Snooker chiefs support star after sad BBC interview at World Championship | Other | Sport

Gary Wilson has been offered full WPBSA support after laying bare his anguish at the Crucible. The devastated Geordie confessed he was at a loss following his defeat to Judd Trump. Wilson is grappling with the yips and struggling with his game, openly discussing how difficult he is finding it to cope.

Players chief Neil Tomkins stressed that assistance is available, explaining: “WPBSA Players takes the mental health and wellbeing of its players extremely seriously and places player welfare at the heart of everything we do. Through our long‐standing partnership with Sporting Chance, players can access a comprehensive range of confidential support services, including a 24‐hour helpline, professional counselling sessions and tailored wellbeing resources.

“In addition, all players have free access to the Thrive App, offering a wide suite of evidence‐based tools designed to help manage stress, build resilience, and support day‐to‐day mental wellbeing.

“Our commitment is simple: to ensure every player has access to fast, meaningful, and stigma‐free support whenever they need it.”

Wilson was distraught following his defeat and said: “I am, and I have been since I was 13, a better player than this.

“I’m just masking problems constantly, yipping at everything. The balls are going in the hole, but I’ll be nowhere positionally because I’ve absolutely butchered every shot.

“People in the snooker world, especially players and commentators who really should know the game and should know how it feels, are being really naive.

“They say silly things like ‘composure’ and ‘shot selection’ and don’t realise, as much as I keep saying it, the problems that I’m going through. They should know it’s not down to composure or shot selection.

“I’m not losing my head. I’ve got a good head if I feel like I’m cueing the ball half-decent. I’m just lost. I can play a few frames where the balls go in the hole and everyone goes: Oh look, he’s playing great. And I’m going: I feel absolutely horrific.

“It’s just constantly frustrating. I thought a number of years ago in the semis [of the 2019 World Championship] that I was struggling with certain shots. My god, I’m struggling 10 times more than that now.

“I’d take that now. I had composure then, I had bottle, I had everything. It’s not [about] speaking to somebody. It’s somebody getting this arm to physically do what it needs to do. It’s just not happening. It’s not a sort of mental state. The mental state comes from stuff not going well.

“The other form of the yips is where you can’t even push the cue through. I’ve got the other one where I’m pushing it through dead quick, just to get the shot over with, just rushing it and uncontrollably.

“So it starts obviously mental, turns physical, and then it gets to a point where it’s so hard to go back from that it gets habitual.”