Jak Jones is sick and tired of “pathetic excuses” from players who have labelled him a potting plodder during his fairytale run at this year’s World Championship.
The giant-slayer, 30, dumped out former world champions Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham en route to a maiden Crucible final. But both potters claimed the Welsh qualifier, a methodical safety-first player, had knocked them off their rhythm during marathon matches.
Surprise package Jones, the world No.44, had played almost 45 hours ahead of the showpiece and came through a gruelling 12-and-a-half-hour semi-final slog with Bingham. Asked how he takes the criticism, Jones stressed: “They can’t accept it [losing]. It’s pathetic really. Just accept it.
“I don’t know what it is, but they always have to say that [they’ve been knocked out of rhythm] after they lose against me. I think they’ll probably use that excuse forever. It seems like a common excuse that these players use against me. They’re supposed to be the best players in the world and yet they’re moaning about getting knocked out of their rhythm. It’s strange to me.”
Trump claimed that “his pace affected me” after his bid for a second Crucible crown came to a shock end in the quarter-finals. But Jones hit back and added: “There have been matches where I have played quite slow. But when I play slow, I say, ‘yeah, I was slow, I got bogged down, bogged myself down’.
“When I don’t feel like I was like that, then I won’t accept it. It don’t bother me. I do think that the players I’ve played…like when I played Judd, he started off typical Judd in the first frame with a century. Then I came back at him, went 3-1 up and I noticed a complete change in his body language.
“He seemed to take forever on every shot for what Judd usually does. It’s easy to blame what I’m doing, but it’s working so I’ll take it. I have been slow in the past. My natural game is quite fast, I think. But I don’t think 28 seconds a shot is that slow for my first semi-final?
“Not to say names but other players in the top 16 I see regularly going down to the late 20s. The worst thing is that I’ve noticed when I’m playing out there, I feel like they want to play that game. It’s just an excuse.”
