Chris Wakelin
 |
|
| Born |
16 March 1992 Rugby, England |
|---|---|
| Sport country |
 England
|
| Professional | 2013– |
| Highest ranking | 69 (March–April 2015) |
| Current ranking | 63 (as of 2 May 2017) |
| Career winnings | £105,690 |
| Highest break | 136 (2014 Wuxi Classic Qualifying) |
| Century breaks | 19 |
| Best ranking finish | Quarter-final (2015 Indian Open, 2016 English Open) |
Chris Wakelin (born 16 March 1992) is an English professional snooker player from Rugby, Warwickshire. He practices frequently with Kyren Wilson, David Gilbert and Mark Selby at the Atack Club in Nuneaton.
Wakelin started playing snooker aged 8, when his parents Mark and Angie bought him his first mini snooker table, and by the time he was 11 he was successfully playing in the local league. However his career nearly came to a halt at the age of 17 when he had to start working full-time as ASDA delivery driver to support himself financially, and only played snooker as a hobby. In 2012 Wakelin decided to give the game another go but soon had to face more difficulties as family issues resulted in a severe depression: "I could line up but I just couldn’t pot. I thought I would never play again. But thankfully with the help of my friends I managed to turn it around." Since then Wakelin reached the semi-finals of the 2013 English Amateur Championship, before making it through to the England's Under 21 final (where he would later beat Hammad Miah).
These results encouraged him to enter Q School in May. After having made it to the final round of the first event, he again reached the final round at the Event 3. There he faced former professional Adam Wicheard, who led 2–0 before Wakelin hit back to lead 3–2. Then, in the sixth frame when Wakelin was already 23–0 up, Wicheard accidentally snapped his cue when leaning on it, and had to concede the match. As a result, Wakelin won a tour card for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons.
Wakelin had a tough debut season as a professional as he lost his opening match in all the ranking tournaments aside from the UK Championship, where he defeated 22nd seed Ryan Day 6–5 before losing by the same scoreline to Jamie Burnett in the subsequent round. He had better results in the minor-ranking European Tour events, reaching the last 32 of the Rotterdam Open before going all the way to the quarter-finals of the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup, where he lost 4–2 to Judd Trump. Wakelin's season ended when he was edged out 10–9 by Paul Davison in the first round of World Championship qualifying, with him ranked world number 106 after his first year on tour.
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