Jamie Cope
Cope at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born (1985-09-12) 12 September 1985
Longton, Staffordshire, England
Sport country England
NicknameThe Shotgun[1]
Professional2002–2004, 2005–2017
Highest ranking13 (September 2010 and December 2010 – February 2011)[2][3]
Maximum breaks3
Century breaks164
Best ranking finishRunner-up (x2)

Jamie Cope (born 12 September 1985) is an English former professional snooker player.

A finalist in two ranking tournaments, the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 China Open, Cope also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters. He reached his highest ranking, 13th, in September 2010, but thereafter developed a tremor which has been attributed to being either an essential tremor or the yips, which makes his cue arm shake. This condition caused Cope to slip markedly down the rankings in the 2010s, culminating in his relegation from the main tour at the end of the 2016–17 season. He was known for his fast, entertaining style, being nicknamed "Shotgun" due to his speed around the table and aggressive playing style.

Career

Early career

Cope had an impressive record as a junior, but dropped off the Main Tour after two largely unsuccessful seasons. However, he finished top in the Challenge Tour for emerging players in the 2004–05 season, winning two of its four tournaments. This enabled him to return to the Main Tour. His stated intention in pre-season was to finish the year in the Top 48, a tough target which he technically achieved by default after Paul Hunter's illness. He reached the last 16 of the season-opening Grand Prix tournament. Later in the 2005–06 season he reached the same stage of the Welsh Open and China Open. Those three last-16 defeats were all 5–4. During the season he claimed wins over Joe Perry, Steve Davis, John Parrott and Alan McManus.

Cope has the distinction of being the first player in snooker history to post a verified 155 break achieved in a practice frame in 2005.[4]

2006–2010

On 23 October 2006, Cope made a 147 break in a match against Michael Holt during the Grand Prix in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was only the third player to achieve a 147 in the tournament's history, after Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins. (Tom Ford has since become the fourth man to make a 147 at the Grand Prix, on 15 October 2007.) After progressing from the group stages, Cope defeated Robert Milkins in the last-16 to reach his first quarter-final in ranking events. He beat Joe Perry again in a closely fought match which required a deciding ninth frame. Eventually, Cope won after a slip-up by Perry on the yellow. In the semi-finals Cope defeated Mark King 6–3, but he lost 5–9 to Australian competitor Neil Robertson in the final. Cope had struggled early in the match and fell 2–8 behind. He briefly rallied to claim the next three frames, but Robertson won the fourteenth frame to clinch the title. On 31 March 2007, Cope progressed into the final of the China Open against Graeme Dott, after beating Barry Hawkins on the last black of the final frame in the semi-finals, after requiring a snooker. However, he lost the final, again by 5 frames to 9.

In the 2007–08 season, he reached the last 32 of the Shanghai Masters losing 2–5 to John Higgins. He failed to progress beyond the group stages in the Grand Prix 2007, finishing sixth in his group, not winning a match. In the UK Championship Cope produced a very good performance in beating the then world number one John Higgins 9–3 in the last 32. He then beat Barry Hawkins 9–8 in the last 16, before losing to eventual champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals. Cope made his World Championship debut in 2008, losing 10–9 to Peter Ebdon in the first round.

At the 2008 Shanghai Masters, Cope scored the second competitive 147 of his career against Mark Williams, but lost their last-16 match 2–5. In the 2009 World Championship, Cope beat Joe Perry in the first round 10–6 and was close to upsetting twice world champion John Higgins in the second round. He was 12–10 up and was looking good to win the match, but ultimately Higgins surged back to win 13–12. This meant that he finished the season ranked at No. 18, still unable to break into the elite top 16. In the 2009–10 season he never progressed beyond the second round of a ranking tournament. Although he qualified for the World Championship, he lost 10–4 in the first round to Ali Carter. On top of this, an unexpected run to the final by Graeme Dott meant that Dott overtook Cope in the rankings and left Cope outside the world's top 16 for another season, albeit at a career high ranking of 17th.

2010/2011 season

In the 2010/2011 season, the two-year ranking system was replaced with a rolling ranking, meaning that Cope was finally able to reach the top 16 in October 2010. Cope made his debut at the Masters, where he reached the semi-final stage with wins over Shaun Murphy and Mark King. He played Ding Junhui in the semi-final, but lost 3–6.[5] He was knocked out of the World Championship in the last 16 following a 4–13 loss to Mark Williams, but despite this he finished the season ranked 15.[6][7]

2011/2012 season

Cope began the 2011–12 season with a first round loss in the Australian Goldfields Open and a second round defeat in the Shanghai Masters, resulting in him losing his place in the top 16 after the first rankings cut-off in October, as he was placed number 18.[8][9] Therefore, Cope was now required to win a qualifying match to reach the main draw of the ranking events. He failed to do this in the next three tournaments, losing to Joe Jogia, Yu Delu and Ken Doherty, in attempting to qualify for the UK Championship, German Masters and Welsh Open respectively.[8] Cope stopped the rot by beating Jamie Burnett to earn a place in the World Open, held in Haikou, China. He played Martin Gould in the first round and, after finding himself 2–4 down, produced a comeback to win the last three frames to set up a last-16 clash with John Higgins. Cope could not continue his run in the tournament, however, being whitewashed 0–5 by the reigning world champion. Cope also qualified for the China Open, but was this time on the wrong end of a 4–5 scoreline, as he was edged out by Neil Robertson in the first round. Cope's season came to an end soon after this, as he lost in qualifying for the World Championship to Liu Chuang.[8] He was ranked world number 27, meaning he had dropped 12 places during the year, the most of any player who finished the season inside the top 32.[10]

2012/2013 season

Cope's best finishes of the 2012–13 season were last 16 defeats in the first three ranking events of the year, which did include a 5–1 victory over world number one Mark Selby in the first round of the Shanghai Masters.[11][12] In the rest of the season Cope struggled for form as he lost his qualifying match in the next three ranking events, and although he qualified for the World Open and the China Open, he lost 2–5 in the first round to Graeme Dott in the former and 2–5 in the wildcard round to Zhao Xintong in the latter.[11] Cope played in eight of the ten Players Tour Championship events, but could not advance beyond the last 16 in any of them to finish 50th on the PTC Order of Merit.[13] His season ended when he lost 3–10 to world number 70 Dechawat Poomjaeng in the final round of World Championship Qualifying.[14] His drop down the rankings continued as he ended the year ranked world number 38, outside of the top 32 for the first time since 2006.[15][16]

2013/2014 season

Cope lost 5–2 in the first round against Joe Perry as he started his 2013–14 season at the Wuxi Classic. He then beat Martin Gould 5–4 at the Australian Goldfields Open, before home favourite Neil Robertson eliminated him 5–3 in the second round.[17] In the next four ranking events he lost in the first round of the UK Championship to David Morris and failed to qualify for the others.[17] In February, after Cope whitewashed Gareth Green 5–0 to qualify for the China Open and beat Ryan Clark 4–1 in the first round of the Welsh Open, he revealed that he had been working with a sports psychologist in an attempt to help him with the yips in his cue arm which have plagued his results in recent years.[18] His draw in the following matches was not kind as lost 5–1 to Ding Junhui in the next round, a player who had already won four ranking events this season, and 5–1 to Shaun Murphy in China, who had won the World Open two weeks earlier.[17]

In World Championship qualifying, Cope defeated John Astley 10–2, Alex Borg 10–7 and Mark King 10–7 to reach the main draw of snooker's biggest tournament for the first time in three years.[19] In the first round he led Murphy 7–5, but the match went into a deciding frame with Cope losing it on the colours.[20] Cope said later that he was unable to control his arm in the second session of the match which had caused him to jab at the cue ball.[21]

2014/2015 season

Cope qualified for the Wuxi Classic for the third year in a row, but was beaten 5–3 by Michael White in the first round.[22] He lost 6–4 to John Higgins in the second round of the UK Championship and was edged out 4–3 by Neil Robertson in the third round of the Welsh Open.[23][24] Cope's second last 32 appearance in a ranking event this season was at the Indian Open after defeating Fraser Patrick, but he lost 4–2 to Higgins.[22] His year finished with a 10–9 loss on the final black to Steve Davis in the first round of World Championship qualifying.[25] This result meant that Cope fell out of the top 64 of the season-end world rankings; however, he saved his tour place thanks to his 44th position on the European Order of Merit which earned him a fresh two-year tour card.[26]

2015/2016 season

Cope won four matches to qualify for the 2015 Shanghai Masters and then progressed through a wildcard match once in China. In the first round of the event, Cope secured his best win in a number of years by holding on from 3–0 ahead of world number four Neil Robertson to edge it 5–4.[27] He was 3–0 behind Mark Williams in the second round and could not recover as he was defeated 5–3.[28] He also qualified for the International Championship, but lost 6–4 to Kyren Wilson in the opening round.[29] Cope came from 4–1 down to Rory McLeod in the first round of the UK Championship to win 6–5, but was whitewashed 6–0 by Stephen Maguire in the second round.[30] He also failed to win a frame in the opening round of the Welsh Open as Ben Woollaston saw him off 4–0.[29]

2016/2017 season

An extremely quiet season saw Cope reach the last 64 of five events, but he was unable to go any further in any of them.[31] He ended the season at world number 76, outside the top 64 in the world rankings, and played in the 2017 Q School.[32] Cope was eliminated in the fifth round of event one and the second round of event two, and was consequently relegated from the professional snooker tour.[33]

2017/18

He entered the 2018 Q School in a bid to win back his place on the snooker professional tour.[34] In the second event he reached the final stage, but was beaten 4–1 by Jordan Brown.[35]

2019/20

He announced his retirement from snooker on 25 May.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2005/
06		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19
Ranking[16][nb 1] [nb 2] 97 [nb 3] [nb 2] 47 22 19 18 17 15 27 38 43 [nb 4] 78 [nb 3] [nb 3]
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 5] Tournament Not Held Minor-Rank. 1R A WD
World Open[nb 6] LQ LQ A 3R F RR QF 2R 2R 2R 1R LQ Not held 1R A A
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 7] Not Held Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking Event 1R 3R A
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR A A
European Masters[nb 8] LQ LQ A LQ LQ NR Tournament Not Held LQ A A
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R A A
International Championship Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ A A
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 2R A A
UK Championship LQ LQ A 1R LQ QF LQ 1R 1R LQ LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R A A
Scottish Open[nb 9] LQ LQ Tournament Not held MR Not Held 1R A A
German Masters Tournament Not Held 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Welsh Open LQ LQ A 3R 2R 2R LQ 2R 2R LQ WD 2R 3R 1R 2R A A
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event 1R 1R A
Indian Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R NH LQ A A
Players Championship[nb 10] Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 1R 3R A
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ
China Open Not Held A 2R F 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R WR 1R 1R LQ 1R A A
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 2R 1R 2R LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ A
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ LQ A LQ WD LQ LQ LQ SF A A A A A A A A
Championship League Tournament Not Held RR RR 2R RR RR A A A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
British Open LQ LQ A Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters LQ LQ A NH NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Not Held NR LQ 2R 2R Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held 1R Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 11] Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event 2R 1R 1R Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R 2R A LQ Not Held
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not held 1R 2R 2R SF 2R 2R LQ LQ 2R LQ A NR
Former non-ranking tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 12] Tournament Not Held A A SF NH A A A A A A A
Hainan Classic Tournament Not Held F Tournament Not Held
Brazil Masters Tournament Not Held 1R Tournament Not Held
Shoot-Out Tournament Not held 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R A Ranking
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 Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. 1 2 New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. 1 2 3 He was an amateur.
  4. ↑ Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points.
  5. ↑ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  6. ↑ The event was called the LG Cup (2002/2003-2003/2004), the Grand Prix (2004/2005–2009/2010), the World Open (2010/2011) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  7. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Malta Cup (2004/2005–2007/2008)
  9. ↑ The event was called the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  10. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  11. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  12. ↑ The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2006 Grand Prix Australia Neil Robertson 5–9
Runner-up 2. 2007 China Open Scotland Graeme Dott 5–9

Non-ranking finals: 3 (2 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2004 Challenge Tour - Event 1 England Chris Norbury 6–2
Winner 2. 2005 Challenge Tour - Event 4 England Matthew Couch 6–0
Runner-up 1. 2011 Hainan Classic Scotland John Higgins 2–7

Pro-am finals: 8 (5 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2003 EASB Open Tour Event 4 England Ricky Walden 1–5
Winner 1. 2005 Pontins Spring Open England Mike Finn 5–0
Winner 2. 2006 Pontins Pro-Am - Event 1 Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty 4–2[36]
Runner-up 2. 2006 Pontins Autumn Open Wales Ryan Day 2–5
Winner 3. 2007 Pontins Pro-Am - Event 4 England Ricky Walden 4–3[37]
Winner 4. 2007 Pontins Autumn Open England Lee Page 5–0
Runner-up 3. 2008 Austrian Open Wales Ryan Day 3–6
Winner 5. 2008 Pontins World Series Grand Final England Craig Steadman 4–1

References

  1. ↑ "Jamie Cope". wst.tv. Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  2. ↑ "World rankings after Shanghai Masters 2010" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Rankings after 2010 UK Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Everton, Clive (12 October 2005). "Murphy shows the form and confidence of a champion". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  5. ↑ "The Masters". WWW Snooker. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  6. ↑ "World Snooker: Mark Williams cruises past Jamie Cope". BBC Sport. 22 April 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Rankings after 2011 World Championship" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 "Jamie Cope 2011/2012". Snooker Database. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "Rankings after PTC6 (2011 Warsaw Classic)" (PDF). World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  11. 1 2 "Jamie Cope 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "Mark Selby loses to Jamie Cope in Shanghai Masters". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  13. ↑ "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  14. ↑ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  15. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List for the 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  16. 1 2 "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  17. 1 2 3 "Jamie Cope 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  18. ↑ "Snooker: Jamie Cope comeback faces big test from China's Ding Junhui". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  19. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ↑ "World Championship: Shaun Murphy beat Jamie Cope in a dramatic first-round tussle in Sheffield". Sky Sports. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "Jamie Cope misses out as snooker rival Shaun Murphy nets tense win". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  22. 1 2 "Jamie Cope 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  23. ↑ "John Higgins reveals a technical tip helped him beat Jamie Cope 6–4 in the Coral UK Championship". The Press. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "Robertson And Selby Scrape Through". World Snooker. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "World Championship qualifying: Steve Davis wins on final black". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Resurgent Cope Stuns Robertson". World Snooker. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  28. ↑ "Bingham Into Shanghai Quarters". World Snooker. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  29. 1 2 "Jamie Cope 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  30. ↑ "Snooker: Maguire or White up next for Jamie Cope at UK Championship". The Sentinel. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  31. ↑ "Jamie Cope 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  32. ↑ "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  33. ↑ "Q School Order of Merit 2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  34. ↑ "Snooker Q School Receives 190 Entries". 5 April 2018.
  35. ↑ "Brown earns tour return". World Snooker Tour. 25 May 2018.
  36. ↑ "2006 Pontins Pro-Am – Event 1". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  37. ↑ "2007 Pontins Pro-Am – Event 4". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008.
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