Career
Hallett was a consistently solid snooker player, but never reached the very top ranks. After winning the national under-16 title in 1975, his world ranking peaked at number six in 1989–90, after his only ranking tournament victory at the 1989 Hong Kong Open in which he beat Dene O'Kane 9–8.
In a semi-final match against John Parrott in the 1988 Benson & Hedges Masters, he recovered from needing four snookers to win the decider, 6–5. However, he lost 9–0 to Steve Davis in the final.
In 1991 he reached the Masters Final again at Wembley where, in the 17-frame match, he surged to a 7–0 lead over Stephen Hendry and missed a pink which would have put him 8–0 ahead. He then moved into an 8–2 lead and needed just one frame to win the tournament (in fact, he had just the pink and black to clear for the match in the eleventh frame, but missed with the rest). Hendry managed to spring a comeback to win the match 9–8. To make matters worse, Hallett returned home to find that his house had been burgled.
Hallett did reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship twice, but never progressed further than that. His final season on the main tour was in 2004–05, but went on to play in the Pontin's International Open Series. During his career he won approximately £920,000.
Recently, Hallett has been commentating on Premier League Snooker for Sky Sports, and all major Snooker events on Eurosport. At the start of the 2011/12 season Hallett has entered PTC1 and after winning his first two matches against Duane Jones 4-3 and Elliot Slessor also 4-3, he played Ronnie O'Sullivan and managed to take two frames in losing 4-2.
Read more about this topic: Mike Hallett
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“I restore myself when I’m alone. A career is born in public—talent in privacy.”
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)