Jamie Cope (born 12 September 1985) is an English former professional snooker player.
A finalist in two ranking tournaments, the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 China Open, Cope also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters. He reached his highest ranking, 13th, in September 2010, but thereafter developed a tremor which has been attributed to being either an essential tremor or the yips, which makes his cue arm shake. This condition caused Cope to slip markedly down the rankings in the 2010s, culminating in his relegation from the main tour at the end of the 2016âÂÂ17 season. He was known for his fast, entertaining style, being nicknamed "Shotgun" due to his speed around the table and aggressive playing style.
Cope had an impressive record as a junior, but dropped off the Main Tour after two largely unsuccessful seasons. However, he finished top in the Challenge Tour for emerging players in the 2004âÂÂ05 season, winning two of its four tournaments. This enabled him to return to the Main Tour. His stated intention in pre-season was to finish the year in the Top 48, a tough target which he technically achieved by default after Paul Hunter's illness. He reached the last 16 of the season-opening Grand Prix tournament. Later in the 2005âÂÂ06 season he reached the same stage of the Welsh Open and China Open. Those three last-16 defeats were all 5âÂÂ4. During the season he claimed wins over Joe Perry, Steve Davis, John Parrott and Alan McManus.
Cope has the distinction of being the first player in snooker history to post a verified 155 break achieved in a practice frame in 2005.
On 23 October 2006, Cope made a 147 break in a match against Michael Holt during the Grand Prix in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was only the third player to achieve a 147 in the tournament's history, after Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins. (Tom Ford has since become the fourth man to make a 147 at the Grand Prix, on 15 October 2007.) After progressing from the group stages, Cope defeated Robert Milkins in the last-16 to reach his first quarter-final in ranking events. He beat Joe Perry again in a closely fought match which required a deciding ninth . Eventually, Cope won after a slip-up by Perry on . In the semi-finals Cope defeated Mark King 6âÂÂ3, but he lost 5âÂÂ9 to Australian competitor Neil Robertson in the final. Cope had struggled early in the match and fell 2âÂÂ8 behind. He briefly rallied to claim the next three frames, but Robertson won the fourteenth frame to clinch the title. On 31 March 2007, Cope progressed into the final of the China Open against Graeme Dott, after beating Barry Hawkins on the last of the final frame in the semi-finals, after requiring a snooker. However, he lost the final, again by 5 frames to 9.
In the 2007âÂÂ08 season, he reached the last 32 of the Shanghai Masters losing 2âÂÂ5 to John Higgins. He failed to progress beyond the group stages in the Grand Prix 2007, finishing sixth in his group, not winning a match. In the UK Championship Cope produced a very good performance in beating the then world number one John Higgins 9âÂÂ3 in the last 32. He then beat Barry Hawkins 9âÂÂ8 in the last 16, before losing to eventual champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals. Cope made his World Championship debut in 2008, losing 10âÂÂ9 to Peter Ebdon in the first round.
At the 2008 Shanghai Masters, Cope scored the second competitive 147 of his career against Mark Williams, but lost their last-16 match 2âÂÂ5. In the 2009 World Championship, Cope beat Joe Perry in the first round 10âÂÂ6 and was close to upsetting twice world champion John Higgins in the second round. He was 12âÂÂ10 up and was looking good to win the match, but ultimately Higgins surged back to win 13âÂÂ12. This meant that he finished the season ranked at No. 18, still unable to break into the elite top 16. In the 2009âÂÂ10 season he never progressed beyond the second round of a ranking tournament. Although he qualified for the World Championship, he lost 10âÂÂ4 in the first round to Ali Carter. On top of this, an unexpected run to the final by Graeme Dott meant that Dott overtook Cope in the rankings and left Cope outside the world's top 16 for another season, albeit at a career high ranking of 17th.
In the 2010/2011 season, the two-year ranking system was replaced with a rolling ranking, meaning that Cope was finally able to reach the top 16 in October 2010. Cope made his debut at the Masters, where he reached the semi-final stage with wins over Shaun Murphy and Mark King. He played Ding Junhui in the semi-final, but lost 3âÂÂ6. He was knocked out of the World Championship in the last 16 following a 4âÂÂ13 loss to Mark Williams, but despite this he finished the season ranked 15.
Cope began the 2011âÂÂ12 season with a first round loss in the Australian Goldfields Open and a second round defeat in the Shanghai Masters, resulting in him losing his place in the top 16 after the first rankings cut-off in October, as he was placed number 18. Therefore, Cope was now required to win a qualifying match to reach the main draw of the ranking events. He failed to do this in the next three tournaments, losing to Joe Jogia, Yu Delu and Ken Doherty, in attempting to qualify for the UK Championship, German Masters and Welsh Open respectively. Cope stopped the rot by beating Jamie Burnett to earn a place in the World Open, held in Haikou, China. He played Martin Gould in the first round and, after finding himself 2âÂÂ4 down, produced a comeback to win the last three frames to set up a last-16 clash with John Higgins. Cope could not continue his run in the tournament, however, being whitewashed 0âÂÂ5 by the reigning world champion. Cope also qualified for the China Open, but was this time on the wrong end of a 4âÂÂ5 scoreline, as he was edged out by Neil Robertson in the first round. Cope's season came to an end soon after this, as he lost in qualifying for the World Championship to Liu Chuang. He was ranked world number 27, meaning he had dropped 12 places during the year, the most of any player who finished the season inside the top 32.
Cope's best finishes of the 2012âÂÂ13 season were last 16 defeats in the first three ranking events of the year, which did include a 5âÂÂ1 victory over world number one Mark Selby in the first round of the Shanghai Masters. In the rest of the season Cope struggled for form as he lost his qualifying match in the next three ranking events, and although he qualified for the World Open and the China Open, he lost 2âÂÂ5 in the first round to Graeme Dott in the former and 2âÂÂ5 in the wildcard round to Zhao Xintong in the latter. Cope played in eight of the ten Players Tour Championship events, but could not advance beyond the last 16 in any of them to finish 50th on the PTC Order of Merit. His season ended when he lost 3âÂÂ10 to world number 70 Dechawat Poomjaeng in the final round of World Championship Qualifying. His drop down the rankings continued as he ended the year ranked world number 38, outside of the top 32 for the first time since 2006.
Cope lost 5âÂÂ2 in the first round against Joe Perry as he started his 2013âÂÂ14 season at the Wuxi Classic. He then beat Martin Gould 5âÂÂ4 at the Australian Goldfields Open, before home favourite Neil Robertson eliminated him 5âÂÂ3 in the second round. In the next four ranking events he lost in the first round of the UK Championship to David Morris and failed to qualify for the others. In February, after Cope whitewashed Gareth Green 5âÂÂ0 to qualify for the China Open and beat Ryan Clark 4âÂÂ1 in the first round of the Welsh Open, he revealed that he had been working with a sports psychologist in an attempt to help him with the yips in his cue arm which have plagued his results in recent years. His draw in the following matches was not kind as lost 5âÂÂ1 to Ding Junhui in the next round, a player who had already won four ranking events this season, and 5âÂÂ1 to Shaun Murphy in China, who had won the World Open two weeks earlier.
In World Championship qualifying, Cope defeated John Astley 10âÂÂ2, Alex Borg 10âÂÂ7 and Mark King 10âÂÂ7 to reach the main draw of snooker's biggest tournament for the first time in three years. In the first round he led Murphy 7âÂÂ5, but the match went into a deciding frame with Cope losing it on the colours. Cope said later that he was unable to control his arm in the second session of the match which had caused him to jab at the cue ball.
Cope qualified for the Wuxi Classic for the third year in a row, but was beaten 5âÂÂ3 by Michael White in the first round. He lost 6âÂÂ4 to John Higgins in the second round of the UK Championship and was edged out 4âÂÂ3 by Neil Robertson in the third round of the Welsh Open. Cope's second last 32 appearance in a ranking event this season was at the Indian Open after defeating Fraser Patrick, but he lost 4âÂÂ2 to Higgins. His year finished with a 10âÂÂ9 loss on the final black to Steve Davis in the first round of World Championship qualifying. This result meant that Cope fell out of the top 64 of the season-end world rankings; however, he saved his tour place thanks to his 44th position on the European Order of Merit which earned him a fresh two-year tour card.
Cope won four matches to qualify for the 2015 Shanghai Masters and then progressed through a wildcard match once in China. In the first round of the event, Cope secured his best win in a number of years by holding on from 3âÂÂ0 ahead of world number four Neil Robertson to edge it 5âÂÂ4. He was 3âÂÂ0 behind Mark Williams in the second round and could not recover as he was defeated 5âÂÂ3. He also qualified for the International Championship, but lost 6âÂÂ4 to Kyren Wilson in the opening round. Cope came from 4âÂÂ1 down to Rory McLeod in the first round of the UK Championship to win 6âÂÂ5, but was whitewashed 6âÂÂ0 by Stephen Maguire in the second round. He also failed to win a frame in the opening round of the Welsh Open as Ben Woollaston saw him off 4âÂÂ0.
An extremely quiet season saw Cope reach the last 64 of five events, but he was unable to go any further in any of them. He ended the season at world number 76, outside the top 64 in the world rankings, and played in the 2017 Q School. Cope was eliminated in the fifth round of event one and the second round of event two, and was consequently relegated from the professional snooker tour.
He entered the 2018 Q School in a bid to win back his place on the snooker professional tour. In the second event he reached the final stage, but was beaten 4âÂÂ1 by Jordan Brown.
He announced his retirement from snooker on 25 May.