Kyren Wilson revealed that his wife has been recovering from surgery after beginning his defence of the Xi’an Grand Prix on Tuesday.
The former world champion outplayed Haris Tahir in their held over fixture from qualifying, beating the Pakistan player 5-1.
Wilson began the 2025/26 snooker season strongly by capturing the prestigious Shanghai Masters invitational in August.
But after bowing out of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in a quarter-final defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan, the Englishman’s form has significantly dipped.
Wilson was defeated by Aaron Hill and Robbie Williams in the last 64 of the Wuhan Open and English Open respectively.
The world number two suffered a similar fate at the recent British Open where he was downed by teenager Stan Moody.
It seems, however, that there was a genuine reason for his absences from the business end of events with Wilson revealing some serious distractions in his home life of late.
“I’ve had a bit of a torrid time off the table,” Kyren Wilson, who won four ranking titles last season, told the World Snooker Tour.
“My wife has been very poorly, so I’ve not really played snooker for the best part of four or five weeks now.”
“I think she’s coming up to about six weeks of recovery tomorrow, so I feel like my snooker is slowly coming back.
“I’ve started to put a bit more time in, I can focus a bit more on my game. As a result, hopefully you start seeing the results that you’ve been used to.
“To be honest, she’ll probably hate me for saying it, she was in for surgery whilst I was playing in Wuhan.
“It was a last-minute decision to come out to China. It kind of did my head in a little bit – it’s not nice knowing that someone is going to be on the operating table whilst you’re going to hit some snooker balls around.
“But that’s the sort of sacrifices that me and my family are willing to make to be successful at this game.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to make sure that your head is clear, and thankfully now I feel like I’m getting there.”
Wilson won’t have to be concerned about bowing out in the last 64 stage of a fourth successive ranking event.
That’s because he’s set to receive a bye straight through to the last 32 in Xi’an on the back of Marco Fu’s withdrawal due to an elbow injury.
“Obviously coming in as the defending champion, you don’t want to bomb out in the first round,” Wilson said after making breaks of 103, 76, and 60 against Tahir.
“It’s very pleasing to win that game and obviously I’ve very fond memories of Xi’an from last year, so I’m glad to still be in the tournament.”
“I played okay, but the conditions are tricky. It’s very humid. You’ve just got to put that out of your mind really, it’s the same for both players.
“Whoever is going to deal with it better is going to come out on top. I managed to make a couple of good breaks, and I settled fairly early.
“It was the first time here last year in Xi’an and I thought it was a fabulous city, it was really well supported, and I feel like every time we come to an event in China, it grows and grows.
“It’s kind of more enjoyable each year upon year, so hopefully more of the same again this year.”
Among the other high-profile names in action on the opening day of the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix are world champion Zhao Xintong and world number one Judd Trump.
The pair also must contest their deferred matches from the round of 128, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, and Mark Williams entering the fray at the same stage.
Elliot Slessor, Louis Heathcote, and David Lilley – who each came through the qualifying phase held last month in Leicester – have already reached the last 32.
Featured photo credit: WST
