Chris Melling: 'I'd have made it in snooker' but pool success swayed decision

Melling is arguably the best multi-cuesports player on the planet, having essentially been a professional at several different disciplines.

The Yorkshireman is best known for his exploits on the pool table, having enjoyed success from a young age in the English 8-ball pool world where he won two WEPF World Championship titles, and climbed to number one in the world rankings.

‘The Magician’ later started taking American Pool more seriously where he won prestigious titles at the China Open, and the Derby City Classic.

Having risen up the ranks in the sport, in 2011, Melling earned a debut call-up to play for Team Europe at the annual Mosconi Cup showpiece to take on their American counterparts.

Held in Las Vegas that year, Melling was part of the victorious European side, and 12 months later - when it was held in London - he played a vital role in successfully defending the Cup, in the process being named as that year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).

In more recent times, Melling has featured in major Chinese 8-ball/Heyball events, as well as returning to his smaller table roots where he has claimed several accolades on the Ultimate Pool scene.

A summary of Chris Melling’s snooker career

Not his most dominant cuesport category, but Melling does have significant snooker pedigree.

He won two very big amateur tournaments: a Challenge Tour event in 2002 where he defeated future top 16 star Tom Ford in the final, and an event on the Pontins International Open Series in 2005.

Melling had three different spells on the professional snooker circuit in the 2000s - not making a big impact, but especially during his last stint, there were few competitions for him to play in as the tour went through a very difficult time after tobacco companies were banned from sponsoring events.

A few years after Barry Hearn and his administration took over the running of the sport and helped to massively invigorate the top-flight scene, Melling decided to return to the 12x6 surface following a considerable hiatus.

On his first attempt in it, Melling graduated from event one at the 2014 Q School to earn a two-year professional tour card.

He went on to reach the last 32 of a couple of European Tour events, and recorded victories on the circuit over players Matthew Stevens, Joe Perry, Luca Brecel, Peter Ebdon, and Nigel Bond, but Melling missed several tournaments in his second season and was subsequently relegated from the rankings.

In an attempt to immediately bounce back, he entered the 2016 Q School, but did not get through, and he hasn’t tried again since.

Melling on his ‘what if’ decision, and sticking to pool

On his YouTube channel, Melling answered a question from a fan who asked him how successful he feels he would have been had he stuck to just one discipline, stating that he believes he would have enjoyed a fruitful snooker career had he been more dedicated to it.

“That’s a really good question. If I just stuck to one discipline, I do think I would have made it in snooker to the top 32” said the 47-year-old.

But Melling explained - despite being in a hotbed with so many top players to practise with - it would have been a risk to go all-in on snooker at a time when he was enjoying so much success on the pool scene.

“I beat a lot of top players, but my problem was, I wasn't dedicated enough. When I was young, I was really dedicated at snooker. I used to play literally, I’d say eight to ten hours a day, and I’d play 12 hours a day on a weekend.

“I used to make 147s, centuries, probably eight to ten centuries every single day, so I was capable of doing really well at snooker.

“I had great practise partners like Peter Lines, Paul Hunter, Joe Johnson, James Wattana, Simon Bedford, Jason Prince, but I was winning a lot at pool, so it was hard for me to give up playing pool on something that was a ‘what if’, and that’s kind of why I stuck to pool, and you know, I can’t really complain with the career I’ve had.”