Joe Perry

Joe Perry (born 13 August 1974) is an English professional snooker player from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

This made him, at age 47, the second-oldest player to win a ranking title, after Ray Reardon, who was aged 50 when he won his final ranking event in 1982.

However, Mark Williams subsequently won the 2023 British Open at age 48, making Perry the third-oldest ranking event winner.

Perry is a commentator for the BBC.

Nicknamed "the Gentleman", Perry climbed the rankings steadily after turning professional in 1992 and reached the Top 16 for the first time in 2002.

Previously, he had also reached the last 16 on his Crucible debut in 1999, beating Steve Davis on the final black in the last 32.

His first ranking final came at the 2001 European Open and he had to wait another 13 years for a second which came at the 2014 Wuxi Classic.

Perry's breakthrough came when he reached the final of the European Open in 2001.

Perry previously reached the UK Championship semi-finals in 2004 and 2005, and the semi-finals of the World Championship in 2008.

Perry claimed his second ranking title at the 2022 Welsh Open by defeating Judd Trump 9–5 in the final.

He first reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 2004, beating then defending champion Mark Williams 13–11 along the way, also making the tournament's highest break of 145 (which remains Perry's best in competition, only equaled in the Northern Ireland Open 2023), before losing to Matthew Stevens.

He reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship in both 2004 and 2005.

The 2004 defeat was especially notable as Perry had led 8–7 and potted a colour to leave his opponent, David Gray, requiring a snooker – however, Perry's pot had also left him snookered on the final red, which he failed to hit, allowing Gray to clear the table and ultimately win the deciding frame with a total clearance of 139.

In 2005, he lost to eventual champion Ding Junhui.

In the 2007–08 season, Perry reached two quarter-finals: in the Grand Prix (losing 3–5 to Gerard Greene) and the Welsh Open (with victories over John Parrott 5–2, Peter Ebdon 5–1 and Stuart Bingham 5–2 before Shaun Murphy beat him 5–0), as well as the last 16 of the UK Championship, where he beat Neil Robertson 9–6 after being 3–5 down, before losing 2–9 to Marco Fu.

He followed that up by reaching the semi-finals of the world championship, where he was knocked out by Ali Carter 15–17.

These results ensured him a return to the prestigious top 16 of the rankings (at No. 12, his highest ranking ever), meaning automatic qualification for major tournaments.

He also finished the 2007/2008 season on another high, by winning the Championship League, to qualify for the Betfred Premier League for 2008.

He has said he feels that he is learning to cope with the high pressure of major tournaments, having had more experience over the last season.

He repeated this run in 2008 when he defeated Graeme Dott and Stuart Bingham, and bettered it by going on to beat Stephen Maguire 13–12 and earn his place in the semi-finals, which he narrowly lost to Ali Carter.

Perry opened 2008–09 with three last-sixteen runs, leaving him inside the top eight of the provisional rankings.

However he went one better in the 2008 UK Championship beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–5 having trailed by 3–5, in one of the best victories of his career.

However, he lost 7–9 to Marco Fu in the quarter-finals.

In the new year, he suffered a narrow 5–6 loss to O'Sullivan in the Masters; the rest of the season was unspectacular as he failed to win a match in a ranking event.

He was unable to repeat his 2008 run in the World Championship, losing 6–10 to an in-form Jamie Cope in the first round.

This meant that he finished the season ranked at number 12.

In 2009–10 he only reached one quarter-final and consequently slid to 19th in the rankings.

In the World Championship he beat Michael Holt in the first round 10–4, and trailed Ali Carter 6–10 before winning five frames in a row to lead 11–10 but lost 11–13.

Perry was a losing finalist in Event 1 (Ronnie O'Sullivan won 4–0) and Event 12 (Stephen Maguire won 4–2) during the minor-ranking 2011/2012 Players Tour Championship series.

These results helped him qualify for the Finals as he finished 11th on the Order of Merit.

It was at the Finals where Perry had his best run in a ranking event during the 2011–12 season as he beat Fergal O'Brien and Graeme Dott, before being defeated by Neil Robertson 1–4 in the quarter-finals.

In the other ranking events during the year he reached the second round three times, culminating in a 7–13 defeat to Maguire in the World Championship.

Perry finished the season ranked world number 24.

He began the 2012–13 season by reaching the second round of the Wuxi Classic thanks to the withdrawal of Matthew Stevens and lost 4–5 to Ricky Walden.

He was beaten 1–5 by Marco Fu in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open, before recording his best result of the year at the Shanghai Masters.

He beat Barry Pinches in qualifying, Stevens 5–2 in the first round and then whitewashed Neil Robertson 5–0 to make the quarter-finals.

He also won the minor-ranking 2013 Yixing Open and 2015 Xuzhou Open.

This run left Perry provisionally fifth in the world, but he failed to win a match in the remaining five tournaments and dropped to 14th at the end of the season as a result.

Perry won his first ranking title at the 2015 Players Championship Grand Final, at the age of 40 and in his 23rd season as a professional.

Perry reached the final of a Triple Crown tournament for the first time at the Masters in 2017, losing 7–10 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.