Jack Lisowski
Jack Adam Lisowski is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire. He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. A left-handed player, he is known for his attacking style of play.
Lisowski lost his first six ranking finals, three to Judd Trump, two to Neil Robertson and one to Mark Selby. He reached his seventh ranking final at the 2025 Northern Ireland Open and defeated Trump 9–8 to win his maiden ranking title. Lisowski has made over 300 career century breaks, including one maximum break.
Career
Amateur years
Lisowski began playing "snooker" at the age of seven, using ping-pong balls on a carpet. As a young player, he was trained by Gloucester professional Nick Pearce. He made his first century break at the age of 10. He was runner-up to Mitchell Mann in the 2007 Junior Pot Black.In the 2008/2009 season he was runner-up in the sixth event of the International Open Series to Xiao Guodong, and finished 23rd in the rankings. In 2009 Lisowski was awarded the Paul Hunter Scholarship, which would allow him to practise with professional players. At the time he was suffering from cancer and was in remission from Hodgkin lymphoma.
Overcoming his illness, Lisowski competed in the PIOS for the 2009/2010 season. He won the first and eighth event of the International Open Series, and finished first in the rankings, so he received a place on the 2010/2011 professional Main Tour.
2010/2011 season
After a series of early exits from main tour events, he reached the final of Event 3 of the Players Tour Championship, winning six matches, including a 4–3 win over Mark Selby in the semi-final, where he came back from 1–3 down. In the final he lost 0–4 to Tom Ford. Lisowski qualified for the 2011 German Masters, the 2011 Welsh Open and the 2011 Players Tour Championship Grand Finals. At the end of his first professional season he climbed to 52nd in the world rankings, the highest of any of the debutants. Lisowski was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award at the World Snooker Annual Award Ceremony.2011/2012 season
Lisowski had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship series of tournaments in the 2011/2012 season. He reached the quarter-finals of Event 6 and Event 9, and the semi-finals in Event 5, where he was knocked out by his compatriot and eventual winner, Andrew Higginson. The results ensured he finished 24th in the Order of Merit and therefore claimed the final spot for the 2012 Finals. He beat Barry Hawkins 4–3 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in the Finals, before losing 1–4 to Neil Robertson.Lisowski also qualified for the Shanghai Masters with wins over David Grace, Mike Dunn and Marco Fu, before defeating amateur Rouzi Maimaiti in the wildcard round. He played Jamie Cope in the round and was beaten 3–5. He only won one more match in his attempts to qualify for the remaining six ranking events, and finished the season ranked world number 40.
2012/2013 season
The 2012/2013 season was a breakthrough year for Lisowski, as he qualified for five ranking tournaments, including the World Championship, and reached his second final as a professional. The first tournament he got to play in was the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo, by beating Dave Harold; he then lost 2–5 to Mark Davis in the first round. He could not qualify for the next two events, but then defeated Chen Zhe and Joe Perry to feature in the UK Championship for the first time. In his match against Chen, Lisowski made his first 147 in competitive play, but in the first round of the event, he lost 2–6 to Stuart Bingham. Lisowski beat Ian Burns and Jamie Burnett to qualify for the China Open, then saw off Zhou Yuelong to advance to the last 32. He played his good friend Judd Trump, and made a 131 break in a 5–3 win, then came back from 2–4 down to triumph 5–4 against Mark Davis, reaching his first ranking event quarter-final. However, in that match it was Lisowski who let a 4–2 lead slip, and lost 4–5 to Shaun Murphy, with Murphy stating that snooker had seen the future with Lisowski's performances during the week.Lisowski played in nine minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events during the season, and reached the final in the first one by seeing off Trump in the quarter-finals, and Mark Williams in the semis. The final against Stephen Maguire went to a deciding frame with Lisowski missing a yellow off the spot, when requiring two further pots to leave his opponent needing snookers. After a brief safety exchange, Maguire potted the remaining colours to win the title. In the other PTC events, Lisowski's best results were three last 16 matches, which helped to cement his place in the Finals by finishing 13th on the Order of Merit. There he beat world number two Mark Selby 4–3 in the first round, before losing to Tom Ford in another deciding frame in the second round. In the World Championship Qualifying, he had comfortable 10–4 wins over James Wattana and Fergal O'Brien to reach the Crucible for the first time, where he played Barry Hawkins. The experience and composure of Hawkins told as he took the match 10–3, with Lisowski citing the intimate nature of playing at the Crucible, which affected his concentration, as a factor in the one-sided scoreline. He climbed five places in the world rankings during the season to finish at number 35, his highest position until that point.
2013/2014 season
Lisowski began the 2013/2014 season by qualifying for the 2013 Wuxi Classic, where he whitewashed Tian Pengfei 5–0 in the first round, before being narrowly beaten 5–4 by Mark Williams in the second. At the European Tour event, the Antwerp Open, Lisowski won five matches to advance to the semi-finals, where he lost 4–2 to Mark Selby. He entered the UK Championship in good form and looked to be progressing into the second round, as he led Michael Leslie 4–0. However, Lisowski then conceded six frames in a row, to be beaten by the world number 94 in a performance he described as rubbish.In following events, Alan McManus beat him 5–2 in the second round of the German Masters, but then Lisowski dropped just one frame in winning two matches to reach the third round of the Welsh Open. He built a 3–1 advantage over Barry Hawkins, before last year's World Championship runner-up made a century and two breaks over 50 to eliminate him 4–3. Lisowski also qualified for the China Open, but lost 5–3 against Dominic Dale in the first round.
2014/2015 season
Lisowski won three matches to qualify for the Australian Goldfields Open, but lost 5–0 in an hour to Shaun Murphy in the first round. He defeated Lu Chenwei 5–2 in the Wuxi Classic, but was knocked out 5–2 by Zhao Xintong afterwards. Lisowski won a trio of matches for the second time this season to reach the Shanghai Masters, where Ding Junhui eliminated him 5–1 in the opening round. After Lisowski beat Chris Melling 6–1 at the UK Championship, he said that he was hoping to rediscover his confidence after having a quiet start to the year. He also revealed that he had turned to fellow player Robert Milkins for some guidance on his game. Lisowski raced into a 4–0 lead against practice partner Liang Wenbo in the second round and hung on to progress 6–4. Following his 6–4 loss to Murphy in the third round, Lisowski said that he was still adjusting to playing in the atmosphere of major events. He was beaten 4–3 in the first round of the Welsh Open, then came from 4–2 down to defeat Alan McManus 5–4 in the China Open, but he lost in the last 32 of a ranking event for the fifth time this season with a 5–0 defeat to Dechawat Poomjaeng. His ranking dropped 11 spots during the year to finish at 53rd in the world.2015/2016 season
For the second year in a row, Lisowski started the season with a trio of qualifying wins to reach the Australian Goldfields Open and, just as in the year before, he was whitewashed 5–0 in the first round, this time by Judd Trump.After beating Ali Carter 6–5 at the International Championship, he lost 6–3 to Marco Fu in the second round. Lisowski knocked out Zak Surety and Graeme Dott at the UK Championship, but bemoaned the fact that he could not translate that form to the main arena in the third round as he lost 6–4 to David Grace. He was narrowly defeated 4–3 in the second round of the Welsh Open by Martin Gould. An impressive 5–1 victory over Michael White saw Lisowski progress to the second round of the China Open, where he lost 5–2 to Stephen Maguire. Lisowski was beaten 10–7 by David Gilbert in the final World Championship qualifying round. His ranking increased by 14 spots over the course of the season to end up at 39th in the world.