Greats of the game Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry have had high praise for Kyren Wilson and he feels his change in style of play has won them over.
Wilson won the World Championship for the first time last year and then had an immense 2024/25 season, winning four ranking titles and reaching the Masters final.
The campaign ended disappointingly with a first round defeat to Lei Peifan at the Crucible, but it was a brilliant period despite that shock defeat.
The Warrior began the current season in style by winning the Shanghai Masters, putting that Sheffield frustration behind him at the earliest opportunity.
His success over the last 18 months has caught the attention of the Rocket, who isn’t always desperate to dish out praise to his rivals.
However, asked by TNT Sports who is favourite current player is, O’Sullivan did not hesitate to say: ‘Kyren Wilson.’
The world number two is not out on the baize in order to earn praise from his fellow players, but admits it is nice to hear from the seven-time world champion.
‘Lovely. Yeah, he’s been very complimentary of me over the past probably two years, to be honest,’ Wilson told Metro via Dream Vegas.
‘I think I’ve changed and I’ve enhanced my style of play. I’ve gone more towards my natural style of trying to play a bit quicker and more aggressively.
‘With that approach, I’ve gone on to win some really big tournaments and beat some of the very best players in the world. I’ve not had it easy. I played the world number one [Judd Trump] in three finals last year.
‘Top players, I think that they recognise that and applaud it, almost because they’ve been through it too, and they know how hard it can be.’
Hendry also had some kind words for Wilson, although they didn’t sound that kind when he started talking.
The other seven-time world champion admitted he was not a great fan of the Warrior before he became world champion, but now loves the aggressive style of play he has developed.
‘I have to be honest, I didn’t enjoy watching Kyren Wilson play a few years ago, but since he’s won the world title he’s turned into a different player,’ Hendry said on ITV during the Champion of Champions.
‘He’s sped up his game, he’s so aggressive, he doesn’t hesitate to go for the big shots and now he’s great to watch.’
Wilson was aware of Hendry’s words and he feels success breeds success on this front as he can now play with more freedom and aggression as he is no longer scrapping for his snooker life.
‘Yeah, I’ve seen it. I’ll take any compliment from Stephen,’ he said. ‘I get it because my cue ball used to be all over the place.
‘At the end of the day, I was a young lad trying to provide for his family, and you’re almost petrified of losing. It can overwhelm you and maybe change the state of your mind, whereas now I don’t feel like I’ve got anything to prove.
‘I want to keep winning. I know I can win. So I’m just a little bit freer, and I can just embrace playing snooker.’
Wilson’s results have tailed off since that win in Shanghai at the start of the season, although his wife falling ill and a change of cue have not helped him on the table.
However, he feels his form has not been bad, he is largely losing out pretty narrowly and expects things to turn, just like the season he won the World Championship which was very quiet before the biggest triumph of his career.
‘To be honest, behind the scenes, this is what my family is saying,’ he said. ‘They’re saying you’ve got to keep going through. The tide might turn at the Worlds again.
‘I’m very impatient. I don’t want to wait for the World Championship, but I’ve had a couple of really sickening losses this season.
‘Jack [Lisowski] played great in Belfast, but he had an awful lot of luck against me in that quarter-final match. If I go on to win that, who knows, could I have been standing in Jack’s position?
‘I lost a sickener to Zhao Xintong on the black in the Champion of Champions where he fluked a ball at 5-4 down to go on and clear up. If I win that I’m in the semi finals, and then who knows?
‘And again, Stephen Maguire did it to me [at the International Championship]. Did the old whack and win, as we call it where he just got down and smashed the balls, one went in, and he cleared up.
‘It’s little things that people don’t see like that that completely change the outcome of a game, but if that goes your way, there’s these instances that, I’m not saying I’m going to go on to win them, but you can’t say there’s no chance. I couldn’t have, and then you could be talking about totally different season. But it’s swings and roundabouts. Hopefully, it comes at the right time.
Wilson will be trying to win the UK Championship for a first time this year and gets his campaign underway on Tuesday against Elliot Slessor.
Kyren Wilson spoke exclusively to the Metro via Dream Vegas.