Nigel Bond

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

Bond competed on the main tour from 1989 to 2022, 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. He won the 1996 British Open, defeating John Higgins 9–8.

Having reached three other ranking tournament finals, Bond won the 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out and, in 2012, defeated Tony Chappel to win the World Seniors Championship. He fell off the tour following his loss to Lukas Kleckers in the second qualifying round for the 2022 World Championship, and subsequently announced his retirement.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

After a strong amateur career,<ref name="Profile at globalsnookercentre.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bond turned professional for the 1989–90 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 first round of the 1994 World Championship, he pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in the event's history, rallying from 2–9 to defeat Cliff Thorburn 10–9 in what turned out to be Thorburn's last 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 9–18. As a consequence of reaching the final, he climbed to number five in the world rankings for the 1996–97 season, and in that same season he acquired his only ranking tournament victory, the British Open, beating John Higgins 9–8 after needing a snooker in the final frame.<ref name="Profile on snooker.org">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He won the World Snooker Association Performance of the Year award for this achievement, although he then 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 Hendry every time, which added extra spice to their first-round match in 2006. After leading comfortably throughout the early stages of the match, Bond was pegged back to 7–7 and the match went to a final frame. With only the black remaining, and seven points up, Bond clipped it into the left corner pocket, only for the cue ball to go Template:Cuegloss in the right middle pocket, resulting in a re-spotted black (the first one ever to decide the final frame of a World Championship match), which Bond potted to take frame and match. The final score was 10–9, Bond's first win at the Crucible since 1999,<ref name="Snooker player profile – Nigel Bond">Template:Cite news</ref> and his only last-16 run of that season.<ref name="Snooker player profile – Nigel Bond 2006">Template:Cite news</ref>

By the end of the 1990s, he was out of the top 16, and dropped out of the top 32 for the 2004–05 season. However, he reclaimed his place a year later, and remained there until 2010. In the 2007 World Championship he lost in the first round, 7–10 to Peter Ebdon.

A run to the last 16 of the 2007 UK Championship,<ref name="Bond fight back sets up Junhui clash">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in which he came from 5–7 to win 9–7 against Ken Doherty in the last 32 before losing 6–9 to Ding Junhui in the last 16, was a precursor to Bond's first quarter-final run for five years, at the China Open. Victories over David Roe, Stephen Lee and Barry Pinches took him to a meeting with Stephen Maguire, who whitewashed him 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 held his top-32 status. This was, however, his last appearance at the main stages of the World Championship.

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He made a good start to the 2011–12 season 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.<ref name="2011/12">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also qualified for the World Open, but was defeated by amateur player Lu Ning in the wildcard round.<ref name="2011/12" /> Bond finished the season ranked world number 45.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He once again qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open in the 2012–13 season, but lost to Robertson 1–5 in the last 32.<ref name="2012/13">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="2012/13" /> There he lost 1–5 to Judd Trump.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His season ended when he was beaten 8–10 by McManus in the third round of World Championship Qualifying.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He dropped a solitary place during the year to end it ranked world number 46.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Nigel Bond at Snooker German Masters (DerHexer) 2013-01-30 04.jpg

Bond at the 2013 German Masters

He reached the final of the World Seniors Championship for the second year in a row in the 2013–14 season, losing 1–2 to Steve Davis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 Pinches 5–2 before losing to Selby 1–5 in the last 32.<ref name="2013/14">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He fell 11 spots from the start of the season to end it as the world number 57.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He produced a comeback in the second round of the 2014 UK Championship, as from 0–5 down against world number five Barry Hawkins he took six successive frames to advance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, in the third round Anthony McGill recovered from 1–4 down to eliminate him 6–5.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 1–4 to Chris Wakelin in the last 16.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He fell just outside the top 64 at the end of the year as he was ranked 65th, but he earned a two-year extension via the European Order of Merit.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

At the 2016 Indian Open, Bond defeated Ricky Walden 4–1, Sam Baird 4–2, John Astley 4–2 and Ebdon 4–3 to reach his first ranking event semi-final since 2002, where he lost 1–4 to Kyren Wilson.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He had started practising 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bond kept his place on the tour through the one-year ranking list.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bond made a surprise run to the quarter-finals of the 2019 UK Championship at the age of 54 winning a number of close matches. He defeated future world champion Luca Brecel 6–5 in his opening round followed by another 6–5 win over Louis Heathcote. His greatest victory en route to the quarter-finals was a 6–3 win against reigning world champion and world number 1 Judd Trump in the last 32 having trailed 3–1.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bond lost 6–5 to Mark Allen in the quarter-finals having led Allen 3–1.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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	2021/ 22
Ranking<ref group="nb">From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.</ref>	<ref group="nb">New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking.</ref>	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	<ref group="nb" name="ET">Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points.</ref>	71	<ref group="nb" name="OR">Players qualified One Year Ranking List started the season without ranking points.</ref>	80	<ref group="nb" name="OR"/>	68	64
Ranking tournaments
Championship League	Tournament Not Held																		Non-Ranking Event													RR	RR
British Open	LQ	LQ	2R	2R	QF	2R	W	3R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	Tournament Not Held																1R
Template:Nowrap	Tournament Not Held																											1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	LQ
English Open	Tournament Not Held																											1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R
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	1R
Scottish Open<ref group="nb" >The event ran under different names such as International Open (1989/1990 to 1996/1997) and Players Championship (2003/2004).</ref>	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	LQ
World Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held																									NR	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
Shoot-Out	NH	NR	Tournament Not Held																			Non-Ranking Event						2R	4R	1R	2R	2R	3R
German Masters<ref group="nb">The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)</ref>	Tournament Not Held						2R	SF	1R	NR	Tournament Not Held											1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	2R	LQ	LQ
Template:Nowrap	Tournament Not Held																					DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
European Masters<ref group="nb" name="EUR">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)</ref>	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	LQ
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	2R	LQ
Turkish Masters	Tournament Not Held																																LQ
Gibraltar Open	Tournament Not Held																										MR	SF	1R	2R	1R	1R	3R
Tour Championship	Tournament Not Held																													DNQ	DNQ	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	LQ	LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
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	A
Championship League	Tournament Not Held																		RR	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A
Template:Nowrap	Not Held		A	Tournament Not Held																		SF	1R	W	F	1R	QF	A	A	NH	A	1R	QF
Former ranking tournaments
Classic	LQ	LQ	SF	Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open	Not Held		SF	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>	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<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>	LQ	3R	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	F	QF	2R	2R	1R	LQ	NR	Not Held			NR	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<ref group="nb" name="WUC">The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)</ref>	Tournament Not Held																			Non-Ranking Event				LQ	1R	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Template:Nowrap	1R	Tournament Not Held				Non-Rank		Tournament Not Held															1R	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters	Tournament Not Held																		1R	LQ	1R	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	Non-Rank		Not Held
Paul Hunter Classic<ref group="nb">The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)</ref>	Tournament Not Held															Pro-am Event						Minor-Ranking Event						1R	2R	1R	NR	Not Held
Indian Open	Tournament Not Held																								1R	3R	NH	SF	LQ	LQ	Not Held
China Open<ref group="nb" name="CHN">The event run under different name as China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)</ref>	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<ref group="nb">The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)</ref>	Tournament Not Held																									MR		LQ	2R	1R	A	Not Held
Template:Nowrap	Tournament Not Held																							LQ	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	Not Held
China Championship	Tournament Not Held																											NR	LQ	1R	LQ	Not Held
World Open<ref group="nb">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)</ref>	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	Not Held
WST Pro Series	Tournament Not Held																															RR	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	NH	A	NH	W	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
Malta Grand Prix	Tournament Not Held					A	1R	W	QF	A	R	A	Tournament Not Held
Charity Challenge	Tournament Not Held					1R	1R	QF	1R	A	A	A	A	Tournament Not Held
Scottish Masters	A	A	A	A	SF	A	QF	1R	W	SF	A	A	LQ	LQ	Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters	A	QF	A	QF	A	A	A	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	Ranking			NH	A	Tournament Not Held
Pot Black	A	A	A	1R	1R	Tournament Not Held											A	A	A	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 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.
PA / Pro-am Event				means an event is/was a pro-am event.

Career finals

Ranking finals: 5 (1 title)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)
Other (1–3)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1990	Grand Prix	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	5–10
Runner-up	2.	1995	World Snooker Championship	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	9–18
Runner-up	3.	1995	Thailand Classic	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	6–9
Winner	1.	1996	British Open	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	9–8
Runner-up	4.	1997	Thailand Open	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	7–9

Minor-ranking finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1993	Strachan Challenge – Event 2	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	4–9

Non-ranking finals: 11 (8 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1992	King's Cup	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	8–7
Runner-up	1.	1994	Pontins Professional	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	5–9
Winner	2.	1995	Red & White Challenge	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	8–6
Runner-up	2.	1996	Pontins Professional (2)	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	7–9
Winner	3.	1996	Malta Grand Prix	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	7–3
Winner	4.	1997	Scottish Masters	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	9–8
Winner	5.	2009	World Games	Template:Flagicon David Grace	3–0
Winner	6.	2010	World Seniors Championship Qualifying Event	Template:Flagicon Peter Lines	4–3
Winner	7.	2011	Snooker Shoot Out	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	1–0
Winner	8.	2012	World Seniors Championship	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	2–0
Runner-up	3.	2013	World Seniors Championship	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	1–2

Pro-am finals: 4 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2008	Pontins Spring Open	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	1–5
Winner	1.	2010	Pontins Spring Open	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	5–2
Runner-up	2.	2014	Vienna Snooker Open	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	2–5
Runner-up	3.	2017	Vienna Snooker Open (2)	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	2–5

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1989	English Amateur Championship	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	13–11

External links

• Template:WST player
• Template:Snooker.org player