Gary Wilson is having a crack at the European Open Pool Championship in Bosnia this week, hoping to enjoy some Nineball success during a difficult season on the snooker table.
The 39-year-old won two rankings titles last season but has struggled for form and results this campaign, with just one quarter-final appearance standing out as his best result.
He has slipped out of the top 16 and will face World Championship qualifying next month, but first has a trip to Sarajevo to see if he can boost his morale on the pool table.
Wilson has claimed some big scalps on the World Nineball Tour already, including the likes of Naoyuki Oi and Tomasz Kaplan, with a run to the last 16 of the 2023 UK Open his best to date.
It’s good stuff in a sport which is not his day job, but the Tyneside Terror feels there is more to come and is aiming to get right to the business end of a big event soon.
‘To be honest I’ve probably done roughly what I thought would happen and what is possible,’ Wilson told Metro. ‘I thought I’d be capable of beating any name because it is pool, I’m obviously going to be good at certain parts of it and you can beat anyone.
‘But at the same time I’m actually a touch disappointed, I’ve only had one last 16. I thought I’d have had a couple or maybe a quarters. I would like to push past the last 16 and go deep in one of them and see how I cope against the big, big players. It would just be fun, it would be a buzz to be in the final stages of another cue sport and see what that’s like.’
Wilson knows full well that being a top snooker player does not mean you will conquer the pool world with ease, far from it.
He says that attitude does exist among some snooker players and if he put in enough work then he would fancy his chances of lifting trophies, but that is not realistic aim at this stage.
‘We know that you can’t just swan in to a top level professional sport of any kind and start beating everybody. I never thought that,’ he said. ‘You need a fair bit of luck and a fair bit of practice, a lot more than what I’m doing.
‘There are a few on tour who think that. I do hear that. They think we can automatically beat top players and get to latter stages, but it is not that easy.
‘If I played for a month solid then I’d fancy being very competitive because I’m used to big occasions and playing on TV. I’d still be lacking years of experience but I do fancy being very competitive if I played solid for a month.’
Wilson is looking to win games in Bosnia, of course, but is keeping the pressure off on a ‘free roll’ before the very serious business of World Championship qualifying next month.
‘I’m going to try and enjoy it this week, or there’s no point going, I’m going to try me hardest to do well but I’m not putting any pressure on myself,’ he said. ‘If I get beat I come home. If I win a few games, nick a few quid and enjoy myself then great.
‘It’s a free roll, just having a stab at something. You know deep down that if everything goes your way, get a bit of luck then you can have a decent run, do something, get on Sky Sports. But mainly for me I’m going to enjoy it, it’s nice to see the lads, I’m kind of part of two tours now which is nice. It’s not a holiday, but it is some where to go that’s enjoyable. Then I’ll relax and go back to work in the snooker.’
While the pool may be a nice escape for Wilson this week, there is no avoiding that his snooker season has been frustrating and disappointing, but he is not pointing the finger at anything but his own performances.
‘A lot of the games I haven’t played up to scratch,’ he said. ‘Even though I’ve lost a lot of close games, I feel that if I’d even played somewhat of me game it’d probably have been the other way round, even if it had been a decider.
‘I’ve had periods in the past where I’ve been pretty decent and kept coming out the wrong end of them and they’re a bit more frustrating because I’m not playing bad and getting beat. But a lot of matches this season the results have not gone my way and that’s down to me not being up to standard.’
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The last two seasons have seen Wilson head straight to the Crucible as a seeded player, but this time he faces the edgy, nervous nightmare of qualifying.
Asked if he will go there feeling confident of progressing, he said: ‘No, you never can. Especially not the season I’ve had.
‘I’m going into it as prepared as I can be, it’s been a bit more encouraging in recent weeks. I’ve put a bit more work in, which hasn’t paid off, but it has to at some stage, which is what you try and think to yourself. ‘
The European Open Pool Championship runs from 11-16 March at the Hills Hotel in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
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