Jak Jones was the surprise finalist at the World Snooker Championship this year and the disappointment of losing that match has only grown since.
The Welshman arrived at the Crucible as a qualifier and produced a superb run, beating Zhang Anda and Si Jiahui before causing a huge upset against Judd Trump in the quarter-finals.
He then beat Ronnie O’Sullivan’s conqueror Stuart Bingham before finally being beaten 18-14 in the final by Kyren Wilson.
The showpiece was an unusual match as Wilson won the first seven frames before Jones battled back and made it very interesting late on, but ultimately fell short.
The runner-up finished his semi-final late on the day before the final and says he had literally no sleep before the biggest game of his life.
While clearly he is proud of making it to the Crucible final, the disappointment lingers and bothers him now more than it did straight after defeat.
‘Looking back at the World Championship I’m more disappointed now than I was then, having lost the final the way I did,’ said Jones. ‘I didn’t play great there, came close so that gives me confidence as well.’
The 31-year-old says the remarkable experience of a run to the Crucible final was not quite what he expected, but has given him confidence that he can do the same again.
‘When I was watching it on the TV every year it seemed amazing, I was dreaming of being there, but when I was in it it didn’t seem as big as I previously thought it was,’ he said.
‘Obviously it is but you’re kind of in a little bubble there. You don’t realise all the people that are watching.
‘It does give me confidence because I don’t think I played well at all there. I didn’t score well, my long-potting wasn’t great. My safety was pretty good. So that gives me more confidence because I nearly won it without playing my best.
‘It’s good to know that the biggest pressure environment in the game, I can handle it, so that gives me confidence. I just need to start feeling that in all the other tournaments. Start getting myself up for it. I don’t know what it is, but it’s something I need to sort out. Maybe it’s fitness, something like that could help.’
Jones has had an unspectacular season since the World Championship final, not able to replicate the results he achieved in Sheffield across the rest of the tour.
His only two appearances at the Crucible have resulted in a quarter-final run in 2023 and the final this year, but now the task is to be more consistent over the season.
‘I think the big occasion, I do get up for it a lot more,’ he said. ‘With Sheffield I have a bit of excitement which I don’t have at other tournaments, so I probably need to start feeling like that at other tournaments.
‘I think it’s the longer formats, the biggest tournament, I can get myself up for it. Other tournaments I feel flat, I almost don’t care if I win or lose half the time, so that’s not a good attitude or feeling to have, so I need to sort that out.’
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