'Horrible, horrible time' – Ricky Walden couldn't sleep and turned to drink as he feared 21-year career was over

Ricky Walden will face Mark Allen in the Players Championship first round on Tuesday evening feeling like he has finally sorted out the chronic back problems that threatened to torpedo his 21-year professional career. Walden lost 10-6 to Allen in the final of the event in Manchester six years ago before tumbling into a physical and mental morass.

Ad/> The 2013 world and UK semi-finalist was ranked sixth in the world in 2015 before health problems saw him drop out of the sport's top 16 and fall to a lowly 46 with his future shrouded in uncertainty. Players ChampionshipPlayers Championship 2022 — Latest results, scores, schedule15 HOURS AGO Players Championship 2022 — Latest results, scores, schedule 'I have not played any better' – Hungry Higgins piles on £20,000 before Players Championship defence Helped by committed physiotherapy to rectify a bulging disc in his back suffered in December 2016, Walden has slowly started to regain momentum on and off the table.

He is back up to 18 in the rankings and is 12th on the one-year list having reached semi-finals at the Northern Ireland Open and German Masters this season. In both events, he has lost to 6-3 to Mark Allen and Zhao Xintong in the last four, the respective winners of those tournaments, but his consistency has earned him a spot at the Players Championship for the first time since his run to the final.

/> It is a marked upturn in fortunes with his best returns between 2016 until 2021 being only four quarter-final appearances over five years as a series of early exits blighted his self-belief and saw him take solitude in drink. «I’m never usually worried about money, but I was then because I didn’t know where I was going to earn, it’s all I’ve ever done, where do you