Perry excited about new season which begins with defence of Yixing Open

Joe Perry says he has nothing to fear from the new generation of snooker players as he kicks off his 23rd season as a professional.

The Chatteris star, 39, reached the quarter-finals or better in six major ranking tournaments last season and beat current world champion Mark Selby to win the Yixing Open.

Perry defends the Yixing Open this week and will compete in China’s Wuxi Classic and the Australian Open later this month,

He said: “I’ve definitely come through with the best crop of players ever – the era of [John] Higgins, [Ronnie] O’Sullivan and Mark Williams – and I was up there in the rankings when [Stephen] Hendry was at his best.

“I don’t want to put any of the new players down, but I’ve got nothing to fear about the crop of players that is coming through, there’s nothing there that I haven’t seen before.

“It’s all about me really. It’s about how much I can continue to enjoy the game, enjoy the travelling, enjoy the practice, and at the moment I’m enjoying it more than I ever have done.”

You can follow Perry’s progress this season on British Eurosport, which shows 19 tournaments per season including the World Championship, UK Championship, the Masters and all other ranking events. Available on Sky, Virgin Media & BT TV or online/mobile via eurosportplayer.com #eurosportsnooker