It will feel like heaven to retire admits 'over-achieving' snooker star Dominic Dale

Welshman Dale, a professional since 1992, recently revealed that he plans to end his professional career at the end of this season.

And rather than having any second thoughts, the 52-year-old actually admits he's relishing the prospect of packing up.

"I've never been so certain of anything in all my life, I am absolutely 100 per cent retiring," Dale told Sporting Life.

"I'm really looking forward to it. When I don't have to get out of bed and think about practising, think about technique or changes to my game.

"When I won't be suffering emails from the governing body about tournaments and entries, or having to worry about all the travel or going on flights.

"It will be heaven. It really will be heaven."

Despite now being in his fifties, Dale is still ranked at world No.43 and last season reached two tournament quarter-finals and played in the World Championship at the Crucible for first time in a decade.

Dale is sure however that he's entering the final months of his career, with his decision to step away partly down to the injuries he's been contending with lately.

"In the last two or three seasons, I'm beginning to get aches and pains," he said. "I'm getting shoulder problems. I'm getting swelling in my fingers. I've even started to get tennis elbow on the odd occasion in my right arm.

"I actually came close to retiring a couple of seasons ago. It was very much a 50-50 call for me.

"As I remember, Michael Holt had just dropped off the tour. That was in the equation for me. I thought, Michael is a family man now, while I wasn't that bothered if I carried on or not.

"I remember ringing (WPBSA chairman) Jason Ferguson and asking him, 'if I retire does it mean that Michael will go up a place in the rankings and stay on the tour?' He told me it doesn't work like that, and that wouldn't happen.

"So I thought ok, the governing body are guaranteeing everyone on tour £20,000 a year now. I mean, you spend most of that on expenses if you don't win anything. But I suppose I could just practise for an hour a day and suffer that and just carry on. And I have done that up until now.

"It's been fantastic to be a snooker player for so long. But now I'm looking forward to being whatever a normal person is. It's a massive commitment to be a professional sportsperson, there are so many highs and lows.

"You're having to have this killer instinct, which you nurture over all the years playing snooker, and it's not a natural thing, it's like having this other being within yourself.

"At the end of the day, every time I play a snooker match, I've got somebody who wants to take money out of my back pocket, so you won't win matches unless you have that diehard killer instinct.

"I'm now looking forward to having some more empathy and compassion, something that I feel is taken away from you a little through having a long sporting career."

Dale has enjoyed many special moments over the years, particularly when he won the Grand Prix title in 1997 - beating John Higgins in the final - and the Shanghai Masters in 2007.

And he firmly believes, as he reflects on more than three decades in snooker, that he's actually overachieved in the sport.

"I honestly think I've overachieved," Dale said. "I've won two major tournaments, the Grand Prix and Shanghai Masters. I've won the Shoot Out, I've won a couple of satellite ranking events, a PTC, a couple of major pro-ams.

"The way I can relate to what I see as overachieving is, I've practised with all the game's greats. I've practised with Stephen Hendry, I've practised with all the great Welsh players, like Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens.

"I'll use Matthew as a comparison. He won the UK Championship and the Masters and was ever-present in the world's top 16.

"But to sit here and think I've won more ranking events than Matthew is astonishing. I can promise you that on the practice table, Matthew Stevens is capable of so much more than I ever was.

"I remember practising with Matthew once - and this will give you an idea of his greatness - I think I was 8-6 up in a first to nine. He's made back-to-back maximums and was then on 80-odd going for a third maximum.

"So I look at what I've done and what I've won and I really think I've overachieved in my career."

Dale has found results hard to come by so far this season, with his best run being to the last 16 at the Xi'an Grand Prix, where he beat Noppon Saengkham and Shaun Murphy.

Just after that event, Dale was notable for his absence at snooker's first ever ranking tournament in Saudi Arabia.

The event was a controversial affair, predominantly due to the country's abysmal human rights record and widespread accusations of "sportswashing" to try and improve its image.

Dale however insists the reasons for him not being there were purely based on travel and weather.

Asked directly whether he had any moral objections, Dale said: "I didn't really go into it. When it was announced, I just thought, I don't want to go there. I didn't think about it too deeply.

"It was a travel thing. It came so soon after Xi'an. I've got to be honest, I really don't like flying. When I retire, I can't see myself flying anywhere.

"It's very very hot out in Saudi as well. I think they were playing in a marquee or something. It just didn't appeal to me very much."

Dale will begin his final ever UK Championship campaign in the qualifiers in Leicester on Tuesday, hoping to make it to York's Barbican Centre. If he doesn't, he'll still be in north Yorkshire for the week, working as a television commentator for Eurosport.

And Dale firmly believes it will be one of the sport's most recognised stars that claims the title on the first night of December.

"I think it will be one of the big hitters to win it this year - Judd Trump, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby, someone like that," Dale said.

"Ding (Junhui) has just won a tournament in China and is based down the road in Sheffield, so he'll be dangerous too.

"Like the World Championship, I think you need to be an all-round great player to win this tournament. I expect one of the top players to lift the trophy."

Like the rest of us, Dale will be transfixed by the first triple crown event of the season.

But when he does have some downtime, he'll certainly keep himself busy.

"York is a wonderful place. I've always loved antiques and antique horology. York is full of antique centres and quirky shops. I love it there.

"I've always had a multiplicity of interests to occupy me, which is another reason that I'm looking forward to retiring. There's so many things I enjoy in life."