Kyren Wilson employed the help of a ‘solution hypnotherapist’ ahead of his run to the World Snooker Championship final, helping him sleep and stay fresh throughout his Crucible campaign.
The Warrior beat Dave GIlbert 17-11 in the semi-finals on Saturday, adding another fairly comfortable win to his string of successes in Sheffield.
A 13-8 quarter-final win over John Higgins is as close as a Wilson match has been so far, with either Stuart Bingham or Jak Jones waiting in the showpiece.
It has been a very quiet season for the 32-year-old but he has burst into form at the World Championship, with the help of a hypnotherapist contributing to that.
‘I didn’t even know what it was first to, I just kept playing,’ Wilson said after beating GIlbert. ‘When I got to 16 I looked up and saw it was best of 33, I didn’t really know. You lose what day it is!
‘I’ve had lots of people helping me. I’ve been working with a solution hypnotherapist called Chris O’Connor, something we just started before the World Championship.
‘He’s been helping me with the sleep, he’s just been knocking me out basically, I slept eight-and-a-half hours last night. God help me when I get home and I’ve got to deal with the kids again!
‘We’ve been speaking pretty much every single day, which I thank him for taking his time out and doing that for me, with a busy schedule.
‘It’s just about emptying your stress bucket, if that makes sense. We all have things going on that can affect our day-to-day working lives. It’s allowed me to go out there and be a bit freer.’
The clash with Gilbert was tight through the first two sessions, level at 4-4 and then 8-8, but Wilson took control on Friday night and pushed over the line on Saturday afternoon.
‘Dave had every right to be beating me in that match as well,’ he said. ‘Dave’s a classy cueist, hits the ball unbelievably well and I’ve got to stop him getting into his stride.
‘I felt like I broke the back of the match yesterday. I was obviously just very focussed on hitting home the advantage.
‘I had some good form in that game, some nice slices of luck at the right times. It’s not something I’ve had all season long. You keep saying it’s going to turn and in the World Championship, the long-format matches, it is swings and roundabouts, it’s just about being patient.’
Wilson is into his second World Championship final, having lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2020, and he has learned a simple lesson from that experience.
‘Don’t eat too much pizza and have too many Peronis the night before!’ Wilson said. ‘I woke up so tired that morning, fire alarm went off in the hotel the morning of the final, I only had three hours sleep.
‘It’s hard enough playing him as it is let alone with stuff like that going on. I woke up and thought, wow i’ve got to go again, it felt so unusual, now I know it’s normal. I know how to handle that a bit better.’
Jones and Bingham play to a conclusion on Saturday night, with the winner taking on Wilson over Sunday and Monday.
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