Jimmy White has opened up about a condition he was recently diagnosed with (Image: YouTube/Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips)
Jimmy White has revealed he was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago. The legend, who has finished as runner-up in the on six different occasions, has previously opened up about addictions with alcohol, drugs and gambling.
While he was a master on the table, his life has also been filled with many wild tales and controversies. Following his diagnosis, White, 62, feels the condition had a material effect on his career and that he may have been able to adapt had he known earlier about it.
The NHS website defines ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) as a condition that “affects people’s behaviour” causing them to have “trouble concentrating and act on impulse”. Looking back on troubles he had in his career, it offers White a lot of explanations.
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While speaking on he said: “I got diagnosed with ADHD about two years ago, so I’ve had to work that out. With ADHD, you think about 15 things at once, you are all over the office.
“So, I’m now down to, sort of, normal. I have to be medicated and all that and it’s completely changed my life, it’s brilliant. But when you’re under pressure, looking back, all these thoughts were going through my mind and all of a sudden, I’m starting to miss everything.
“So, like, the pockets might be closing up as I’m hitting them and the balls becoming like footballs. That, for me now, looking back, if I’d have known what I had, I’d have been able to refocus better. That was a big thing. I think a couple of players have got ADHD. That’s why I’m trying to work with [Peter] Ebdon, getting it down to basics.”
The NHS website also states ADHD is usually noticed and diagnosed at an early stage. However, White was into his 60s when it was confirmed to him that he has the condition.
White admitted he wished he caught the diagnosis sooner (Image: Getty)
When the former World No.2 looks back on several moments in his career, he admits many of the signs were in front of him. He added: “I am trying to work on the mental side, because I’d get myself so at it, for playing so well, practicing and then all of a sudden, you cannot pot a ball and you’re thinking, ‘Well, you love the pressure, that’s half the buzz’.
“Then all of a sudden, you are not thinking right and then, you get it together, you pot two or three balls and you come two inches short on a positional shot, because you lost it. For me, it’s concentration.
“I can be playing, not so much now, because of these ADHD situations, but I could be playing and a voice would go at me, ‘Did you water the plants before you left home’ and I’m like, ‘Where’s that come from?’ I’ve got one of the hardest games in the world, a geezer trying to beat me and I’ve got this voice, because the concentration is more difficult when you get older. When you close that in, practice, [you] enjoy competing.”
White is still competing today, albeit not at the same levels and standards he is used to. He’s currently ranked 91st in the world.