There was no play yesterday in Leicester so, nothing to report on regarding the 2024 Ranking CLS.

WST took the opportunity to share an interview they did with Zhang Anda. This comes after the one they did with Julien Leclerq and I”m glad to finally see more focus put on non British/Irish players

ZHANG ANDA Q&A

The 2023/24 season was by far the rest of Zhang Anda’s career as he won his first ranking title at the International Championship, broke into the top 16 for the first time and was named Breakthrough Player of the Year. The Chinese ace looks back on his landmark success and describes the importance of a postive mentality. 

Zhang, what have you been doing since the end of last season?
I have kept a busy schedule, doing a lot of exhibitions and invitational activities. I had two weeks with my family, but since then I have been away from home. I visited Chengdu, Kunshan, Wuhan, Lhasa, Chongqing and Urumqi. It feels good to be busy and it’s heart-warming to see a lot of fans supporting me. I felt like saying ‘yes’ to all requests and tried to be professional. I’m a lot busier compared to this time last year. But soon I’m going home for a month and I’ll be practising to be ready for the Shanghai Masters. 

You must be excited to have a place in the Shanghai event?
Yes – I haven’t played there since it became an invitational tournament. It’s an elite event,  all the players in the field are tough and every match is full of anticipation. It’s great to be in events like this, it’s a precious opportunity.

Do you have any goals for the new season?
I’d like to stay in the top 16. I can’t imagine it being as good as my previous season, but I’ll definitely try to do better in each tournament. Nobody knows if there’s another trophy in line but I’ll focus on my game and try to make progress. 

How can you explain your success last season?
It’s all about mindset. I felt peaceful in my mind during the events where I did well. I managed to stay calm and didn’t worry about the outcome of each match. In other words, I was able to immerse myself in those scenarios. At the International Championship and the Players Championship (where he was runner-up to Mark Allen) I had no distracting thoughts, I only thought about what’s on the table. I was playing my natural game. I don’t want to be under pressure in the new season so perhaps ‘no target’ is the best strategy. But I’ll have a positive mindset at every tournament.

After such a good season, it must have been disappointing to lose to Jak Jones in the first round of the World Championship.
I was out of sorts at the Crucible. I felt a lot of pressure, and let the wrong thoughts creep in. There was extra expectation because I was a top 16 player for the first time, I was supposed to play to a certain standard. That’s when the useless thoughts kicked in. When your game goes from bad to worse you feel impatient, even irritable. You forget to think about what’s on the table and those thoughts became distractions. Everyone was watching, it was the end of a brilliant season, I was a seeded player – these were all distractions. I was over-cautious and afraid of missing shots. I think that’s exactly why I didn’t do well in the first ten years of my career. Nobody can help you out there with the negative thoughts. Then suddenly there’s this one week where you are able to cope with everything in a perfectly peaceful mindset. Maybe it’s more difficult when you are young.

So with more experience you are able to control your emotions more? 
I’ve learned my lesson. Some of the things you want the most, those are the most difficult things to get. But you can’t stop wanting these things, nor can you just let it slide. You can’t stop trying to win. But it’s better to just concentrate on the shots, on what’s on the table, not the result. And enjoy the process of treating every moment the correct way. You will get good results if you can do it that way. 

John Higgins is your favourite player – did you watch his 13-12 victory over Mark Allen at the Crucible? 
There’s no way to stop me watching that deciding frame live! I got very excited. It was an awesome moment and that’s why he’s my favourite player. Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan keep winning tournaments and I genuinely hope that John can do the same. He actually had a good season with a lot of semi-final and quarter-final finishes, but it would be great if he can win titles again. He was in Chengdu last month and we did exhibitions together, I was very happy to be involved with his birthday celebrations. He seemed to know that I idolized him and learned the game by watching videos of his matches.

I will alway remember the moment Zhang Anda really caught my attention. It was at the 2010 World Qualifiers. I had been invited to the last round of qualifiers by Lee Gorton. Lee was Ricky Walden’s manager back then and had been involved in organising pro-ams in Belgium. I went to take pictures to promote those events and that’s how we had met. Ricky had to qualify for the Crucible. He only had to win one match and was facing a tiny 18 years old kid from China, in his first year as a pro: Zhang Anda. On paper that looked comfortable enough … but Zhang beat Ricky to book his place at the Crucible.

Zhang had to start in the first round of qualifiers that year. he was a rookie. He beat Craig Steadman by 10-4 in the last 96, John Parrott by 10-6 in the last 80, Andrew Higginson in the last 64 and, finally, Ricky by 10-8 in the last 48. There was never more than two frames between them in that match but Ricky was ahead only once at 5-6.

Zhang was due to face Stephen Hendry at the Crucible. I remember what went on on social media – mainly forums – at the time. Hendry was going to wipe the floor with the kid … that was the general opinion. I dared to disagree and got crucified for it. Hendry DID eventually win that match indeed but it went to the deciding frame. Hendry had the best start, the went 4-0 ahead. But Zhang settled and went on to lead by 9-7. Eventually however experience and determination got Hendry over the line. Later, in the media room, Hendry could hardly believe what had happened. He did not expect a difficult match, never-mind having to win the last three frames to avoid a first round defeat to a teenager rookie from China.