Jak Jones reveals nightmare preparation for World Snooker Championship final

05/06/2024 05:24 PM

Jak Jones was up for the entire night ahead of the World Snooker Championship final, which makes his nightmare start to the game entirely understandable.

The qualifier caused a string of surprises as he made his way to the final, beating Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui, Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham at the Crucible.

Kyren Wilson was waiting for him there and the Warrior got off to a dream start against the underdog, racing into a 7-0 lead.

After the first session the rest of the game was almost even, with Wilson eventually prevailing 18-14, after Jones produced a fantastically spirited fightback.

Wilson’s semi-final win over Dave Gilbert finished in the afternoon session on Saturday, allowing him to be tucked up in bed early later that night.

In contrast, Jones’ victory over Bingham finished in the evening and after media obligations it became a late night which proved to be a sleepless one.

‘I don’t really want to make excuses because I would have lost anyway. Kyren played exceptionally well in that first session especially,’ said Jones.

‘It is quite difficult going from a semi-final…I didn’t get back to the hotel until gone 1am and you can’t go to sleep straight away after a match like that, a big semi-final.

‘I didn’t sleep that night at all. So when I came for the first session, I didn’t even feel like I was playing a semi-final, I just felt flat.

‘I didn’t go to sleep. I just stayed wide awake. I never drink Red Bull, I tried to use that to get me through, but it didn’t work.

‘That’s the way it is. Kyren probably would have beat me anyway. He played exceptionally well in that first session anyway.’

Wilson knew that Jones would not be feeling his best as the match got underway, having experienced similar in his previous final appearance against Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2020. His plan to capitalise on the situation went perfectly.

‘I knew how tired I felt when I played Ronnie,’ said Wilson. ‘That first session I was totally drained so I had an inkling that Jack would feel similar.

‘I had a good look at him just before we started the final and thought, right this is the time. I felt great, I had a fantastic night sleep, plenty of rest. I just knew I had to kick on in that first session and I managed to do that.’

MORE : Emotional Kyren Wilson says family ‘sacrificed their whole lives’ for World Championship win

MORE : Kyren Wilson survives Jak Jones fightback to win World Snooker Championship

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