No unfinished business or regrets for Joe Perry after snooker tour retirement, but one unfulfilled wish
Two-time ranking event winner Joe Perry is content with his decision to retire from the World Snooker Tour at the end of last season, and although he still loves the sport, he says he doesn't miss competing on the top flight 'one bit'.
Former world number eight Perry closed the curtain on an unbroken 33-year professional career back in the spring following a loss in World Championship qualifying. The result technically relegated him from the circuit, but he had made his mind up a long time before that and left on his own terms. Fellow stalwarts Dominic Dale and Anthony Hamilton have also called it a day from the top tier in recent months.
Perry - who has been in Cheltenham working at this week's British Open - was speaking to sports journalist Nick Metcalfe on Radio Snooker about his retirement. When asked if he missed being out in the arena the 51-year-old said: "My honest answer to that is I'm not missing being out there one bit.
"I'll always love snooker; I love being here working for the TV this week, I love working with Neil (Robertson) at the tournaments, but the actual playing side of it I don't miss one bit."
The Englishman turned professional in 1992, the same season as fabled trio Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, and Mark Williams. After over three decades on the tour, Perry's desire waned, and he was ready to retire earlier, but was talked around by his family to do one more season which he did in the 2024/25 campaign.
Affectionately nicknamed as 'The Gentleman', Perry claimed his maiden ranking event title in Thailand in 2015 when he recovered from 3-0 down to defeat Williams 4-3 in the final and win the Players Championship Grand Final.
In 2022 - somewhat out of the blue - Perry went all the way to the final of the Welsh Open where he upset Judd Trump, 9-5, to wear his second ranking crown.
Elsewhere on the circuit, Perry also won two minor-ranked Asian Tour events in China, and the 2008 Championship League Invitational. He reached the iconic one-table set-up at the Crucible in 2008 - narrowly losing 17-15 to Ali Carter in the semi-finals of the World Championship - and the final of the 2017 Masters at the Alexandra Palace where O'Sullivan denied him 10-7.
Looking back at his career, a deservedly proud Perry explained to Metcalfe that he was happy with his achievements: "I think I got the most out of my game.
“I was never going to be a Higgins, or a Ronnie, I was never going to win 20, 30 tournaments, but I done alright, I've done a lot of things a lot of players would love to achieve at the end of their career.
"I played at all the venues, played all the greats, played a couple of greats in big finals. I'm happy with how it all sort of turned out really".
Whilst Perry can reflect on a job very well done, there is one thing that he wished he'd achieved before hanging up his cue: "I don't think I left the game thinking 'if only' 'what if'. There are no regrets there.
"I haven't left the game with unfinished business, but actually, to be honest, there's one thing I wish I'd done - I wish I made a maximum.
"It was something that never ever bothered me, ever bothered me at all, and then my brother said to me 'come on, it's your last year, you've got to make a maximum'. That's probably the only thing I wish I'd done. It would have been nice to have one on my CV, but it's not the end of the world, is it?
You can listen to the whole interview on Radio Snooker here. Perry also discussed the recent volume of 147s on tour, working with good friend Neil Robertson, and running his snooker and pool club in Chatteris.