Snooker star Barry Hawkins has movingly revealed how a family tragedy has been the cause of his loss of form.
The world number eight has had a struggling season with him failing to reach the later stages of tournaments throughout the campaign – until now.
But this week’s Welsh Open has seen Hawkins return back to his best and later today he will walk on to the stage bidding to add another ranking title when he faces John Higgins in the grand final.
However, after yesterday’s semi-final victory against Noppon Saenngkham, Barry Hawkins revealed that the family tragedy – the unexpected death of his brother-in-law almost a year ago – “destroyed” his life.
“Last April I had a belated birthday party with the family after the World Championship,” he explained.
It absolutely destroyed me
“For the previous six months my sister’s husband had been suffering from depression. We all thought he was getting back to normal.
“That evening he was dropped at home by my dad. Sadly he took his own life. He felt like there was no way out for him. We didn’t see it coming at all.
“I was with him for an hour while the paramedics were working on him. I have never experienced anything like that and I wouldn’t want to go through it again. It absolutely destroyed me for about six months.
“I played snooker but I really wasn’t thinking about the game, my mind was elsewhere. It was very tough for my family and especially my sister and her two twins, who are eight-years-old now.
“It was devastating, so snooker had to take a back seat. In the last few months I have been trying to find my form again.
“I feel better about myself and we’re moving on. We’ll never forget what happened but at least we are dealing with it now.”
This article was originally written in March, 2018 on Snooker Chat’s first website www.theolgreenbaize.com.
