EXCLUSIVE: Kyren Wilson 'visualised breaking Crucible curse' before winning first World Snooker title
World champion Kyren Wilson on his belief that he can break the near 50-year-old 'Crucible curse' and how hypnotherapy has played a key role in his superb season
It could be a case of now or never for the 'Crucible curse' to be broken. First-time winners have been returning to the World Snooker Championship for almost half a century. No one has ever defended the crown at the first time of asking.
But the curse could finally be broken in 2025. Few first-time world champions have ever returned to Sheffield as confident, well-prepared and in such good form as Kyren Wilson.
Despite his 2024 triumph, a few naysayers still questioned whether the Warrior was quite in the class of modern greats like O'Sullivan, Trump and Selby. Wilson has silenced the doubters with an imperious 2024/25 campaign, which has seen him rack up the ranking titles. The world title has elevated his game to new heights.
And with potentially just three Crucible World Championships left before the tournament possibly decamps to a new home, Wilson is the best hope for the curse to be lifted. The man himself is certainly ready to make history.
“I believe so,” he tells Mirror Sport during his run to another tournament victory at the Players Championship. “I’ve had a season that would back those claims. Winning three titles so far [he made it four a few days later] and having a very consistent season… I’m going into it with a lot of confidence and I’ll be one of the players to beat.”
Breaking the curse has cropped up regularly in his sessions with Chris O’Connor, a solution-based hypnotherapist who began working with Wilson a year ago. O’Connor says the Warrior had envisaged snapping the curse even before winning his first world title.
“Kyren was visualising lifting the trophy, not last year, but this year, before he’d even won it the first time,” reveals O’Connor, who also works with darts players Stephen Bunting and Nathan Aspinall, plus UFC star Tom Aspinall. “We’re set on breaking that Crucible curse, that’s what we’re working on. He’ll tell you he’s going to do it.”
Wilson and O’Connor linked up shortly before last year’s World Championship. The fact he went on to lift snooker’s biggest prize straight away was no coincidence.
“He’s been a massive addition to my team,” says Wilson of O’Connor, who works out of Eccleston Park Hypnotherapy in Prescot, Merseyside.
“I only started working with Chris two weeks before the World Championship. That shows you what an impact he had on me. I was so relaxed, so calm during that tournament.
“We’ve managed to follow that up and keep up consistent sessions throughout this season. I’ve already had three sessions with Chris this week [this interview is taking place on a Wednesday].”
The pair will be in regular contact during the World Championship, where marathon matches test a players’ mental robustness like no other tournament.
“I love the long format,” declares Wilson. “They’re quite draining, mentally tiring. It’s takes it out of you but it a great test to see where your body and mind is at.”
Thanks in part to his work with O’Connor, Wilson hasn’t felt weighed down by the tag of world champion over the last 12 months. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“It’s just given me so much confidence,” he says. “If you can’t take confidence from winning the biggest tournament of all, what’s the point in winning it?
“I’ve dreamed of winning it since I was six years old - that’s how long I’ve been playing the game - so there was no way it was going to burden me. It was only going to inspire me and lead me to bigger and better things.
“I do understand how it can be a big pressure for people. I’ve found it tough this year to prepare for certain events because of the expectations of being a good ambassador as a world champion.
“I’ve made a conscious effort to try and play in everything. It’s good to have a world champion at each event. I felt a duty to make sure I was that person. I feel like I’ve managed to juggle that really well and I’m quite proud of the season I’ve had. Winning becomes a habit and it’s a great feeling to keep winning.
“I want to keep striving for that feeling and the only way you’re going to do that is by keep practising. Not over-practising but keeping the right balance so you’re feeling confidence and fresh going into the tournament.”
A healthy rivalry has developed between Wilson and world No.1 Judd Trump this season, with Wilson usually coming out on top, including during a thrilling Players Championship final that needed a deciding frame.
“I think it’s been a very good match-up between us both,” adds Wilson. “It’s great for the sport, it’s great for me and I’d like to think it’s great for him too.”
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