Andy Lapthorne, veteran of 18 grand slam titles and four Paralympic medals in wheelchair tennis, was thrilled to visit the Crucible for the first time today.
The Englishman watched Pang Junxu's victory against Zhang Anda, and then enjoyed Ronnie O'Sullivan's superb display to beat Ali Carter. Lapthorne, 34, has loved snooker for most of his life and his trip to Sheffield certainly lived up to expectations.
"It was amazing to experience it," he said. "I have lots of childhood memories of watching this tournament and ever since then I have followed snooker. Ronnie, Judd Trump and John Higgins are my favourite players.
"It's very intense in that arena and it must be so tough when things are going wrong, as they were for Zhang Anda today. No one else can fix it for you. In tennis at least you can bounce off the other player's energy and respond to that, but in snooker you can be sitting down for 30 minutes hardly getting a shot so that must be really hard to deal with. It's great to see what other athletes go through, I've been watching their routines to see if there's anything I can pick up on."
Lapthorne is now preparing to represent Great Britain in the World Team Cup in Turkey next month, and will then be hunting down more individual grand slam glory at the French Open and Wimbledon.
His Crucible appearance today co-incided with World Disability Snooker Day, which raises awareness of the opportunities for people with disabilities to pick up a cue and get involved in snooker. For more details click here.