Snooker player Mike Dunn has revealed playing the sport he loves is currently “the last thing” on his mind as he recovers from illness.

Mike Dunn. Picture by Monique Limbos

The world number 43 told his thousands of Twitter followers earlier this week that he is suffering from serious health problems.

He said: “Got serious health problems atm,have done for the last month,tbh snooker is the last thing on my mind as I’ve a bigger battle to win.”

Despite reaching the Last 16 stage of the China Championship earlier this season, Dunn has struggled for form in recent weeks losing comprehensively in the first round matches of the International Championship, European Masters and the Shanghai Masters.

However it appears those results are likely to have coincided with the illnesses which he has been suffering from.

In a further tweet published on Saturday morning, Dunn revealed he is battling to overcome a skin infection and “other issues” in time for his first round English Open match on Tuesday against Alex Borg.

He tweeted: “Race on on for my match Tues,got to get rid of this terrible infection by then.Then deal with other issues,normal skin is the white bits.”

Those in the snooker world have sent Dunn messages of goodwill include six-times world champion Steve Davis who tweeted back “Hope things get better Mike!”.

READ MORE – INTERVIEW: When Mike Dunn completed snooker’s great escape

Others who have sent Dunn their best wishes include Ali Carter, Mark Selby, Ian Burns, Martin O’Donnell, top referee Jan Verhass as well as snooker writers and many of his fans.

The 45-year-old has played a total of 26 seasons on the main snooker circuit. He made the headlines in 2014 when he made it through to the semi-finals of the China Open – his best run ever in a major ranking event – before losing to eventual winner Ding Junhui.