Alain Robidoux (born July 25, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Robidoux played on the sport's main tour from 1987 to 2004, and reached the final of the 1996 German Open, which he lost 7–9 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Career
Robidoux was born on 25 July 1960 in Canada.[1] He joined the professional snooker circuit in the 1987–88 snooker season as a "non-tournament" professional. This entitled him to play only in the World Championship. He amassed enough points in the 1988 World Championship qualifiers to finish in the top 128 players, which allowed him to join the tour full-time.[2][1]
In September 1988, Robidoux became only the sixth player ever to record an officially ratified 147 maximum break, achieved in the qualifying rounds of the European Open.[3][4] He won the Canadian Professional Championship by defeating Jim Wych 8–4 in the final.[5] He reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix in October 1988, where he won six consecutive frames from 1–8 down against Alex Higgins, but ultimately lost the match 7–9.[6]
In the first round of the 1996 World Championship, Robidoux was beaten 3–10 by Ronnie O'Sullivan in a controversial match. Although predominantly right-handed, O'Sullivan played a number of shots with his left hand, and the behaviour was described by commentator John Virgo as O'Sullivan "taking the mick". The matter came to a head in the eleventh frame, when Robidoux was 2–8 down and he was declining to concede the frame, instead continuing to play for snookers despite a 43-point deficit with only the pink and black on the table. He refused to shake O'Sullivan's hand at the end of the match. In response, O'Sullivan claimed that he played better with his left hand than Robidoux could with his right.[7] Realising that O'Sullivan was able to play equally well with both hands, Robidoux later apologised to him.[8]
In the 1996–97 season, Robidoux reached the final of the 1996 German Open, but he lost 7–9 to O'Sullivan despite making a tournament-best 145 break.[9] That same season, he progressed to the semi-finals of the 1997 World Snooker Championship, defeating Brian Morgan, Stefan Mazrocis and Lee Walker, before losing to eventual champion Ken Doherty. He finished the season 9th in the world rankings, which was to be his career-best ranking position.[10] However he then endured a torrid 1997–98 season, losing all his matches and did not win a match again until the following season at the 1999 Welsh Open, where he reached the last 16.[11]
He lost his professional status in 2004 after placing 102nd in the rankings.[10][12] Robidoux blamed his decline on the destruction of his favourite cue,[10] which he referred to as "the Eel". When he returned the cue to the man from whom he had bought it to have it mended, the man objected to Robidoux having fixed a sponsor's logo to the butt and smashed the cue to pieces. Several years later, Robidoux was asked whether the passage of time had eased his anger towards the cue maker; he responded "I want to kill him."[10][13]
^ abHayton, Eric; Dee, John (2004). The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History. Lowestoft: Rose Villa Publications. pp. 852–854. ISBN978-0-9548549-0-4.
^Everton, Clive (2 January 1988). "Canadian in by the back door". The Guardian. London. p. 20.
^Turner, Chris (21 September 2009). "Pigeon gets snookered". Europsort. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
^"Official 147s". worldsnooker.com. World Snooker. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
^ abcdHendon, David (26 May 2009). "Past Masters #2". Snooker Scene Blog: News, Opinion and Insight from the Green Baize. Halesowen, England: Snooker Scene Magazine. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
