Ricky Walden: I thought my career was done but this is just the start

Ricky Walden is enjoying his best season for years and is relishing every second of it after coming through seriously dark days, when he thought a back injury was bringing his career to a premature end.

The 39-year-old is a three-time ranking event winner and former world number six, but the back injury he picked up at the end of 2016 saw him slip away from the top of the game.

Walden had not been past a quarter-final since 2016 thanks to his back problem, but after extensive physio work he has overcome the issue and is back to his best this season, reaching the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open and German Masters.

He is back to number 18 in the world and feeling good again as confidence slowly returns.

‘The back is the main thing,’ Walden told Metro.co.uk. ‘I took a slump a few years back with the injury, it took a while to get mended and that’s a big load off my mind as well as physically.

‘To get back on the table pain-free is a huge thing, then it’s just confidence really, putting the time in and going step by step. It’s been a long road back to this stage but I’ve got loads more to work on.’

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The bulging disc that Walden suffered was painful, but it was the consequences of the injury rather than the problem itself that caused the most pain.

Ricky couldn’t spend much time practicing, which meant performance dipped, but also gave him far more time to worry about how this was all impacting his career and allow other bad habits to creep in.

‘It was more mental than physical in the end,’ he explained. ‘It wasn’t like I