Carter missed the start of the 2014–15 season due to receiving treatment for a recurrence of testicular cancer metastasising to his lung. He returned in October at the non-ranking General Cup and won the title by defeating Shaun Murphy 7–6 in the final. In October, World Snooker and the WPBSA announced that Carter's seeding for the remainder of the 2014–15 season would be based on a world ranking of 13. His first match back in a ranking event was a 5–6 loss to Zhang Anda in the opening round of the UK Championship. Carter received a standing ovation at the Masters and beat Barry Hawkins 6–1, before Neil Robertson defeated him by a reversal of this scoreline in the quarter-finals. Afterwards Carter said he was nowhere near match sharp and was targeting the World Championship as the place to rediscover his best form. He won his first matches at the venue stage of a ranking event this year at the Welsh Open with victories over Fraser Patrick, Mark King and Matthew Selt, before losing 2–4 to Ben Woollaston in the last 16 and was knocked out in the first round of the China Open 5–4 by Kurt Maflin.&lt;ref name="2014/15"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;