World Championship: After teenage cancer battle Jack Lisowski enjoying life at the Crucible

Nine months of debilitating chemotherapy and radiotherapy – after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a 16-year-old – has given Lisowski, now 27, a different perspective on life to many of his peers.

He openly admits he enjoyed the “cool life” after emerging from his illness to grasp a life as a professional snooker player.

But after nearly falling off the professional Tour two seasons ago, Lisowski has turned his career around and cues off today at the World Championship as world No 11 in a first-round match against Ali Carter.

“It (cancer) definitely means snooker is not the be-all and end-all anymore,” Lisowski told The Yorkshire Post.

“When I lose it’s probably on my mind for 10 minutes then it’s out of my mind. I am not sulking for days, or anything like that.

“It’s also probably the reason why I didn’t practise as much (after my illness).

“I wasn’t as bothered about my sport. I was just happy living a cool life, pretty much I could do what I wanted to do.

“Maybe I took advantage of that. Then I realised I want to be a top snooker player. It’s been my dream since I was a young lad. It was time to knuckle down.”

Hours upon hours of training, week after week, are obviously paying off for Lisowski who has swiftly climbed the world rankings.

“It’s crazy; two years ago I was literally close to dropping off the Tour unless I bucked my ideas up,” he said. “I managed to stay on, went into the new season, and just everything changed. My work ethic changed, I practised a lot harder, and it’s been such a crazy turnaround for me.

“I am here in the top 16, world No 11, and it’s just awesome. It’s tough because you are your own boss, and no one is forcing you to practise. It’s easy with having family and friends, you can get away with being a snooker player and not playing that much.

“But if you want to be a top player, pretty much all I do now is play all day. I am reaping the rewards.

“It’s 11 years since I was ill, and everything is on the up. I go back once a year for yearly checks, which kind of brings it all back, with hospitals. It’s not nice, but now it has just become part of my life.

“I had to have chemotherapy every fortnight for eight months. That would knock me off for about five days. Then I had a month of radiotherapy at the end of that.

“Nine months treatment, I was just like a skeleton at the end, no hair or eyebrows.

“It probably took me another six months to recover from that.

“But that year I got the Paul Hunter Scholarship, came to Sheffield, and managed to turn professional.

“I was practising with all the best players in the world. I am very grateful for that. It’s been a real rollercoaster, but it’s all looking up at the moment.”

Today’s game against Carter – only Lisowski’s third trip to the Crucible – will be emotional as both players have overcome health issues.

The duo became good friends, after the former was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2013.

“I definitely look at things differently to other players,” said Lisowski. “Although I am playing Ali Carter, who has been in the same situation.

“It’s a good thing, I think it shows people you can overcome these things. With cancer, technology is changing, it is becoming more treatable.

“Hopefully we can show people it is not a death sentence. You can overcome it, like we both have.

“It will be special to play him, he has become one of my close friends, with him becoming ill, speaking to him a lot at the time.

“We have both been through a similar thing. Hopefully it will be a great game.

“Everyone copes with it differently. The treatment is tough, we both had chemo. It’s not nice, but we can show people there is life at the end of the tunnel.”

Lisowski’s first trip to the Crucible in 2013 ended in a first-round exit to Barry Hawkins 10-3.

Last year he won his only match in Sheffield, beating Stuart Bingham 10-7, but was then crushed 13-1 by John Higgins in the second round.

“The first time I came here I couldn’t believe how different it was to anywhere else I have played,” said Lisowski, who reached the finals of this season’s Riga Masters and China Open.

“It was scary to play in, the crowd were so much closer, the TV cameras, it was so claustrophobic.

“I then had four or five years where I didn’t actually qualify, and came back last year and played Stuart Bingham. It was totally different.

“I was much more confident and it was a relief, after the shock of playing here the first time. Now I am used to it.

“When you play well, it’s the best place to play.

“It’s definitely given me more confidence, but by the same token, Higgins beat my quite heavily last year so that knocked my confidence a little. He beat me 13-1, so I have experienced both sides of the spectrum.”