"I know I've been boring people with it": Kyren Wilson recovering from heartbreak of snapped cue

What a difference a few weeks make as things are looking a lot rosier for Wilson on the green baize.

A couple of weekends ago Wilson won the Northern Ireland Open title for the second time after crushing Jak Jones, 9-2, in the final at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

Fast forward to this week on the other side of the world in Nanjing, China, and ‘The Warrior’ is through to the semi-finals of the 2026 International Championship - the furthest he’s ever been in the tournament - after a 6-4 victory over home hero Ding Junhui. Next up for the Englishman is a meeting with world number 51 Fan Zhengyi on Thursday across two sessions.

Despite winning both the Shanghai Masters and Masters invitational crowns last season, Wilson’s run in the Northern Irish capital was the first time he’d been to the last four of a ranking event in over 18 months. Now he’s set to appear in back-to-back ranked semi-finals.

Wilson’s heartbreak over broken snooker cue

Since his most successful spell ever on the World Snooker Tour during the 2024/25 season - whilst wearing the world crown he won four ranking titles - consistency has been an issue for Wilson.

This could be linked to his 2024 World Championship-winning cue having been damaged during a refurb in a ‘freak accident’ at the start of the 202525/26 campaign. Whilst the cue was fixed, it wasn’t the same, and Wilson auctioned it off for charity, receiving £5,250.

With Wilson struggling to find a new cue formula, his lowest point was probably at last year’s UK Championship where he said he was close to having a ‘mental breakdown’ during an opening round defeat to Elliot Slessor.

But the 34-year-old - who is currently on a ten-match winning streak - seems to have gotten over his cue disappointment, focusing on what he can control now.

Speaking to the World Snooker Tour after his quarter-final victory over Ding, Wilson explained: "I know I've been boring people with it and people think you're making excuses, but it was the cue I won the World Championship that was snapped. It was heart-breaking to be honest”.

Eleven-time ranking event winner Wilson is not the first big star name to cope with the loss of a trusted cue. Stephen Hendry’s was broken whilst travelling back from a tournament in Thailand in 2003, and Ronnie O’Sullivan snapped his in frustration at the Championship League at the start of last year.

“It's a genuine fact, it's not an excuse” added Wilson. “It's very difficult because you're kind of battling with your mind. You think that because it's broke you're never going to find something that's similar, and you look at the greats like Stephen Hendry; I don't know if Ronnie's in a similar boat since his cue was damaged”.

“I’ve changed my mindset” Wilson sticking with “completely different” cue

Wilson admitted to having stopped his search for something that isn’t there, changing his perspective and sticking to one cue moving forwards, even though it feels very different to the one that he enjoyed Crucible success with.

“It's like your right arm sometimes, so, I've just tried to change my mindset.

“I think I was trying to find like an identical replica and you're just never going to find it. With wood it's just never going to be the same.

“I feel like it's....it's completely different to the one I won the World Championship with - like completely different in so many dimensions. But I've changed my mindset. My mindset is now, I know what this one does, I know what it's going to do under pressure, so I've just chose to stick with it, stop changing all of the time because you can't be consistent. So, the proofs in the pudding, I've got a few consistent runs under my belt”.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 International Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.