Ronnie O’Sullivan believes Kyren Wilson’s jam-packed snooker schedule played a part in his shock first-round exit from the World Championship.
Wilson became the latest defending champion to fall victim to the Crucible curse after he was defeated 10-9 by debutant Lei Peifan.
The Warrior had opened up a 6-3 lead after the afternoon session but watched in disbelief as Lei reeled off six-straight frames in the evening session to move into a 9-6 lead.
And despite battling back to force a final-frame shootout, Wilson was eventually sent packing after a gutsy break of 66 by the Chinese 21-year-old in the deciding frame.
Wilson returned to the Crucible off the back of a superb season, which has seen him win four ranking titles and climb to number two in the world rankings.
But O’Sullivan believes that Wilson’s productive and busy year on tour may have finally caught up with him upon his return to defend his world title in Sheffield.
‘He’s gone deep in a lot of tournaments, won a lot of tournaments and although he’s played alright today, if you look at the last two winners of the World Championship, himself and Luca Brecel have both come in very fresh,’ the seven-time world champion told TNT Sports.
‘I just think to win this World Championship, you need to come in doing well, but at some point around February, you need to say ‘it’s all about the World Championship’.
‘I just think he played in too many tournaments he didn’t need to play in. I see him playing [in one tournament], then the next day he’s at Leicester playing for 7 or 8 days. Really, you want to be chilling out and putting your cue down.
‘It’s a fine line and when you come here you want to come with a spring in your step and play your way into form rather than being really at your limit because it will go the other way.
‘I think with Kyren he could have maybe missed a few tournaments he didn’t necessarily need to play if this is the one you want to win.’
O’Sullivan continued: ‘I always think come in a bit undercooked. Take a month off from playing. When you’ve been playing all season, it really won’t make any difference.
‘If you can just take a little week off here and there from February, you can come in a bit fresher and you need to be for this tournament. To me, he’s played too much match snooker.’
Wilson, meanwhile, was keen to try and take the positives from a defeat that saw him become the 20th first-time Crucible champion to fail to defend his title.
‘Obviously it’s really hard to take,’ said Wilson. ‘Ive got such a strong record at the Crucible and I was nowhere near my best but it still took a 10-9 to beat me.
‘It’s been a really long season and I’ve done so much. I’ve never been stretched so much in all my life but I’m proud of the way I’ve handled it and I’m proud of the success I’ve had as well.’
O’Sullivan, meanwhile, gets his tournament underway against bitter rival Ali Carter on Wednesday.
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