Yorkshire pudding wraps and beating Ronnie O'Sullivan: Kyren Wilson's York Barbican return brings fond memories

The 33-year-old plays Elliott Slessor tonight at the Barbican in York, looking to reach his first final having lost in the semi-finals twice in the last four visits.

“Yeah, it's definitely on the list,” the 2024 world champion Wilson told the Yorkshire Post in an exclusive interview via Dream Vegas.

“Obviously, I've got to do that. I've had two finals at the Masters, so that's just eluded me narrowly a couple of times.

“But I've not made a final in York, so I would love to tick that one off,” said Wilson, who lost to the eventual winner, Judd Trump, 6-2 in last year’s semi-finals.

“The Triple Crown events just have that little bit more spice about them, and there's a little bit more attention on them. So yeah, I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

“Obviously, I started (the season) with a flyer, winning the first event in Shanghai.

“But since then it's been well documented that my wife's had an awful lot of health problems, so that mixed in with a broken World Championship-winning cue, has made it a very challenging and difficult period.

“But it’s one that I do feel like I'm coming out of and heading in the right direction.

“I work with Chris O'Connor in hypnotherapy, and we use the term stress bucket, and my stress bucket has been overwhelmingly full.

“But I do feel like now going into York, my stress bucket is an awful lot less full.

“I feel really good going into it. My practice has been strong. I've been putting some hours in, and I feel very settled on the equipment I'm using.

“At the start of the tournament, you kind of set yourself smaller goals just to keep yourself ticking over, and the first initial goal is obviously to win your first match to get amongst the tournament.

“The second goal is to make the one table set up, and that's from the semi-final stage, because then you have the whole arena to yourself.

“Then obviously the third goal is to go on and win the tournament. So yeah, I'll be gunning for it.”

To highlight the rising standards in the game, the first 11 tournaments this season have been won by different players.

Wilson was one of those winners, beating Ali Carter in the Shanghai Masters final in August. Since then the world No 2 has reached the quarter-finals of the Saudi Arabia Masters and Northern Ireland Open.

Does that illustrate how deep the talent pool is?

“Yeah, 100 per cent,” replied Wilson. “You see it in the fact that there's been so many 147s this season, and as you mentioned at the start, I think maybe 12 or 13 different tournament winners now, which is incredible really. There's not been one particular dominant force.

“It’s going to make for a really interesting tournament. You could pick 10 to 16 different potential winners for this year's UK Championship.”

Wilson hopes his best days at York are still ahead of him, but has good memories at the Barbican - and the city’s culinary offerings.

“I would say my favourite match that I've played there over the years was against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals in 2021,” he recalled. “I managed to beat Ronnie 6-5. I made a really good break in the decider to win that one.

“Obviously the arena was packed out and it was a good atmosphere to come through it against the greatest there ever was. It was a real feather in my cap. So that's the best game for me.

“I love the recent set-up of the tournament. I think now that it's gone back down to two tables with just a partition in the middle. It feels like a Crucible set-up.

“With more fans in, I think it's made the event much more classy. There's less of a circus going on around the backstage, and less players but more practice facilities.

“Also, I'm a massive fan of the Yorkshire pudding wraps in York, so I cannot wait to get my hands on some of them. They’re mega, I think I went about four or five days on the bounce eating the same thing last year.”

Also in first-round action today, Mark Selby faces Lei Peifan, Ronnie O’Sullivan opens against Zhou Yuelong and Barry Hawkins plays David Lilley.