Pukka Pies UK Championship
Venue: Telford International Centre Date: Saturday 5 - Sunday 13 December
Coverage: Live on BBC One and Two, Red Button and the BBC Sport website

Williams hopes to recapture his glory days after a trying period in recent years

By Mark Ashenden

Four days after thumping his head on a table light in a pub snooker competition, Mark Williams is still a little sore.

But when it comes to hard knocks, this latest scar barely registers for the two-time world champion.

The road back to the elite has not been without switchbacks for the affable Welshman, most recently when he slipped on some tiles at home and broke his wrist just before the start of the current season.

But nearly two years after he considered putting away his cue altogether after an early exit at the Masters, Williams's fortunes are once again on an upward trajectory.

"I'm feeling a lot better than 12 months ago," the 34-year-old told BBC Sport. "I'm not 100% but at least I'm starting to move forward.

"I left my management company 12 months ago and I've just got a new sponsor. There are still one or two things to sort out but I'm slowly turning it around.

"The pressure is being taken away from me at the table."

One world title was amazing, two phenomenal, but three? That's what I'm aiming for Mark Williams

It is 10 years now since Williams, renowned for his single-ball potting and ability to win tight frames, seemed oblivious to pressure.

Victory in the 1999 UK Championship - snooker's second most prestigious tournament, which starts again this Saturday in Telford - launched a golden period for the player nicknamed 'Sprog'.

He won his first World Championship in 2000, rose to number one in the world, and when he collected his second Crucible title in 2003, he was only the fourth player - after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins - to hold all three major titles simultaneously, having also claimed the UK and the Masters that season.

Williams is not one for wallowing in nostalgia, though. Ask him for specific memories of that highly successful period, and he insists: "I don't really remember one tournament to the next."

"Back then there was me and Ronnie (O'Sullivan) and snooker was going through a golden period," he recalled.

"I was getting into a lot of finals and winning tournaments. Over the last two years I've been lucky to get past round two."

So where did it all go wrong? How could a player who made snooker look so easy suddenly find the task of putting balls into pockets so arduous?

The way he handled his new, elevated status at the start of the decade appears to hold the key.

606: DEBATE Who do you think will win snooker's second biggest tournament? Mark A - BBC Sport

"I wouldn't say I had achieved all my ambitions after winning the Worlds and becoming world number one but I had certainly achieved my dream," he reflects.

"It was a slippery slope. I didn't think I needed to change anything. I let myself down and wasn't putting in half as much practice as I should have done. I needed to work harder and it took two seasons to get back."

Williams has acknowledged in the past he was a "bit wild off the table", with a taste for fast cars (these days he prefers motorbikes) and a big night out.

Former world champion and fellow Welshman Terry Griffiths stepped in as a mentor for a while, providing Williams with a more "positive" attitude to his day job.

Threatened with losing his place in the elite top 16, he won the China Open in 2006, his 16th and last ranking title to date.

But the slump continued, and after losing his place in the top 16, he was forced to spend last season toughing it out in the qualifying rounds for the major tournaments at Prestatyn.

Despite his previous reticence about the prospect - "I don't want to play in the qualifiers. There are plenty of things to do outside snooker," he said in January last year - he actually won five of his eight matches at the north Wales resort.

Progressing to quarter-finals in Shanghai and at the UK, Williams rose to number 15 in the rankings by the end of last season.

This season has seen the 'Welsh Potting Machine' reach the second round in Shanghai and the semi-finals of the Grand Prix in Glasgow.

There are some players you wouldn't ask out for a beer but the mood is generally OK Mark Williams

As Williams practises at his beloved Emporium Snooker Club in Bargoed, south Wales, a stone's throw from his Cwm birthplace, the flames of ambition are clearly flickering again.

At 34, he is the same age as John Higgins, who won the world title for a third time earlier this year. Could Williams tread the same path?

"One world title was amazing, two phenomenal, but three? That's definitely what I'm aiming for," he says. "It's all about practice and hard work."

When that practice yields little reward in competition however, the lack of opportunities to recover ranking points - with only six events on the calendar this season - makes for a stressful existence.

World Snooker may have announced tentative plans for an expanded international circuit last week, but for the time being, staying in the elite group remains a priority.

"There are not enough tournaments," Williams says. "When the season begins in September and there is only the Grand Prix (in October) before the UK (this week), it's quite a wait.

"Because I've had to play in the qualifiers recently, it just adds more pressure for when you do eventually get on the baize.

"I've seen how good some of the young players are. They can beat anybody on their day and it makes it really difficult to get back into the top 16. Those rankings are just so important.

"I'm lucky enough not to suffer from pressure too much. I'm quite laid back but it can affect your mind."

Having revealed a few years ago a preference for the bingo hall over the players' lounge because of the "back-stabbing", Williams' opinions on his fellow professionals seem to have mellowed slightly.

That includes three-time world champion and arch-nemesis O'Sullivan, who a few years ago stoked up an already strained relationship by suggesting Williams was unworthy of a biography because he wasn't "interesting" enough.

"Everything's cool," the Welshman adds. "Obviously there are some players you wouldn't ask out for a beer but the mood is generally OK."

The same could be said for Williams. Ever since a promising boxing career was curtailed as a teenager, he has been happy to roll with the punches that snooker throws at him instead.

Mark Williams plays Graeme Dott in the first round of the Pukka Pies UK Championship on Saturday 5 December at 1300 GMT. Full coverage on BBC Television, Red Button and Online.

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