Mark Allen: Becoming world number one ‘anti-climatic’, says world number three

Mark Allen says he got “very poor coverage from the governing body” after topping the world rankings.

The 38-year-old from Northern Ireland became number one for the first time in May but is now in third place with Judd Trump leading the way.

He said: “It was a bit anti-climatic. It wasn’t really enjoyable if I’m honest. I feel like I got very poor coverage from the governing body and I didn’t get a lot of coverage here [in Northern Ireland].

“Even turning up at events and I wasn’t on the main table all the time. Ultimately, if you keep winning matches and keep winning tournaments then that takes care of itself.

“It was a bit of a come down, really. I just feel like World Snooker have their favourites and that’s it.”

In response to Allen’s comments, the World Snooker Tour said: “We feel that we covered Mark’s rise to world number one positively – at the start of the season we sent a crew to Antrim to interview him about this achievement.

“We don’t prioritise specific players, we give them all an equal opportunity to promote the sport and entertain fans.”

However, Allen is determined to make a return to the top spot.

“I didn’t stay there long thanks to Judd – he has been winning everything lately. I want to keep enjoying my snooker, keep winning matches and hopefully I’ll get back there soon,” he said.

“I’m going to be honest and say it’s not as big a target as it was before I got there. I don’t feel like I got as much attention for being world number one as I thought I would.”