World ranking: 8
Last five seasons: 5-6-9-16-31
Lives: Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Date of birth: 12-10-74
Turned professional: 1992
Ranking tournament victories: 1 - Grand Prix 1998
Last season's prize money: £108,380
Career prize money (up to start of 2001-2002 season): £706,381
Highest tournament break: 141 - Thailand Open 1996

Stephen Lee's steady climb up the world ranking list came to a grinding halt during a disappointing 2000-2001 season.

He went into the campaign with high hopes of breaking into the top four but ended it by slipping three places to No 8.

It was a case of so near yet so far for the man from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, in several tournaments. He was edged out 9-8 by Stephen Hendry in the quarter-finals of the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship, lost 5-3 to Mark Williams at the same stage of the China Open and was denied a place in the final of the Regal Welsh by Paul Hunter, who won 6-3.

That proved to be his only semi-final appearance of a season summed up by his heartbreaking 13-12 defeat by Peter Ebdon in the last 16 of the Embassy World Championship.

"I'm devastated to lose to Peter," said Lee, who was less than pleased by his opponent's emotional outburst at the end of a gripping match. "I felt really good from the off but he made it scrappy and won all the scrappy frames. He had the run of the balls over all three sessions and that's hard to deal with."

Lee won his first ranking tournament - the Grand Prix - during the 1998-99 season, compiling two centuries and eight other breaks of more than 50 to defeat Hong Kong's Marco Fu 9-2 with a performance that oozed class.

English amateur champion in 1992, he turned professional the same year and made his Crucible debut in 1995. He lost 10-8 in the first round to Nigel Bond but was back two years later and, on this occasion, beat Bond 10-8 to reach the last 16.

He went one better in 1999, eventually going out 13-6 to John Higgins in the quarter-finals, but his preparations for the 2000 World Championship were hampered by a neck injury - the legacy of a car crash two years earlier.

Forced to pull out of the Regal Scottish, intensive physiotherapy enabled him to make it to Sheffield, where he was beaten 13-8 by Fergal O'Brien in the second round.

Lee began the 1999-2000 season by winning the Millennium Cup in Hong Kong. He defeated Stephen Hendry 6-1 in the semi-finals and Ronnie O'Sullivan 7-2 in the final - the first time he had beaten either player.

He reached the final of the China Open in Shanghai, although this time O'Sullivan proved too strong with a 9-2 victory, and that was followed by a bumper January.

First came a near-faultless display for England as they lifted the Nations Cup for the first time, beating Wales 6-4 in the final, then Lee reached the final of the Regal Welsh, losing 9-8 to Higgins after leading 8-6.

Regarded by many of the experts as having one of the best cue actions in the game, Lee will be aiming to bounce back this season.