MARK Williams says he has come to terms with the fact he will never recapture past glories after crashing out of German Masters at the first-round stage in Berlin.
Williams made just one 50-plus break as he went down 5-2 to Mark Allen at the Tempodrom on Thursday.
The Cwm star won the World Championship in both 2000 and 2003 and is widely considered one of the greatest players of his generation, but his last ranking event title came at the 2011 German Masters.
Allen flew out of the blocks, racking up the first three frames before Williams got on the board but the Northern Irishman responded and sealed the win with a 51 break.
And while 39-year-old Williams wouldn’t take anything away from his opponent, he admits he’s not the player he was a few years ago.
“Mark played really well to be honest – he didn’t miss a long ball all game, made a lot of breaks and just played really well throughout,” said Williams.
“I’m happy enough with the way I’m playing at the moment – as I’ve said before; I’m not going to get any better now.
“My quality of game is nowhere near where it used to be and it’s never going to be again, so I’m happy with knowing it’s not going to be that good but still trying my best.”
It has been an up-and-down season to date for Williams, with a semi-final appearance at the International Championship being combined with a number of early exits.
And the world No.16 is keen to move on from the loss to Allen ahead of a busy period before the World Championship begins in just over two months.
“To be honest, I can put any defeat behind me within ten seconds of losing – losing is never something that has worried me,” added Williams.
“I’ve never cared about losing and I never will care about losing as long as you try your best.
“There’s a lot of tournaments for me to get back into it, so now I’ll move into the next one really.”
Williams will be in action at the BetVictor Welsh Open in Cardiff from February 16.
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