Snooker champion Tessa Davidson announced as Banbury Guardian's Sports Personality of the Year

Tessa from Adderbury only returned to the sport of snooker in 2022 after taking a 23-year break to focus on raising her two children.

The self-employed gardener was previously ranked fifth in the world and played professionally between the years of 1988 and 1999.

Now Tessa, who is based out of Fast Eddie’s Pool and Snooker Hall, has climbed back to number one in the seniors and number 10 in the world rankings.

The 54-year-old has had an incredible year, winning five major competitions, including the British and Belgian senior titles, and reaching the quarterfinals of the world championships.

Tessa said: “I’ve just won the Eden Women’s Masters competition against some of the top national players and have won a total of seven competitions since coming back to the sport and come runner up a number of times.

"I love playing on the tour; the people are great, and I get to travel to some amazing places. I have played in Thailand this year for the World Championships and in Brugge and Glasgow.

"Playing in Thailand was great; the competition was held in a really good club in Bangkok, and women competed from all over the world. It was definitely one of the pinnacles of my career.”

Tessa, who funds all of the travelling to competitions herself, is hoping to secure sponsorship to help her play at more competitions next year.

Tessa said: “The sport is becoming more and more global, and they have already announced that next year’s World Championship will be held in Hong Kong, so that’s quite exciting.

"Next year, I want to just carry on and try to maintain a good standard. You can’t win all the competitions, but as much as I can, just play well and keep progressing with the aim of breaking into the top eight of the world rankings.”

As well as progressing her career in snooker, Tessa is also passing on her knowledge to the next generation by running a weekly academy at Fast Eddies.

She said: “The support from Fast Eddies is amazing; I couldn’t have done all this without them, and it's been really satisfying to coach the younger players.”