Ali Carter hopes that he can climb into the world's top eight, and has set a long term target of winning ten ranking titles.
Carter has played some of the best snooker his career over the past two years, winning last week's BetVictor Championship League as well as the 2023 German Masters to take his tally of ranking titles to six. He was also runner up at the Players Championship and Wuhan Open last year, as well as this year's Masters.
"I'm feeling really good, working hard and enjoying it," said the 44-year-old, ranked tenth in the world. "I want to maintain that and keep moving forward - top eight is my goal. And of course my goal is to pick up more trophies, it would be nice to get to ten ranking titles before I retire.
"It's the right time to be in the top 16, with all spin-offs you get. Some players don't like it, but they wouldn't be saying that if they were in the top 16. We all aspire to get the top and get those benefits," he said.
Carter is looking forward to next week's Shanghai Masters, a tournament he won in 2010 when it was a ranking event. "I have always loved Shanghai, it's one of my favourite places to go in China and it's even more prestigious now as an invitation event."
The Essex cueman is also excited about the new Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters which starts on August 30th, the first ever ranking event in the Kingdom. "It's going to be a massive event with all to play for," said the Captain. "Everyone will have that opportunity, with all 144 players going out there. Everyone will be under pressure. We all want to win, provide for our familes and earn prize money. Every year the prizes get bigger and the pressure grows. Hopefully I've got the tools to be able to deal with that."
Watch the full interview below.