What happened to snooker star who was tipped to be world champion but 'disappeared' 13 years ago
A former top snooker talent who was tipped to be a future world champion hasn't played since 'disappearing' from the main tour 13 years ago.
Since it was first held in 1916, the English Amateur Championship can count Ray Reardon, Terry Griffiths, Jimmy White, Stuart Bingham and Jack Lisowski among its many esteemed winners.
But none of those players were as young when they won it as David Gray was in 1995.
Aged 16, Gray defeated Paul Hunter 8-7 in the final to win the tournament for the first time, a year before turning professional.
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Gray was a prodigious talent, having finished as runner-up in the World Under-21 Snooker Championship in 1994 - a tournament previously won by future world champions Ronnie O'Sullivan, Peter Ebdon and Ken Doherty.
Gray himself was grouped in similar circles to O'Sullivan, despite being four years younger.
Former pro turned commentator Neal Foulds once told Eurosport that Gray was one of only three players to be 'completely outstanding' at such a young age group - with the other two being O'Sullivan and Judd Trump.
The London-born star didn't exactly set the world alight in his opening years on the professional circuit, but began to click into gear in 2002 when he reached the final of the Scottish Open.
Later that year, he reached the quarter-final of the World Grand Prix, which was at the time one of the most prestigious tournaments on the calendar when it was held at Preston's Guild Hall.
And in April 2003, he went one better at the Scottish Open, defeating Mark Selby 9-7 in the final.
Speaking after that final, he said: "Results count. I don't care how I won it.
"I haven't played anywhere near my best but I've got the trophy and there are plenty of players who'd like to be me at the moment."
That victory allowed Gray to establish himself in the top 16 of the rankings, and he defeated world number seven Stephen Lee and Lee Walker at the 2004 World Championship before losing to eventual finalist Graeme Dott in the quarter-finals.
He got some form of revenge on Dott at the following UK Championship, and also recorded a win over young pros Selby - hitting a 147 break in the process to collect a £31,000 prize.
He then defeated Barry Hawkins and Joe Perry to reach the final, where he was thrashed 10-1 by another up-and-coming talent in Stephen Maguire.
At that stage, what Gray, Selby and Hawkins had in common is that they were all comfortably under 30, with Gray the oldest at 25.
Selby has since gone to win 10 Triple Crown titles, including four World Championships, while Hawkins reached the world final in 2012 and has been a consistent top 16 player for the vast majority of the past decade.
But after his UK Championship exploits, Gray would never again reach a ranking event final.
He only won one more match at the World Championship, defeating practice partner Jimmy White 10-5 in 2006 after being forced to go through the final round of qualifying.
"Beating Jimmy wasn't a nice thing to do, but there are no friends on a snooker table," he said afterwards. "I still feel for Jimmy though. He's too good a player to be where he is."
Three years later, Gray dropped off the World Snooker Tour entirely and, though he held a wildcard entry for the 2009/10 season, would never play another professional match after that as he failed to come through Q-School.
He was due to play at the 2013 Bulgaria Open but withdrew before the match started.
In the near 13-year period since then, there has been little mention of Gray by anyone on the snooker circuit.
Foulds noted during his analysis on Eurosport how the now 47-year-old had 'disappeared from the scene', while World Snooker posted a clip of his run to the UK Championship final in 2024.
Gray has reportedly been spotted at some amateur events since he dropped off the tour.
In 2009, snooker commentator Clive Everton gave some insight into Gray's drop in form while writing for The Guardian: "There was never a doubt about Gray's natural ability.
"At 16 years and two months, Gray superseded Jimmy White as the youngest-ever English amateur champion, defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Crucible in 2000 and reached the quarter-finals there in 2004.
"But without the self-disciplined lifestyle a professional sportsman needs, such high promise was unfulfilled."
The headline of the report noted that Gray had dropped 'into anonymity'.
The aforementioned Crucible win over O'Sullivan is regarded as one of the few times 'The Rocket' lost in Sheffield while playing some of his absolute best snooker.
He was described as a 'new Crucible giantkiller' by The Herald, with Gray describing his opponent as a 'genius in the balls'.
But perhaps the comparison to be made is not Selby or even O'Sullivan, but the man who defeated him in the 2004 UK Championship final.
Maguire, now 45, has reached 15 ranking finals in his career, winning seven of them - even though he has never reached the showpiece match at the Crucible.
"I don't get these players that say, 'Oh, I've been to a World Championship final'," he told Metro in 2021. "Who cares?
"That doesn't bother me in the slightest. But probably if you'd told me, when I won the UK in 2004, that I'd play for another 16 years and not win the Worlds, I'd have thought, 'Ah, you're wrong'. But that's just what's happened."
Topics: Snooker, World Snooker Championship
Ryan Smart