Alain Robidoux

Alain Robidoux (born July 25, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Robidoux played on the sport's main tour from 1987 to 2004 and reached the final of the 1996 German Open, which he lost 7–9 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Career

Robidoux was born on 25 July 1960 in Canada.<ref name="CUESPORT">Template:Cite book</ref> He joined the professional snooker circuit in the 1987–88 snooker season as a "non-tournament" professional. This entitled him to play only in the World Championship. He amassed enough points in the 1988 World Championship qualifiers to finish in the top 128 players, which allowed him to join the tour full-time.<ref name="GRAUN25MAR">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="CUESPORT"/>

In September 1988, Robidoux became only the sixth player ever to record an officially ratified 147 maximum break, achieved in the qualifying rounds of the European Open.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Official 147s">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He won the Canadian Professional Championship by defeating Jim Wych 8–4 in the final.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix in October 1988, where he won six consecutive frames from 1–8 down against Alex Higgins, but ultimately lost the match 7–9.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the first round of the 1996 World Championship, Robidoux was beaten 3–10 by Ronnie O'Sullivan in a controversial match. Although predominantly right-handed, O'Sullivan played a number of shots with his left hand, and the behaviour was described by commentator John Virgo as O'Sullivan "taking the mick". The matter came to a head in the eleventh frame, when Robidoux was 2–8 down and he was declining to concede the frame, instead continuing to Template:Cuegloss despite a 43-point deficit with only the Template:Cuegloss and Template:Cuegloss on the table. He refused to shake O'Sullivan's hand at the end of the match. In response, O'Sullivan claimed that he played better with his left hand than Robidoux could with his right.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Realising that O'Sullivan was able to play equally well with both hands, Robidoux later apologised to him.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the 1996–97 season, Robidoux reached the final of the 1996 German Open, but he lost 7–9 to O'Sullivan despite making a tournament-best 145 break.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That same season, he progressed to the semi-finals of the 1997 World Snooker Championship, defeating Brian Morgan, Stefan Mazrocis and Lee Walker, before losing to eventual champion Ken Doherty. He finished the season 9th in the world rankings, which was to be his career-best ranking position.<ref name="SS 2009-05"/> However he then endured a torrid 1997–98 season, losing all his matches and did not win a match again until the following season at the 1999 Welsh Open, where he reached the last 16.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He lost his professional status in 2004 after placing 102nd in the rankings.<ref name="SS 2009-05">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="04R">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Robidoux blamed his decline on the destruction of his favourite cue,<ref name="SS 2009-05" /> which he referred to as "the Eel". When he returned the cue to the man from whom he had bought it to have it mended, the man objected to Robidoux having fixed a sponsor's logo to the butt and smashed the cue to pieces. Several years later, Robidoux was asked whether the passage of time had eased his anger towards the cue maker; he responded "I want to kill him."<ref name="SS 2009-05"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament	1987/ 88	1988/ 89	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
Ranking<ref name="Ranking history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	<ref group="nb">New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.</ref>	102	35	16	13	14	18	32	20	14	9	12	36	49	78	77	91
Ranking tournaments
World Open<ref group="nb">The event ran under different names such as Grand Prix (1987/1988 to 2000/2001) and LG Cup (2001/2002 to 2003/2004).</ref>	A	SF	3R	3R	3R	2R	2R	2R	3R	QF	1R	1R	WD	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
British Open	A	2R	3R	QF	QF	1R	2R	3R	1R	2R	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
UK Championship	A	1R	QF	2R	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	QF	1R	1R	WD	LQ	1R	LQ	1R
Welsh Open	Tournament Not Held				1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	3R	1R	3R	WD	LQ	LQ	LQ	WD
European Open<ref group="nb">The event ran under different names such as European Open (1988/1989 to 1996/1997 and 2001/2002 to 2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999).</ref>	NH	3R	2R	1R	QF	2R	LQ	1R	LQ	2R	NH	1R	Not Held		LQ	LQ	LQ
Irish Masters	Non-Ranking Event															LQ	WD
Players Championship<ref group="nb" >The event ran under different names such as International Open (1987/1988 to 1996/1997).</ref>	A	2R	SF	Not held		1R	1R	3R	SF	1R	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	WD
World Championship	LQ	LQ	1R	2R	2R	1R	LQ	1R	1R	SF	1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters	A	A	A	WR	QF	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	A
Former ranking tournaments
Canadian Masters	NR	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Open<ref group="nb">The event ran under different names as Australian Masters (1987/1988 and 1995/1996) and Australian Open (1994/1995).</ref>	NR	NH	2R	Tournament Not Held				NR	NR	Tournament Not Held
Classic	A	LQ	LQ	2R	3R	Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open	Tournament Not Held				2R	MR	NR	Tournament Not Held
Dubai Classic<ref group="nb" >The event run under different names as Dubai Masters (1988/1989), Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)</ref>	NH	NR	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	QF	1R	2R	Tournament Not Held
German Masters<ref group="nb">The event ran under different name as German Open (1995/1996 to 1997/1998).</ref>	Tournament Not Held								LQ	F	1R	NR	Tournament Not Held
China Open<ref group="nb">The event ran under different names as China International (1997/1998 and 1998/1999)</ref>	Tournament Not Held										NR	1R	WD	LQ	LQ	Not Held
Thailand Masters<ref group="nb" >The event ran under different names such as Asian Open (1989/1990 to 1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994 to 1996/1997).</ref>	Not Held		LQ	1R	QF	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	WD	LQ	LQ	NR	NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Template:Nowrap	A	W	Tournament Not Held
World Masters	Not Held			2R	Tournament Not Held
Nescafe Extra Challenge	Not Held			RR	NH	A	Tournament Not Held
Pontins Professional	A	A	A	A	QF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Tournament Not Held
European Challenge	Tournament Not Held				QF	A	Tournament Not Held
World Matchplay	NH	A	A	A	A	1R	Tournament Not Held
Pot Black	A	A	A	A	A	QF	A	Tournament Not Held
Charity Challenge	Tournament Not Held							A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	Not Held
Malta Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held							A	A	SF	QF	A	R	A	Not Held
Scottish Masters	A	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	NH

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 Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1996	German Open	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	7–9

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1988	Canadian Professional Championship	Template:Flagicon Jim Wych	8–4

Team finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team/partner	Opponent(s) in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1990	World Cup	Template:Flagcountry	Template:Flagcountry	9–5

Amateur finals: 7 (7 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1983	Canadian Amateur Championship	Template:Flagicon Tom Finstad	9–3
Winner	2.	1985	Canadian Amateur Championship (2)	Template:Flagicon Michael Sobala	9–6
Winner	3.	1987	Canadian Amateur Championship (3)	Template:Flagicon Jeff White	7–1
Winner	4.	2003	Canadian Amateur Championship (4)	Template:Flagicon Cliff Thorburn	6–2
Winner	5.	2004	Canadian Amateur Championship (5)	Template:Flagicon Tom Finstad	6–2
Winner	6.	2006	Canadian Amateur Championship (6)	Template:Flagicon John White	6–2
Winner	7.	2009	Canadian Amateur Championship (7)	Template:Flagicon John White	6–1

External links

• Template:Snooker.org player