They call him The Whirlwind. But one of snooker’s biggest draws has been blowing cold for too long.

 

Jimmy White used to have the swagger of a natural-born thriller, a man who drew gasps with his dashing style and outrageous potting ability.

 

But his 6-1 drubbing by Matthew Stevens in the wildcard round of the Masters on Sunday at his local Wembley venue was a sorry sight.

 

To see him sitting forlorn, powerless, in his chair was to witness a hugely popular sportsman in danger of terminal decline.

 

Jimmy will tell you otherwise. Six times a World Championship runner-up, he still says he can win the big one in Sheffield.

 

He is deluding himself. White is provisionally ranked 56 and facing the prospect of further bleak trips to Prestatyn, the home of qualifying for major tournaments.

 

There, he will face little-known opponents in the dreaded ‘cubicles’ – narrow spaces just big enough to fit a small table and some elbow room.

 

It should not be thus.

 

White’s place in snooker folklore is assured. A lifetime of ducking and diving have helped make him one of the sport’s genuine personalities.

 

I am among, I suspect, many who have been given the runaround by him before.

 

He once agreed to speak to me over the phone at an agreed time (it was the fourth time we’d arranged the chat).

 

When I called, Jimmy said he was getting on a plane. Yet I later learned he was in Brixton.

 

Others tell of the Whirlwind answering his mobile, and then changing his accent and pretending to be someone else.

 

He was once set to finally sign a contract for a biography of his life, went to the toilet, and climbed out of the window and disappeared.

 

Whether it is an air of mischief, a reluctance to commit, or just the need to be his own man, he has been a colourful character.

 

Despite his eccentricities, he is an eloquent and polite interviewee once pinned down, saying more of substance in a minute than some do in an hour.

 

He also has respect.

 

On a night with the wayward former world champion Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins a couple of years ago, Higgins was asked to name his top three players of all-time.

 

“Three – Ronnie. Two – Jimmy. One – The Hurricane,” said Higgins, without a trace of irony.

 

And therein lies the worry for snooker as a whole. When Higgins left the scene, the baton of crowd-pleasing was largely passed on to White, then Ronnie O’Sullivan and Paul Hunter.

 

With White now a shadow of his best, Hunter tragically lost to the game, and the Rocket likely to go off at any minute, snooker should be deeply concerned.

 

Steve Davis, a peer of White’s, suggests he should knuckle down and make a concerted effort ahead of the World Championship at the Crucible in April.

 

It is sound advice from one who knows, and the Whirlwind deserves another chance to shoot the breeze.

 

But they call him the People’s Champion, and if he wants to stay that way, he should know when to do the decent thing, if things don’t work out.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A18932826

He's "blown himself out"..................................... :rolleyes: