Wales' star potter was a broken man at the end of this year's World Championship in Sheffield.

He had just suffered a second-round exit at the hands of Anthony Hamilton, a loss that saw him slip from number-one spot in the rankings for the first time since he had claimed the world crown in 2000.

"I'm sick with the way I'm performing, it seems like if anyone plays well against me they beat me," he said.

By any normal standards the year had hardly been disastrous.

The 27-year-old baize master from Cwm dropped a big lead against Paul Hunter to lose 10-9 in the final of the Benson and Hedges Masters in London, prompting fears that he had forgotten how to win.

But with the pressure off on the snooker circuit's tour of the Far East, the left-hander won back-to-back titles in China and Thailand.

Something still wasn't right, though, and after his Crucible defeat Williams declared: "I'm going to have to try to sort it out in the summer."

His answer was to recruit Terry Griffiths, Wales' 1979 world champion, as his new coach.

Some hard graft at the table saw a rejuvenated Williams return for the 2002/3 season.

An early exit at the LG Cup was shrugged aside, and his advance to the semi-finals of the British Open was enough to get him back as world number one on the provisional list.

Better was to follow at the big end-of-year event at York, the UK Championships.

Williams was at his scintillating best in the knockout stages, destroying Stephen Hendry 9-2 before humiliating reigning world champion Peter Ebdon 9-3 in the semis.

Could he seal his first victory on home soil for 26 months in the final against 'Crafty' Ken Doherty?

The doubters were out as he let slip a 9-7 lead for the Irishman to take it to the deciding frame.

But the Welshman leapt at his first opportunity to fire in a championship-winning break of 70.

The cueing king is back and he will be the man to beat in the New Year.