Defending champion Ali Carter is looking forward to reviving happy memories when snooker’s Welsh Open comes back to the Newport Centre in January.

The world’s best players, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Stephen Hendry, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and home favourites Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens, will be competing for the trophy in the world ranking event, which runs from January 25 to 31, 2010.

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Carter enjoyed the best moment of his career at last season’s Welsh Open when he came from 5-2 down to beat Joe Swail 9-5 in the final and capture his first ranking title.

“It was a massive moment for me,” said the World No 5 from Tiptree in Essex. “It was a big relief to get a first ranking event under my belt. I’d had a great season up until that point but I lost three close matches in semi-finals, so to go all the way in Newport was a great way to lift the burden. I always knew I had the ability to win tournaments, it was a case of taking the pressure off myself and playing the game.”

The event drew bumper crowds to Newport, with over 1300 fans attending the final. “It made for a great atmosphere and helped bring the best out of the players,” added Carter. “Hopefully we’ll get a lot of support again this time and I can have a good run.”

The 30-year-old became a father for the first time just a few weeks ago, as partner Sarah gave birth to son Max. “He’s doing great, he’s healthy and putting on weight,” added the former Crucible finalist. “It definitely puts things into perspective and gives you more motivation to be successful.

“It does cause some disruption to your routine – instead of practising from 10am to 4pm, you find yourself in the club doing a couple of hours at 10pm. But that can be a good thing because it stops it getting mundane.”

The world’s top 16 players are all automatically seeded through to the Newport Centre, and World No 26 Matthew Stevens has had his qualifying match held over to the venue to give fans the chance to see him in action.

The qualifying rounds of the Welsh Open run from January 19 to 22 at Pontin’s in Prestatyn, and will be available to watch live online at 110sport.tv