King relishing White test

King: White fan

When Jimmy's playing someone else I want him to win. He's so down to earth, as you saw in the jungle, he's very funny and that's what people love about him.

Mark King
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Mark King is relishing facing jungle star Jimmy White at the Masters on Sunday, and accepts he will be playing the spoilers role against the Whirlwind's fans who will dominate the crowd at Wembley.

White's popularity has never been so strong, and King knows that he will be the bad guy in the eyes of most of the crowd on Sunday when he hopes to thwarts White's hopes of a remarkable Masters comeback.

After gaining a wildcard to the tournament following his television exploits in the jungle, White will have even more support than normal, but King says the bumper crowd and thriving atmosphere will only help his game.

"It's going to be awesome," said King. "I played Ricky Walden last year and it was dead, there was no atmosphere.

"You just know Jimmy's going to pull them in, and there will be 99 percent of the crowd pulling for Jimmy and just my little group of family in the corner, but it's going to be great.

Up for it

"The more people that are there the more it'll make me and Jimmy get up for it. I know that when I miss they'll be shouting 'come on Jimmy' and that but it'll just focus my mind on doing a professional job."

King can at least draw on experience as he beat White 6-5 on his Masters debut, and he believes he can spoil the party for the veteran again this time around.

There will be nothing personal though come Sunday, as King is a huge fan of White's but will remain professional as he looks for a major tournament breakthrough.

"Jimmy's been great over the years," King added. "And he's so good with people, when Jimmy's playing someone else I want him to win.

"He's so down to earth, as you saw in the jungle, he's very funny and that's what people love about him - he's himself all the time and that's why people love him.

"But it's my job and my job's got to be done and if he's in my way then either he goes out or I do."

Consstency

King does not feel though that he is good enough to win a big tournament right now, as he needs more consistency and to conquer the mental side of the game.

"I don't feel I'm good enough to win one at the moment, my game's not there on a consistent basis. My all round game is pretty good, but a few times I just seem to let people off the hook. I need to play well all the time and it's just the consistency I need to improve."

King hopes that he will be playing in more tournaments for bigger prize pots in the near future after Barry Hearn took over the running of the sport - and King hopes for a similar explosion in popularity as darts has enjoyed.

"I think Barry will be really, really good for the game. Darts is a totally different sport to ours but what he's done to darts we need in snooker, so whatever we need to do we've got to stand behind him strong and do what he wants us to do.

"Then the prize money will start coming in and the ranking tournaments will increase and it'll only be good for snooker."