World Championship 2021 - 'I’m desperate to play him' – Kyren Wilson wants Ronnie O’Sullivan revenge

ByBen Snowball

Updated 27/04/2021 at 12:27 GMT

Wilson is through to the quarter-finals at the Crucible after seeing off Barry Hawkins and Gary Wilson. He talks to Eurosport’s The Break podcast about Ronnie, Mark Williams’ controversial break-off and his “cracking bum”. You can watch every match of the World Championship live and ad-free on the Eurosport App and eurosport.co.uk

Kyren Wilson insists he is disappointed Ronnie O’Sullivan is out of the World Championship.

The 29-year-old finished runner-up to the Rocket in 2020 and remains in the hunt this time around, facing Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals across Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, he is unable to avenge his defeat after O’Sullivan crashed out in a final-frame decider to Anthony McGill in the second round.

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“If you are to ever win a world title, you want it to be with Ronnie in it. You want to come up against him and overcome him because he is the greatest that’s played here,” Robertson told Andy Goldstein on Eurosport’s The Break podcast.

“Obviously with what happened with us last year, I’m desperate to play him again. That’s just the sort of player that I am.

“He’s obviously a tough obstacle to overcome here.”

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Wilson also waded into the debate on Mark Williams’ controversial and cautious break-off, which has been imitated by a number of players in Sheffield.

The Welshman has started frames by rolling the cue ball down the table so it nestles underneath the reds, denying his opponent the chance of a long-range pot.

“I was actually having this chat with Stephen Hendry in the practice room. He was saying why he’s starting to side with it and if anybody was going to disagree with it, I thought it would be someone like Hendry,” said Wilson.

“I can get my head around why Mark is doing it. That red that’s poking its nose out every time off the break is starting to be a big advantage for players because if you knock that in with the standard nowadays, get on a nice colour and open the reds up, it’s frame over.

“I don’t want to change my break right now but if I go through a string of leaving my opponent with long reds on the back of each break-off, then maybe I would look at changing it then.”

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Wilson also made an alarming vow should he win the title in Sheffield: to get his bum out.

Goldstein was trying to get him in a pair of Bermuda shorts in his post-match interview, something Wilson declined before going off-piste with his own suggestion.

“Listen, I’ve got a cracking bum Andy, I’ll get that out for you. I’ll get my bum out if I win the World Championship.”

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You can watch every match of the World Championship live and ad-free on the Eurosport App and eurosport.co.uk. Download the Eurosport app now for iOS and Android.

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