The Whirlwind is in a spin. Jimmy White’s dream of reaching the Crucible for the first time in 17 years died a few hours ago and he struggles to hide his frustration.
Just a few weeks earlier, the six-time finalist declared that he was ‘playing too well’ not to qualify. He may only be approaching his 61st birthday, but he had just defeated former Crucible champion and world No. 5 Judd Trump. He would be there, don’t worry about that.
However, White lost 10-4 to Martin O’Donnell in the second qualifying round on Thursday night. There will be no return, at least not on the sheet. And he blames himself.
“I’m devastated because I’ve played some really good stuff,” White said after his defeat to The Mail on Sunday morning. ‘I made a big mistake. Two weeks ago I changed something about my technique. It was something I had to do, I found this problem, I’ve always had it, I’ve been tinkering with it for a while, but I changed it two weeks ago.
‘I was everywhere. I went to my old technique and used my new one. I got frustrated. It was a nightmare. One of the worst experiences I’ve had on a snooker table. It was the wrong time to do it. A schoolboy mistake.’
Jimmy White will not play at Crucible this year after losing in the second qualifying round
White refuses to discuss details. It’s technical, he says, and won’t make much sense to the layman, so take him at his word. But he is optimistic about the future. “Next year I’m going to win tournaments,” he says. ‘It takes some getting used to. I can do things I haven’t done for 25 years on the snooker table.’
What’s most captivating about White in full swing, not just the self-confidence or that odd idiosyncrasy of many great sportsmen of always finding a reason for defeat beyond his own means – but the excitement about the adjustments to his game, the sensation of improvement.
Young athletes are obsessed with such things, not those in their 60s. White talks like he plans to play for years to come. That’s because, well, he does. The burning question is why.
“Because I still surprise myself,” he says. “I’m still making 147s. I play in exhibitions and can make five or six centuries. I’ve never been so good at practice. I know practice means nothing, but if I didn’t think I could still win, I’d play golf.”
And because it gives him a kick. And because underneath it all there is still the pain of the triumphs that slipped through the fingers of one of the snooker legends, of a man who beat cancer and overcame cocaine addiction and a gambling addiction that cost him millions.
“You hear footballers say they don’t know what to do when they leave football,” says White. ‘If you deprive an athlete of the thrill of competition. That’s what I still love. I like competitions. That high you get when you try to beat someone. Especially me at my age trying to beat all those youngsters. It is awesome.’
Next year will mark three decades since White lost his sixth World Final – and fifth in a row – on a deciding frame to Stephen Hendry as White led 37-24, missed a black and cleared Hendry.
The 60-year-old felt he was ‘playing too well’ to fail to qualify a few weeks ago
White leaves no time to think about disappointment or to lose sleep over missed opportunities. “I’m not done yet,” he says. ‘Retirement is over. One day, if you ask me those questions, I’ll be in a golf club and I’ll be able to answer them, but right now I’m still very engaged and improving.”
In February, he became the first over-60 player since Eddie Charlton in 1992 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event at the German Masters in February. He defeated Trump to reach the same round at the WST Classic last month. In November he reached the main draw of the UK Championship.
His victory over Trump means White has beaten every Crucible champion in history in a competitive match — as well as pre-Crucible winners like Fred Davis. White’s two-year invitation card expires after the World Championships, but he is currently sitting in the four qualifying spots trying to get his spot back.
White is the People’s Champion and it’s easy to see why. At one point I mention that he is one of my mom’s sports heroes and how excited she was when she heard about the interview. She loved White and Alex Higgins in their pageantry, the two mavericks, with their flair and reckless abandon, who threw balls from the lampshades in the days when snooker players were the sport’s rock stars.
“Send me your mom’s address and we’ll send her a nice picture,” says White.
So, what would his great friend Higgins, who died in 2010 at the age of 61, think of White putting in the graft at his age. “He’d be glad I’m sober,” says White. “He’d be happy if I tried again. And he’d be surprised I commented, that’s for sure.’
White will be part of the Eurosport commentary team for World Championships at the Crucible alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan.
He defeated world number five and former Crucible champion Judd Trump earlier this year
White first met Higgins at the age of 13 when his father invited Higgins to his club in Balham. “He wreaked havoc,” says White. Higgins tried to talk to White’s sister much to his brother’s dismay.
Together they wreaked equal havoc over the following decades. White recalls when they went out in Manchester on Thursday, ended up in Dublin on Friday, ended up in London on Saturday and Barcelona on Sunday.
There’s also the time when White crashed his car, Higgins flew out the window, stood up and yelled, “I’ve got nine lives, baby!”
Higgins defeated White in the 1982 world semifinals en route to his second world title. White led 15-14 and was up 51-0 in the next frame which would have won the match but missed. Higgins brightened up with a remarkable 69 break and didn’t look back.
Higgins died in 2010 after a long battle with throat cancer. For the last few months of his life, he refused to eat and rejected the help of White and his family. White helped carry the coffin at the funeral.
“It’s heartbreaking. We miss him very much. We all tried to look after him, but he was a bit of a gambler and he was bitter and it bothered him, you know, but make no mistake, he made the game of snooker. He was flamboyant. He was tenacious. Ask any of the big players, they’ll tell you the same thing.’
White admitted that the win over Higgins in 1982 probably would have killed him. “I’m a bit of a control freak,” he says. “I’ve never listened to anyone in my life, not even now. I made my own mistakes or made my own good decisions. What I was doing at the time, I probably would have been in big trouble. He beat me and it was great for the game he did.”
Martin O’Donnell knocked out whirlwind with a 10-4 win on Thursday night
White hadn’t discovered cocaine that long. “I was just having fun, you know. I was a kid from Tooting. There were only four channels on the television and suddenly everyone knows you. I was a big drinker. That was mine. I had cocaine one night and I was like, God damn it, I’m sober. I can go again. Cocaine was just to keep me drinking for me in the beginning. Then it gets you. The devil’s rose is on my shoulders.’
For a few months it revolved around cracking cocaine. ‘I spent £30,000 on it in three months. My bank account was empty and I knew I had to get myself out. That stuff is bad.’
White reflects on how things have changed. ‘That is a long time ago. I really enjoy my life. I now have more buzz than ever because every day is a good day. Today is good. I have to come every day.
That’s why my game has come back. Because I like doing the work and I like to practice. And I have a job. I’ve never had a job in my life. But now I work for Eurosport and it’s so much fun. You are all part of a team and everyone has to participate. I’m the first. In my drinking time they had done well to find me.’
White tips his commentary partner O’Sullivan to take an eighth world title and single-handedly go clear as the most successful player in Crucible history.
What makes him so special? ‘It’s easy. He has an incredible playing style. There was Higgins, there was myself, attacking the game. Made it look flamboyant. With O’Sullivan, where is he a genius, such a hard worker, he’s a little bit of me, a little bit of Higgins, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and made it all a winning machine. There is no one like him and there will never be anyone like him. He makes the game look so easy.
He’s also had to be tough because of what’s happened in his life, but make no mistake, he has one of the biggest hearts of anyone you could ever meet. He has the heart of a lion.’
White tipped his commentary partner Ronnie O’Sullivan (left) to win an eighth world title
A heart, says White, that also helps him stay where he needs to be. “We’re laughing,” says White. And he’s sober too. He gives me advice about that, because I struggle with it all the time.’
As our conversation draws to a close, the question arises of what 60-year-old White would say to his 13-year-old self if he could go back and warn younger Jimmy about what his life held. store.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” he says. ‘I’ve had a great life. I’ve met the most amazing people. I still have many good friends that I’ve had most of my life. If I were talking to 13-year-old Jimmy White right now, I would tell him to prepare for his games. That’s all. I have no other regrets.’
Watch live coverage of the World Championships on Eurosport and discovery+ with experts Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Alan McManus.