Nigel Bond

Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English professional snooker player.

Nigel Bond
Born (1965-11-15) 15 November 1965
Darley Dale, England
Sport country England
Nickname
  • Basildon
  • 00-147
  • Bond
Professional1989–
Highest ranking5 (1996/1997)
Current ranking 67 (as of 8 February 2021)
Career winnings£1,804,175
Highest break140:
2004 Grand Prix (qualifying)
Century breaks126
Tournament wins
Ranking1
Non-ranking7

Bond has competed on the main tour since 1989, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 season. He reached the final of the World Championship in 1995, where he lost 9–18 to Stephen Hendry, and won the 1996 British Open, defeating John Higgins 9–8.

Having reached the final of three other ranking tournaments, Bond won the 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out and, in 2012, defeated Tony Chappel to win the World Seniors Championship.

Career

Bond was born in Darley Dale, Derbyshire.[1]

After a strong amateur career,[2] Bond turned professional for the 1989–1990 season. He reached his first ranking semi-final in his first season, and his first final in his second season, but his career peaked in the mid-1990s. In the 1994 World Championships, Bond pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in the event's history, rallying from 9–2 to defeat Cliff Thorburn 10–9 in what would be Thorburn's final appearance at the Crucible. A year later, Bond reached the final after beating Stephen Lee, Alan McManus, Gary Wilkinson and Andy Hicks, but lost to Stephen Hendry 18–9. This was his only semi-final run of the season. As a consequence of reaching the final, he climbed to number 5 in the world rankings for 1996/97, and in that same season he acquired his only ranking tournament victory (after three previous losing finals), the British Open, beating John Higgins 9–8 after needing a snooker in the final frame,[3] winning the World Snooker Association Performance of the Year award for this achievement, although he has failed to maintain this level of performance. He reached at least the quarter finals at the Crucible Theatre every year from 1993 to 1996, losing to Stephen Hendry every time, which added extra spice to their first round match in 2006. After leading comfortably throughout the match Bond was pegged back to 7–7, and the match went to a final frame. With only the black remaining, and 7 points up, Bond clipped it into the left corner pocket, only for the cue ball to go in-off in the right middle pocket, resulting in a respotted black (the first one ever to decide the final frame of a World Championship match), which Bond potted to take frame and match. Final score 10–9, Bond's first win at the Crucible since 1999,[4] and his only last-16 run of that season.[5]

By the end of the 1990s, Bond was out of the top 16, and dropped out of the top 32 for the 2004–2005 season. However, he reclaimed his place a year later, and he has remained there ever since as of 2009. In the 2007 World Championship he lost in the first round, 10–7 to Peter Ebdon.

A run to the last 16 of the 2007 UK Championships,[6] in which he came from 5–7 to win 9–7 against Ken Doherty in the last 32 before losing 9–6 to Ding Junhui in the last 16, was a precursor to his first quarter-final run for 5 years, at the China Open. Victories over David Roe, Stephen Lee and Barry Pinches took him to a meeting with Stephen Maguire, which he lost 5–0.

He opened the 2008–09 season with first-round defeats in the first five tournaments, but victory over Ebdon in the first round of the World Championship ensured that he didn't lose his top 32 status.

On 30 January 2011, Bond won the Snooker Shoot-Out event. This involved the top 64 players in the world playing 10-minute matches decided on a single frame. He picked up the £32,000 prize money as well as the Snooker Shoot-Out trophy, beating Robert Milkins 58–24 in the final.[7]

Bond started the 2011–12 season very well by qualifying for the first two ranking event tournaments, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters. He lost to Neil Robertson and Mark Selby respectively in the first round.[8] He also qualified for the World Open, but was defeated by amateur player Lu Ning in the wildcard round.[8] Bond finished the season ranked world number 45.[9]

Bond once again qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open in the 2012–13 season, but lost to Neil Robertson 1–5 in the last 32.[10] In December, he reached the World Open in Haikou, China, with wins over Jimmy White and Jamie Burnett. At the venue he saw off Zhu Yinghui 5–3 in the wildcard round and received a bye through to the last 16 due to the withdrawal of Ali Carter.[10] There he lost 1–5 to Judd Trump.[11] Bond was also crowned World Seniors champion during the season without dropping a frame in a total of seven matches, concluding with a 2–0 victory against Tony Chappel in the final.[12] Bond's season ended when he was beaten 8–10 by Alan McManus in the third round of World Championship Qualifying.[13] He dropped a solitary place during the year to end it ranked world number 46.[14]

Bond reached the final of the World Seniors Championship for the second year in a row in the 2013–14 season, losing 2–1 to Steve Davis.[15] He only won two matches at the main venue of ranking events all season, his best run coming in the China Open, where he beat Barry Pinches 5–2 before Mark Selby defeated Bond 5–1 in the last 32.[16] He fell 11 spots from the start of the season to end it as the world number 57.[17]

Bond produced a superb comeback in the second round of the 2014 UK Championship, as from 5–0 down against world number five Barry Hawkins he took six successive frames to advance.[18] However, in the third round Anthony McGill recovered from 4–1 down to eliminate Bond 6–5.[19] The furthest Bond could progress in a ranking event this season was at the Indian Open, where he beat Ryan Day 4–1 and Dechawat Poomjaeng 4–3, before losing 4–1 to Chris Wakelin in the last 16.[20] He just fell outside the top 64 at the end of the year as he was 65th, but Bond earned a two-year extension via the European Order of Merit.[21][22]

At the 2016 Indian Open Bond defeated Ricky Walden 4–1, Sam Baird 4–2, John Astley 4–2 and Peter Ebdon 4–3 to reach his first ranking event semi-final since 2002, where he lost 4–1 to Kyren Wilson.[23] Bond had started practicing at the Snooker Academy in Sheffield with young Chinese players and stated that this has contributed to him regaining the hunger and passion to play snooker.[24] He would have a losing run of 10 successive matches shortly afterwards, but at the Gibraltar Open he beat five players to reach his second semi-final of the season, where he failed to pick up a frame in a defeat to Shaun Murphy.[25] Bond kept his place on the tour through the one-year ranking list.[26]

Personal life

Bond is married to wife Karen and they have one son named James.[27]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1989/
90
1990/
91
1991/
92
1992/
93
1993/
94
1994/
95
1995/
96
1996/
97
1997/
98
1998/
99
1999/
00
2000/
01
2001/
02
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
2019/
20
2020/
21
Ranking[nb 1] [nb 2] 38 21 9 9 11 12 5 8 13 21 23 23 30 40 35 27 20 25 23 29 38 40 45 46 57 [nb 3] 71 [nb 4] 80 [nb 4] 68
Ranking tournaments
European Masters[nb 5] QF 1R 1R 2R 1R SF 1R 2R NH 1R Not Held 2R LQ LQ LQ 2R 2R NR Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R
Championship League Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event RR
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R
UK Championship 1R QF 2R 2R QF 1R QF 3R 1R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R QF 1R 2R 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R 3R 1R 1R 1R 1R QF 1R
Scottish Open[nb 6] SF Not Held QF 2R 3R 2R 3R 3R 2R 1R 2R SF 1R 1R Tournament Not Held MR Not Held 1R 1R 3R 1R 2R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
German Masters[nb 7] Tournament Not Held 2R SF 1R NR Tournament Not Held 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R LQ
Shoot-Out NH NR Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event 2R 4R 1R 2R 2R
Welsh Open Not Held SF QF 3R 1R 1R 3R 3R 2R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 3R 1R LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R 1R 4R 2R 1R
Players Championship[nb 8] Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR SF 1R 2R 1R
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship LQ LQ 1R QF QF F SF 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ 2R 1R 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
World Seniors Championship Not Held A Tournament Not Held SF 1R W F 1R QF A A NH A 1R
The Masters A LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R 1R SF QF 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A A A A A A A A A
Championship League Tournament Not Held RR A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Classic LQ LQ SF Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open Not Held SF MR NR Tournament Not Held
Dubai Classic[nb 9] 3R 1R 3R 1R 1R QF F 2R Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event 2R NR Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 10] LQ 3R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R F QF 2R 2R 1R LQ NR Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
British Open LQ LQ 2R 2R QF 2R W 3R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event LQ 2R 1R NH NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR 2R 2R 1R Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 11] Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event LQ 1R LQ Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 12] 1R Tournament Not Held NR Tournament Not Held 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ Not Held
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held 1R LQ 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ Non-Rank. NH
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 13] Tournament Not Held Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking Event 1R 2R 1R NR NH
Indian Open Tournament Not Held 1R 3R NH SF LQ LQ Not Held
China Open[nb 14] Tournament Not Held NR 2R LQ 2R LQ Not Held WR LQ LQ QF 1R 2R 1R LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 15] Tournament Not Held MR LQ 2R 1R A NH
International Championship Tournament Not Held LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R NH
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ 1R LQ NH
World Open[nb 16] 2R F SF QF 2R 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R 3R LQ 3R 2R RR RR LQ 1R 1R WR 2R 1R Not Held LQ LQ LQ 1R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
European Grand Masters NH QF Tournament Not Held
World Masters NH 2R Tournament Not Held
World Matchplay A A A 1R Tournament Not Held
King's Cup Not Held A W A A Tournament Not Held
Pot Black A A A 1R 1R Tournament Not Held A A A Tournament Not Held
Red & White Challenge Tournament Not Held W Tournament Not Held
Pontins Professional A A A A F A F A A A A Tournament Not Held
Charity Challenge Tournament Not Held 1R 1R QF 1R A A A A Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Tournament Not Held A 1R W QF A R A Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters A QF A QF A A A 1R 1R A A A A Ranking NH A Tournament Not Held
Scottish Masters A A A A SF A QF LQ W SF A A LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Legends of Snooker Tournament Not Held SF Tournament Not Held
Shoot-Out NH 3R Tournament Not Held W 1R 3R 2R 1R A Ranking Event
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.
RV / Ranking & Variant Format Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking & variant format event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Eventmeans an event is/was a pro-am event.
VF / Variant Format Eventmeans an event is/was a variant format event.
  1. From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.
  3. Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points.
  4. Players qualified One Year Ranking List started the season without ranking points.
  5. The event ran under different names such as European Open (1989/1990-1996/1997, 2001/2002-2003/2004) and Malta Cup (2004/2005–2007/2008)
  6. The event ran under different names such as International Open (1989/1990 to 1996/1997) and Players Championship (2003/2004).
  7. The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  8. The event run under different name as Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  9. The event run under different names as Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  10. The event ran under different names such as Asian Open (1989/1990 to 1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994 to 1996/1997).
  11. The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  12. The event ran under different names such as Hong Kong Open (1989/1990), Australian Open (1994/1995) and Australian Masters (1995/1996)
  13. The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)
  14. The event run under different name as China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  15. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  16. The event run under different names as Professional Players Tournament (1982/1983-1983/1984), Grand Prix (1984/1985–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004), the World Open (2010/2011) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)
Other (1–3)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1990 Grand Prix Stephen Hendry 5–10
Runner-up 2. 1995 World Snooker Championship Stephen Hendry 9–18
Runner-up 3. 1995 Thailand Classic John Parrott 6–9
Winner 1. 1996 British Open John Higgins 9–8
Runner-up 4. 1997 Thailand Open Peter Ebdon 7–9

Minor-ranking finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1993 Strachan Challenge – Event 2 Troy Shaw 4–9

Non-ranking finals: 10 (7 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1992 King's Cup James Wattana 8–7
Runner-up 1. 1994 Pontins Professional Ken Doherty 5–9
Winner 2. 1995 Red & White Challenge John Parrott 8–6
Runner-up 2. 1996 Pontins Professional (2) Ken Doherty 7–9
Winner 3. 1996 Malta Grand Prix Tony Drago 7–3
Winner 4. 1997 Scottish Masters Alan McManus 9–8
Winner 5. 2010 World Seniors Championship Qualifying Tournament Peter Lines 4–3
Winner 6. 2011 Snooker Shoot Out Robert Milkins 1–0
Winner 7. 2012 World Seniors Championship Tony Chappel 2–0
Runner-up 3. 2013 World Seniors Championship Steve Davis 1–2

Pro-am finals: 5 (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2008 Pontins Spring Open David Grace 1–5
Winner 1. 2009 World Games David Grace 3–0
Winner 2. 2010 Pontins Spring Open Stephen Craigie 5–2
Runner-up 2. 2014 Vienna Snooker Open Mark King 2–5
Runner-up 3. 2017 Vienna Snooker Open (2) David Grace 2–5

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 1989 English Amateur Championship Barry Pinches 13–11

References

  1. "Crucible's imposing cauldron holds no fears for Bond". The Independent. 1996.
  2. "Profile at globalsnooker.co.uk". Global Snooker. 2005. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  3. "Profile on WWW Snooker". Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  4. "Profile on Sporting Life 2007". Sporting Life. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  5. "Profile on Sporting Life 2006". Sporting Life. 2006. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  6. "Bond fight back sets up Junhui clash". Matlock Mercury. 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  7. "Nigel Bond revels in Snooker Shoot-Out win in Blackpool". BBC Sport. 31 January 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  8. "Nigel Bond 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  9. "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  10. "Nigel Bond 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  11. "Haikou World Open: Judd Trump beats Nigel Bond 5–1 to reach the quarter-finals". Sky Sports. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  12. "Nigel Bond wins snooker's World Seniors Championship". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  13. "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  14. "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  15. "World Seniors Championship: Steve Davis beats Nigel Bond 2-1 in Portsmouth final". Sky Sports. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  16. "Nigel Bond 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  17. "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  18. "Bond – I'll Die Another Day". World Snooker. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  19. "Snooker: Tables turned on Nigel Bond as he bows out of UK Championship". Derby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  20. "Nigel Bond 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  21. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  22. "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  23. "Murphy/McGill/Wilson/Bond Into Semis". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  24. "Nigel Bond Q&A". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  25. "Nigel Bond 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  26. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  27. "Nigel Bond". IMDb. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
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