Mark Joyce (94-01) plays Ronnie O’Sullivan

Mark, who left school in 2001 still lives in Walsall and is a professional snooker player.  He began his professional career by playing the Challenge Tour in 2003. He enjoyed an outstanding amateur career, winning the European Under-19 Championship in 2001, the English Open in 2005 and the English Amateur Championship in 2006, beating Martin O'Donnell 8–3 in the final. Joyce also finished fifth on the 2005/06 Pontin's International Open Series, winning the second of eight events, to book a place on Main Tour.

Mark’s playing has gone from strength to strength and he reached his first-ever ranking final in the Riga Masters in 2019 after beating Sam Baird, Scott Donaldson, Liam Highfield, Jack Lisowski, Stuart Carrington, and Kurt Maflin. He lost 5-2 to Yan Bingtao in the final.

Qualifying for the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for the first time this year after beating Anthony Hamilton and Ivor Figueiredo in the qualifying rounds, Mark drew the reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first round which took place on Saturday, 17th April. During the match, Joyce closed the gap to 4-3 and had a chance to steal the eighth frame to level the match, but O'Sullivan stole the frame with the final black to lead 5-3. Joyce ultimately lost 10-4 to O'Sullivan.