 Ding Junhui believes he is 'far away' from tournament-winning form, admitting that he is getting annoyed with himself during matches as he searches for his brilliant best. The Chinese icon had an eventful start to his English Open campaign on Monday, turning up with the wrong clothes and being docked a frame as someone dashed to M&S for him to buy a black shirt and trousers. The delay saw him docked a frame in his opening round game against Ma Hailong, but he recovered to win 4-3 and set up a second round clash with David Grace. The 14-time ranking event winner is looking to return to the heights he has reached in the game over his immense career so far, but having not won a ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship, he does not feel at all close to his peak. The 36-year-old still shows plenty of flashes of brilliance, but felt that a last 16 defeat to Mark Williams at the British Open last week proved to him that he is a long way from top form. 'No. Far away from there,' Ding said on reaching his best. 'I'm trying to get there, the last tournament I played against Mark Williams, I don't think I'm getting near. There's still a lot of work to do. 'I think it's concentration, I need more concentration. Sometimes I lose it and it kills the match.' The former world number one has looked visibly frustrated during matches of late, notably irritated during a win over Si Jiahui at the Shanghai Masters, despite comfortably claiming a 6-2 win. Ding admits that he is probably too hard on himself but is frustrated that he cannot hit the heights that he knows he is capable of. 'Sometimes I'm annoyed with myself,' he said. 'I don't know, maybe I just push myself too hard sometimes, I don't let myself have mistakes. Maybe sometimes I can't do the levels I want. 'Even when I do okay, I'm leading but maybe not playing that good. Sometimes I need to calm down in the match, I need to control my emotions.' Ronn){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Ding Junhui believes he is ‘far away’ from tournament-winning form, admitting that he is getting annoyed with himself during matches as he searches for his brilliant best.
The Chinese icon had an eventful start to his English Open campaign on Monday, turning up with the wrong clothes and being docked a frame as someone dashed to M&S for him to buy a black shirt and trousers.
The delay saw him docked a frame in his opening round game against Ma Hailong, but he recovered to win 4-3 and set up a second round clash with David Grace.
The 14-time ranking event winner is looking to return to the heights he has reached in the game over his immense career so far, but having not won a ranking title since the 2019 UK Championship, he does not feel at all close to his peak.