Snooker icon Mark Williams has revealed he may be forced to undergo laser eye surgery in a bid to extend his career. The three-time world champion has admitted his eyesight has “deteriorated quite bad” over the last six months to the point he has “no idea” if he is potting balls because everything looks blurry.
Williams is currently in action at the Players Championship, kicking off his tournament with a 6-2 victory over Ding Junhui. The Welshman is planning to continue competing for now, but hopes to have the procedure after this year’s World Snooker Championship which gets underway next month.
“Any win for me is a good one now because my eyes are completely gone,” Williams admitted. “The last six months they have deteriorated quite bad.
“I’ll look into it more after the World Championship to see if I can get laser surgery done. Maybe now’s the time I’ll have to try it.
“Whereas it was only the long ones that were blurry, now everything’s blurry. It’s a bit concerning but I have to get on with it at the minute and try to get it sorted after the worlds.
“I can’t even see the scoreboard when I’m playing. It’s all a blur. It’s getting worse by the month really. I have no idea if the balls pot. It’s hard enough playing anyway, but I’m guessing on everything.”
The likes of current world No.1 Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire have all had laser eye surgery in the past, but Williams has previously admitted he is concerned about the ramifications of an operation going wrong.
“My eyesight is nowhere near as good as it used to be,” he told the Metro in October 2023. “That’s declined over the last 18 months and is getting worse every six months or so.
“I’ve got glasses now and when I put them on it’s unbelievable, I can see everything and that’s when I realise how bad my eyes actually are. I was thinking about getting my eyes lasered this year and the only reason I haven’t is because I’m still playing to a decent standard.
“Not everything is successful when you do things with your eyes. It’s just in case something didn’t go well and then that’s the end of your career, really. I’ll keep evaluating it every year and maybe get it done at some point.
“When I put my glasses on and look at the table it’s unbelievable. The balls looks like footballs, the cloth is lovely green, I can see the pockets clearly.When I take them off I can’t even see the nets of the pockets.
“If two balls are close together, I can’t see if one goes past the other. On long shots I’m pretty much guessing, but I’m guessing alright at the minute so I don’t want to do anything about it yet.”
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