Kyren Wilson is the latest victim of the infamous Crucible curse and Ronnie O’Sullivan believes it’s because of ‘too much match snooker’.
Wilson failed to defend his World Snooker Championship crown as he bowed out in the first round of this year’s tournament to Chinese debutant Lei Peifan.
The 33-year-old’s loss meant he became the 20th first-time winner since the event was moved to the Crucible Theatre in 1977 to have failed to defend their title.
Wilson addressed the infamous curse following the defeat and was adamant it would eventually be broken.
“It’s obviously been built up into something it’s not, because other players have gone on to win it,” Wilson said.
“I’m sure it’ll be broken at some point but unfortunately I won’t be that person.”
Whoever that individual may be that goes on to break the curse, they may want to heed O’Sullivan’s advice.
Following his triumph, Wilson was a constant presence at various tournaments and rarely took a break from the baize in his bid to be a proper ambassador for snooker.
But O’Sullivan believed Wilson should have slowed down and taken a little more time for himself to ensure he was fully refreshed and recharged ahead of his world championship defence.
“I think Kyren played in too many tournaments, which he didn’t need to play in,” O’Sullivan said.
“If you look at the last two winners of the world championship, himself and Luca Brecel, they both came in very fresh.
“To win this world championship, you need to come in, okay doing well, but at some point around February, say to yourself: ‘Right, it’s all about the world championship.’
GettyThe 33-year-old is adamant someone will break the Crucible curse[/caption]
“One minute he’s in Leicester playing for 7-8 days. I was like: ‘You want to be chilling out and just put your cue down.’
“It’s a very fine line and when you come here, you want to have a spring in your step. Play your way into form.
“Rather than be really at your limit. It’ll go the other way. With Kyren, he could have maybe missed a few tournaments.
“This is the one you want to win. I always think, come in a bit undercooked, take a month off playing.
“For this tournament, you need to be feeling strong come the quarters and semis. To me, I think he has played too much match snooker.”
O’Sullivan is a victim of the Crucible curse himself having won his maiden world title in 2001, only to bow out of next year’s tournament in the semi-finals against Stephen Hendry.
The 49-year-old is on the hunt for a record eighth world championship crown.
His bid for snooker history gets underway against 18th seed Ali Carter on April 22.
