By Richard Preen

World Ranking: 8
Date Of Birth: 11/09/77
Form: R16/R32/R16/R16/QF
World Championship best: Runner-up - 2000

Stevens is a player with great potential who has so far been unable to fulfil his true potential.

He is the only member of the world's top eight without a ranking tournament victory to his name although he has won two invitation events – the 1999 Regal Masters and the 2000 Benson and Hedges Masters.

He followed his Benson and Hedges triumph earning the runners-up spot against Mark Williams at that season's World Championships.

It was a narrow defeat for Stevens eventually losing 18-16 and has been typical in his career as a whole where he has been subjected to defeats in many close finishes.

He was expected to use his achievements at the start of 2000 to springboard himself into the limelight and towards his first ranking event win.

Unfortunately Stevens suffered the tragic loss of his father and mentor Morrell.

This has obviously had an impact on Stevens' game and has subsequently experienced a few seasons of average results by his own high standards.

The one exception in the 2000-2001 season was a run to the World Championship semi-finals where he was again narrowly beaten by John Higgins.

His amazing performances at the Crucible continued into last year's World Championships, this time being edged out by eventual champion Peter Ebdon in the semi-finals.

His form this season has again been very disappointing with just one quarter-final appearance to his name in the Irish Masters.

His provisional ranking position has not suffered too much though and a decent run at the Crucible should secure his top eight spot for another season.

Although his results have been poor this term, his form at the Crucible must be taken into consideration which in turn makes him a decent prospect once again.