Kyren Wilson's update on wife's 'torrid' health battle after break from snooker

Kyren Wilson has spoken openly about his wife's health issues, which forced him to take a break from snooker. The 33-year-old won the World Championship at the Crucible last year, but the sport has not always been at the forefront of his mind in recent months.

Wilson is set to compete at the International Championship in Nanjing, China, where he faces David Lilley in the opening round on Monday morning (1:30am UK time). The current world No. 2 has suffered early exits at the Wuhan Open, British Open and English Open this year. He had an improved showing at the Northern Ireland Open, reaching the quarter-finals. However, Wilson explained last month that concerns over his wife Sophie's health had impacted his focus on snooker. He opened up about the issues his family had been facing after defeating Harris Tahir at the Xi'an Grand Prix in October.

"My wife has been very poorly so I've not really played snooker for the best part of four or five weeks now," Wilson told the World Snooker Tour. "I think she's coming up to about six weeks of recovery tomorrow, so I feel like my snooker is slowly coming back.

"I've started to put a bit more time in, I can focus a bit more on my game. As a result, hopefully you start seeing the results that you've been used to.

"It was a last-minute decision to come out to China. It kind of did my head in a little bit - it's not nice knowing that someone is going to be on the operating table while you're going to hit some snooker balls around.

"But that's the sort of sacrifice that me and my family are willing to make to be successful at this game. Sometimes you've just got to make sure that your head is clear and thankfully now I feel like I'm getting there."

Fortunately, Wilson revealed that Sophie had received some good news ahead of him competing at the Northern Ireland Open. "We're about seven weeks in, my wife has had some surgery recently and we've been waiting on some results which thankfully have come back all good this week," Wilson told BBC Sport.

"It's been quite tough to be honest, there's been a lot of strain on the family. My wife has had a tough time of it but we've had some fantastic news which is certainly going to free up the mind for not just me, but all of us."

It is not the first time that Wilson's family have battled health issues. Sophie, who is the mother of their two children, previously suffered a stroke. However, the reason for her recent operation is unclear.

"There have been lots of things going on with the family. So snooker has had to take a little bit of a backseat this year," Wilson told The Sun in April 2024. "Not necessarily something I'd have like to have done or chosen to do.

"My wife's had to surrender her licence because of her epilepsy. That was brought on by Bailey (their son) being really ill last year. Off the back of that, it has triggered her epilepsy again. She had a silent stroke."

Wilson's decision to compete at the International Championship suggests that his wife has made a good recovery from her recent surgery. The former world champion will be aiming to get back to winning ways in China.

The 33-year-old won his most recent title at the Shanghai Masters in August and also triumphed at the Players Championship and German Masters earlier this year. Wilson will hope to improve on his quarter-final exit at last year's International Championship.