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Rising snooker star Stan Moody has done well to overcome early challenges in his career, having been put under great pressure to succeed, believes Mark Allen.
Moody will make his Crucible debut on Monday against Kyren Wilson, becoming the first British teenager to do so since Judd Trump in 2007.
The 19-year-old is already in his third season as a professional and has made impressive progress, reaching two ranking quarter-finals this campaign and now with a first outing on snooker’s hallowed ground secured.
The Yorkshire teenager was just 16 when he turned professional after winning the WSF Junior Championship, which would be a tough task for anyone, but Allen thinks it was made even more difficult by the focus trained on him as Britain’s next great hope on the baize.
The Northern Irishman will play the winner of Wilson vs Moody in the second round and he has sympathy for the youngster, feeling snooker chiefs piled pressure on him at a very young age.
‘I’ve said it before, I think Stan’s a really good kid,’ Allen said after beating Zhang Anda in round one at the Crucible.
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‘I don’t think World Snooker did him any favours really for a few years, just how much they were promoting him and putting pressure on him.
‘That sort of tailed off a little and Stan’s results have started to get better again, which is really good.
‘He’s a talented boy, great scorer, backs himself in the big moments, which I really like. He’s not scared to go for those shots. It would be a very tough match.’
Wilson agrees that Moody had a lot more to deal with than most, coming through at a time when young British talent is not as plentiful as it once was.
On his thoughts when he saw the draw, the 2024 world champion said: ‘Yeah, exciting, really pleased with the draw. It’s a match that I’m going to look forward to.
‘There’ll be a lot of attention on it, I think. I think it’s good for snooker, a good youngster coming from the UK.
‘He’s had a lot of pressure to deal with being dubbed as the young up and coming player from overseas, because all we talk about nowadays is how good the Chinese guys are. So it’s really good for snooker and I’m looking forward to playing the game.’
Moody says pressure of expectation as the UK’s standout junior talent was an issue in his first season as a pro, but he learned to deal with it, partly by avoiding social media.
‘It was my first season and then I just sort of ignored it, really,’ he said of pressure being an issue. ‘The last two seasons I feel better for it and I feel like I’m playing better for it.
‘I just stopped checking social media and the negative stuff and all the pressure and expectation.
‘I relaxed a bit. Started going for more shots the way I wanted to play. Not thinking, “oh, if I miss this, what will other people think?” Just playing my game, just enjoying it and seeing what happens.’
Up to number 44 in the world rankings and set to progress further, Moody is not surprised that results are coming now he has relaxed at the table.
He has beaten Wilson already this season, among a number of big scalps including John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Barry Hawkins and Ali Carter.
‘I know I can play to this level,’ he said. ‘I’ve beaten a lot of top players. I’ve just worked on doing it consistently and I’ll climb up the rankings and do well.’
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