3–10 by Ronnie O'Sullivan in a controversial match. Although predominantly right-handed, O'Sullivan played a number of shots with his left hand, and the behaviour was described by commentator John Virgo as O'Sullivan "taking the mick". The matter came to a head in the eleventh frame, when Robidoux was 2–8 down and he was declining to concede the frame, instead continuing to play for snookers despite a 43-point deficit with only the pink and black on the table. He refused to shake O'Sullivan's hand at the end of the match. In response, O'Sullivan claimed that he played better with his left hand than Robidoux could with his right.[7] Realising that O'Sullivan was able to play equally well with both hands, Robidoux later apologised to him.[8]

In the 1996–97 season, Robidoux reached the final of the 1996 German Open, but he lost 7–9 to O'Sullivan despite making a tournament-best 145 break.[9] That same season, he progressed to the semi-finals of the 1997 World Snooker Championship, defeating Brian Morgan, Stefan Mazrocis and Lee Walker, before losing to eventual champion Ken Doherty. He finished the season 9th in the world rankings, which was to be his career-best ranking position.[10] However he then endured a torrid 1997–98 season, losing all his matches and did not win a match again until the following season at the 1999 Welsh Open, where he reached the last 16.[11]

He lost his professional status in 2004 after placing 102nd in the rankings.[10][12] Robidoux blamed his decline on the destruction of his favourite cue,[10] which he referred to as "the Eel". When he returned the cue to the man from whom he had bought it to have it mended, the man objected to Robidoux having fixed a sponsor's logo to the butt and smashed the cue to pieces. Several years later, Robidoux was asked whether the passage of time had eased his anger towards the cue maker; he responded "I want to kill him."[10][13]

Performance and rankings timeline

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Tournament 1987/
88 		1988/
89 		1989/
90 		1990/
91 		1991/
92 		1992/
93 		1993/
94 		1994/
95 		1995/
96 		1996/
97 		1997/
98 		1998/
99 		1999/
00 		2000/
01 		2001/
02 		2002/
03 		2003/
04
Ranking[14] [nb 1] 102 35 16 13 14 18 32 20 14 9 12 36 49 78 77 91
Ranking tournaments
World Open[nb 2] A SF 3R 3R 3R 2R 2R 2R 3R QF 1R 1R WD LQ LQ LQ LQ
British Open A 2R 3R QF QF 1R 2R 3R 1R 2R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
UK Championship A 1R QF 2R 2R 1R 2R 2R 2R QF 1R 1R WD LQ 1R LQ 1R
Welsh Open Tournament Not Held 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R 3R WD LQ LQ LQ WD
European Open[nb 3] NH 3R 2R 1R QF 2R LQ 1R LQ 2R NH 1R Not Held LQ LQ LQ
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event LQ WD
Players Championship[nb 4] A 2R SF Not held 1R 1R 3R SF 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ WD
World Championship LQ LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R LQ 1R 1R SF 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters A A A WR QF 1R LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters NR LQ Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Open[nb 5] NR NH 2R Tournament Not Held NR NR Tournament Not Held
Classic A LQ LQ 2R 3R Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open Tournament Not Held 2R MR NR Tournament Not Held
Dubai Classic[nb 6] NH NR 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R QF 1R 2R Tournament Not Held
German Masters[nb 7] Tournament Not Held LQ F 1R NR Tournament Not Held
China Open[nb 8] Tournament Not Held NR 1R WD LQ LQ Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 9] Not Held LQ 1R QF 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R WD LQ LQ NR NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Canadian Professional Championship A W Tournament Not Held
World Masters Not Held 2R Tournament Not Held
Nescafe Extra Challenge Not Held RR NH A Tournament Not Held
Pontins Professional A A A A QF A A A A A A A A Tournament Not Held
European Challenge Tournament Not Held QF A Tournament Not Held
World Matchplay NH A A A A 1R Tournament Not Held
Pot Black A A A A A QF A Tournament Not Held
Charity Challenge Tournament Not Held A A 1R A A A A A Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Tournament Not Held A A SF QF A R A Not Held
Scottish Masters A NH A A A A A A A A 1R A A A A A NH
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) 		QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi–finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ^ New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.
  2. ^ The event ran under different names such as Grand Prix (1987/1988 to 2000/2001) and LG Cup (2001/2002 to 2003/2004).
  3. ^ The event ran under different names such as European Open (1988/1989 to 1996/1997 and 2001/2002 to 2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999).
  4. ^ The event ran under different names such as International Open (1987/1988 to 1996/1997).
  5. ^ The event ran under different names as Australian Masters (1987/1988 and 1995/1996) and Australian Open (1994/1995).
  6. ^ The event run under different names as Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  7. ^ The event ran under different name as German Open (1995/1996 to 1997/1998).
  8. ^ The event ran under different names as China International (1997/1998 and 1998/1999)
  9. ^ The event ran under different names such as Asian Open (1989/1990 to 1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994 to 1996/1997).

Career finals

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Ranking finals: 1

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Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1996 German Open England Ronnie O'Sullivan 7–9

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

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Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1988 Canadian Professional Championship Canada Jim Wych 8–4

Team finals: 1 (1 title)

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Outcome No. Year Championship Team/partner Opponent(s) in the final Score
Winner 1. 1990 World Cup  Canada  Northern Ireland 9–5

Amateur finals: 7 (7 titles)

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Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1983 Canadian Amateur Championship Canada Tom Finstad 9–3
Winner 2. 1985 Canadian Amateur Championship (2) Canada Michael Sobala 9–6
Winner 3. 1987 Canadian Amateur Championship (3) Canada Jeff White 7–1
Winner 4. 2003 Canadian Amateur Championship (4) Canada Cliff Thorburn 6–2
Winner 5. 2004 Canadian Amateur Championship (5) Canada Tom Finstad 6–2
Winner 6. 2006 Canadian Amateur Championship (6) Canada John White 6–2
Winner 7. 2009 Canadian Amateur Championship (7) Canada John White 6–1

References

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  1. ^ a b Hayton, Eric; Dee, John (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. pp. 852–854. ISBN 978-0-9548549-0-4.
  2. ^ Everton, Clive (2 January 1988). "Canadian in by the back door". The Guardian. London. p. 20.
  3. ^ Turner, Chris (21 September 2009). "Pigeon gets snookered". Europsort. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Official 147s". worldsnooker.com. World Snooker. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Other National Professional Championship". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  6. ^ Everton (24 October 1988). "Davis sights slam". The Guardian. p. 19.
  7. ^ "Anger over left-leaning O'Sullivan". The Independent. 22 April 1996. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Ronnie O'Sullivan: 'People thought I was taking the Mickey when I started playing left-handed'". Eurosport. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  9. ^ Everton, Clive (16 December 1996). "O'Sullivan scoops the army pool". The Guardian. p. 19.
  10. ^ a b c d Hendon, David (26 May 2009). "Past Masters #2". Snooker Scene Blog: News, Opinion and Insight from the Green Baize. Halesowen, England: Snooker Scene Magazine. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  11. ^ "Alain Robidoux". snooker.org. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  12. ^ "O'Sullivan is new world no. 1 by a street...". Snooker Scene. Birmingham: Everton's News Agency. June 2004. pp. 38–39.
  13. ^ "Robidoux at a dead end".
  14. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
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