Allen out to 'put right' poor run of form at Worlds

Mark Allen needs to win the World Championship to complete a career Grand Slam [Getty Images]

Mark Allen will aim to make up for what he believes is "his worst season performance wise for a long time" by making a major impression at this year's World Championship at the Crucible Theatre.

Allen will begin his bid for a first world title with a first-round match against China's Zhang Anda, which begins on Saturday morning and finishes on Sunday.

The Northern Ireland player is a two-time semi-finalist at the tournament but has also suffered a series of early exits in Sheffield, including round-two losses in both of the past two years.

Despite bemoaning his standard of play for much of the campaign, the 40-year-old won the English Open and reached the semi-final stage of four other ranking tournaments.

He lost out narrowly to Jack Lisowski for the prize for the best performing player across the four Home Nations Series events.

"It's been a strange season, I won the English Open and have been in those other semi-finals, but I feel like I've been playing really, really poorly," said Allen.

"It has probably been my worst season performance wise for a long time but I've still ground out results.

"I want to play better than I have been. It's not through lack of practice and I've been trying to do the right things off the table, it just hasn't been my best year.

"But I've got a good opportunity to put it right over these next 17 days and what a time it would be to do it."

Having previously won The Masters and the UK Championship, Allen would like to emulate the feat of his compatriot, golfer Rory McIlroy, in completing a career Grand Slam of his sport's major events.

"I've always followed Rory's career. We turned pro at a very similar time and he has done wonders in the world of sport.

"It would be nice to follow in his footsteps but obviously Rory is a much bigger star than I am.

"Being world champion is the one thing missing from my CV. It's a decent CV but I want to improve on it year on year. I just have to continue to work hard and hopefully the form will turn."

• World Championship 2026: Schedule, seeds & BBC TV schedule