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Graeme Dott
Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship and the 2007 China Open, and was runner-up in the World Championships of 2004 and 2010. He reached number 2 in the world rankings in 2007, but a subsequent episode of clinical depression seriously affected his form, causing him to drop to number 28 for the 2009–10 season. He then recovered his form, regained his top-16 ranking, and reached a third World Championship final. In 2011, he published his autobiography, Frame of Mind: The Autobiography of the World Snooker Champion.
In 2025, Dott was charged with sexually abusing two children. Prosecutors alleged that he abused a girl between 1993 and 1996, beginning when she was around 10 years old, and a boy between 2006 and 2010, beginning when he was around 7 years old. On 9 April, two days before he was scheduled to compete in the 2025 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds, the WPBSA announced that it had suspended him from competition. Dott has pleaded not guilty to the charges and will stand trial at Scotland's High Court of Justiciary in August 2026. Although released on bail, he remains suspended from competitive snooker pending the outcome.
After winning the UK Under-19 Championship in 1992 and Scottish Amateur Championship in 1993, Dott turned professional in 1994. He slowly climbed the rankings, reaching the top sixteen in 2001, where he remained until 2009. Early successes included reaching the quarter-final of the 1996 Welsh Open and qualifying for the World Championship for the first time in 1997. Dott was a runner-up in the 1999 Scottish Open, the 2001 British Open, the 2004 World Championship and the 2005 Malta Cup. He scored his first competitive 147 break in the 1999 British Open.
Dott started his campaign with a 10–3 victory over former champion John Parrott, before beating veteran Nigel Bond 13–9 in the second round. In his quarter-final match against Australia's Neil Robertson, Dott took a 12–8 lead, before being pegged back to 12–12, and then edging through the deciding frame to win 13–12. In the semi-finals, he faced then two-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in a rematch of their 2004 Championship final. They finished the second session tied 8–8, but Dott swept O'Sullivan in the third session en route to a 17–11 victory.
Dott faced Peter Ebdon in the final for the £200,000 prize. He began the last session leading 15–7, but Ebdon won six successive frames to reduce the deficit to two. Dott eventually won 18–14, after winning some vital frames with impressive clearances.
It stands as the longest final ever, and was, at the time, the latest to finish (John Higgins's victory over Mark Selby the following year now holds the record). The previous record holder had been the classic final frame black ball finish 1985 final between Englishman Steve Davis and Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor, which ended at 12:19 a.m. (GMT). The Dott–Ebdon match finished half an hour later, despite featuring three fewer frames, reflecting the slow overall pace of the match, so slow that both afternoon sessions only had six frames, rather than the usual eight. Moreover, at over 74 minutes, the 27th frame was the then longest in the history of the World Championship, beating the previous record of 70 minutes set by Canadian Cliff Thorburn and Welshman Doug Mountjoy, a record that would stand until 2009.[citation needed]
The victory over Ebdon took Dott's ranking up to number 6 for the 2006/2007 season, a career high at the time.
Dott reached the semi-finals of the 2006 UK Championship, where he lost 7–9 to Stephen Hendry after an earlier 7–5 lead.[citation needed] Dott briefly became the provisional world number one in the rankings system after overcoming Jamie Cope 9–5 to win the 2007 China Open, his second ranking tournament win. Prior to this, he disliked going to China, not helped by a disastrous match in 2002. However, going into the 2007 World Championship as defending champion, he suffered a shock 7–10 defeat in the first round to Ian McCulloch in the opening match of the tournament, which dented his prospects of remaining world number 1. Newly crowned world champion John Higgins overtook him. The loss against McCulloch also maintained the "Crucible curse", as Dott became the seventeenth consecutive first-time champion to lose his title the very next year.
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Graeme Dott
Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship and the 2007 China Open, and was runner-up in the World Championships of 2004 and 2010. He reached number 2 in the world rankings in 2007, but a subsequent episode of clinical depression seriously affected his form, causing him to drop to number 28 for the 2009–10 season. He then recovered his form, regained his top-16 ranking, and reached a third World Championship final. In 2011, he published his autobiography, Frame of Mind: The Autobiography of the World Snooker Champion.
In 2025, Dott was charged with sexually abusing two children. Prosecutors alleged that he abused a girl between 1993 and 1996, beginning when she was around 10 years old, and a boy between 2006 and 2010, beginning when he was around 7 years old. On 9 April, two days before he was scheduled to compete in the 2025 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds, the WPBSA announced that it had suspended him from competition. Dott has pleaded not guilty to the charges and will stand trial at Scotland's High Court of Justiciary in August 2026. Although released on bail, he remains suspended from competitive snooker pending the outcome.
After winning the UK Under-19 Championship in 1992 and Scottish Amateur Championship in 1993, Dott turned professional in 1994. He slowly climbed the rankings, reaching the top sixteen in 2001, where he remained until 2009. Early successes included reaching the quarter-final of the 1996 Welsh Open and qualifying for the World Championship for the first time in 1997. Dott was a runner-up in the 1999 Scottish Open, the 2001 British Open, the 2004 World Championship and the 2005 Malta Cup. He scored his first competitive 147 break in the 1999 British Open.
Dott started his campaign with a 10–3 victory over former champion John Parrott, before beating veteran Nigel Bond 13–9 in the second round. In his quarter-final match against Australia's Neil Robertson, Dott took a 12–8 lead, before being pegged back to 12–12, and then edging through the deciding frame to win 13–12. In the semi-finals, he faced then two-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in a rematch of their 2004 Championship final. They finished the second session tied 8–8, but Dott swept O'Sullivan in the third session en route to a 17–11 victory.
Dott faced Peter Ebdon in the final for the £200,000 prize. He began the last session leading 15–7, but Ebdon won six successive frames to reduce the deficit to two. Dott eventually won 18–14, after winning some vital frames with impressive clearances.
It stands as the longest final ever, and was, at the time, the latest to finish (John Higgins's victory over Mark Selby the following year now holds the record). The previous record holder had been the classic final frame black ball finish 1985 final between Englishman Steve Davis and Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor, which ended at 12:19 a.m. (GMT). The Dott–Ebdon match finished half an hour later, despite featuring three fewer frames, reflecting the slow overall pace of the match, so slow that both afternoon sessions only had six frames, rather than the usual eight. Moreover, at over 74 minutes, the 27th frame was the then longest in the history of the World Championship, beating the previous record of 70 minutes set by Canadian Cliff Thorburn and Welshman Doug Mountjoy, a record that would stand until 2009.[citation needed]
The victory over Ebdon took Dott's ranking up to number 6 for the 2006/2007 season, a career high at the time.
Dott reached the semi-finals of the 2006 UK Championship, where he lost 7–9 to Stephen Hendry after an earlier 7–5 lead.[citation needed] Dott briefly became the provisional world number one in the rankings system after overcoming Jamie Cope 9–5 to win the 2007 China Open, his second ranking tournament win. Prior to this, he disliked going to China, not helped by a disastrous match in 2002. However, going into the 2007 World Championship as defending champion, he suffered a shock 7–10 defeat in the first round to Ian McCulloch in the opening match of the tournament, which dented his prospects of remaining world number 1. Newly crowned world champion John Higgins overtook him. The loss against McCulloch also maintained the "Crucible curse", as Dott became the seventeenth consecutive first-time champion to lose his title the very next year.
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