The last few balls hit the pocket hard, like Kieran Wilson Turned his head back towards the ceiling, finally breaking character. Perhaps this is the best moment of all: the match is over, your opponent is destined to never return to the table, and before the trophy arrives and the tickertape falls, before the microphone and the lifelong commitment of asking questions and signing signatures and selfies with strangers. With, it’s just you and your sign in a warm fuzzy pause, making gratification a little longer and delayed.
Wilson’s long backswing swung back and forth like a pendulum, sliding over his bridge hand and through the white. After playing snooker for 30 years, after having potted and missed hundreds of thousands of balls, after sitting in cushioned chairs for days on end, he had finally achieved his goal, which he had always admitted was There was something he wanted. He turned towards his family and screamed with relief. Kieran Wilson, world champion.
He reached the finals with full confidence. Wilson’s closest opponent in the quarter-finals was John Higgins, who lost by five frames. David Gilbert lost by six. Joe O’Connor lost by seven. Dominic Dale lost by nine. But the final itself was tense and nerve-wracking and often dramatic, as it stopped like jonesThe late return of is encouraging have to win 18-14,
There was a close contest on the second day in which Jones prevailed, but the match was actually won on Sunday afternoon when Wilson raced 7-0 lead, Jones was helpless and lost, like a man wrapped in a dense fog. When he came out for the evening he could finally see clearly, but from there he was always following, running just to stop.
There were numerous turning points in the match, but two stood out as particularly significant. The first was the final frame on Sunday night, when Jones knocked down the last red and a difficult black, leaving Wilson needing snooker and all colours. Wilson found snooker and painted the colors after a fierce tug-of-war over black. Jones’ face looked red as he shook hands. It should have been 10-7 pm; Instead it was 11-6.
Then there was the disappointing end of Monday’s afternoon session. Both men were exhausted, like broken fighters leaning on each other to stay upright in the 12th round. Jones missed big chances and Wilson was out over the line, and it meant they had a 15–10 lead by the evening, while 14–11 would have caused some consternation at dinner.
When they returned, Wilson won the first frame of the evening, before Jones responded with a beautifully controlled century. Wilson won the next dramatically after flinging the black again and went 17–11 ahead, one away from victory.
Then there is a surprise attack on Jones, freed from his new role as the walking dead man. He performed brilliantly in the next three frames, playing some excellent snooker, including an effort of 147 which collapsed with three reds remaining. The score became 17-14 and Wilson was clearly nervous.
But she finally took a chance, and after embracing Jones, she let the tears flow.
“Mom and dad, they took out the mortgage to get me here, sacrificed their whole lives,” Wilson said.
“(Jones) was very tough. I don’t think there’s anyone left in Wales with the volume they were cheering for him. It made it a great atmosphere, full credit goes to those guys. Jack and I came from the junior ranks. This is Jack’s first final, let alone a World Final, so he has conducted himself amazingly well and I’m sure he will be back.
It will not be known as a classic tournament. Tight pockets meant very few century breaks and a lot of missed balls. It lacked some star power when a record number of top-16 players lost in the early rounds and the favorites – Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump – never reached the singles table setup, where they had to contest an epic semi-final. ,
Yet its conclusion still feels neat and gratifying, like a glove that fits. The bricks of Wilson’s career were carefully laid one upon another over the course of a decade of dedication. Arrived at the Crucible for the first time in 2014; Then in 2018 he reached the semi-finals where he lost to John Higgins in the matchplay match; Then reached their first final in 2020, in an empty Crucible during Covid, where O’Sullivan tore it apart limb by limb in a ruthless 18-8 victory.
Perhaps the fact that he was barely mentioned before this tournament was no bad thing. He may have had a slow season by his standards, but Wilson had it all, the depth of experience, the harsh lessons imparted by the Class of ’92. He stayed under the radar, away from the limelight, rarely troubled or troubled on his way to the final.
Of course, snooker needs O’Sullivan, but it also needs new champions and new faces. You only need to look at how Luke Littler has changed darts to understand what even a super-talented teenager can do for the game. At 32, Wilson certainly isn’t the same guy he used to be, but he certainly signals the late arrival of a new generation. Until 12 months ago no snooker world champion had been born in the 1990s. Wilson now has two, following last year’s winner Luca Brecel.
Jones is from that generation and his time may come again. He is 30 years old and still has time to improve to build on this experience. “If I could get a little more rest in other tournaments I think I could do a lot better,” he said this week. Perhaps this is something he can take forward from his marathon journey, which began with qualifying in mid-April and a total of 55 hours of snooker.
And yet, Jones’ CV so far doesn’t suggest we’re looking for a future king of the game. This was their first final in any ranking tournament in 10 years of trying. With each missed opportunity at the table, with each frame-winning opportunity slipping away, it felt as if the chance of a lifetime was slipping through his fingers.
“Congratulations to Kieran and his family, they deserve it,” said Jones, who smiled throughout the final and continued during his speech. “If someone deserves it, he does it, so congratulations to him.
“It has been an incredible tournament for me. About a month ago I was in my first qualifying match. It’s been a long month but I’m happy with it. I wouldn’t say that (I came in with a lot of hope). I just thought if I try my best, let’s see what happens. But when you are playing a strong player like Kieran with such a good all-round game, it will be difficult to bounce back from such a defeat, so it should not have happened.