KYREN WILSON faces a double whammy in his bid to retain the World Snooker Championship
The famous curse and a supercomputer prediction are lining up against the Kettering cuer.
, 33, lifted the crown for the first time with an last May.
The World No. 2 will be second seed for the showpiece event, starting on April 19.
But no player has ever won their first two world titles in a row since the tournament switched to the Crucible in 1977.
In fact only three players ever did it before the switch to the compact Sheffield theatre.
And if Wilson believes in omens, that might be a crumb of comfort for him – as all three were fellow Englishmen.
John Pulman was the last to do it, in 1964 – after Joe Davis in 1928 and his brother Fred Davis in 1949.
Wilson has admitted making a piece of hoodoo-halting history is .
He said earlier this year: “Nobody has won it for the first time and defended their title. So, that’s definitely right up there with something I would like to try to achieve.”
The World Snooker Championship Supercomputer, via AceOdds, has assessed the chances of every contestant at this year's event.
And it reckons Wilson only has a 7% chance of repeating his 2024 glory.
But according to the simulator, it's a tough year to predict.
Nonetheless, world No. 1 , whose sole Crucible success came in 2019, is rated a warm favourite, with his chances rated at 16.8%.
Trump is the only player given more than a 50/50 hope of reaching the quarter-finals
Next comes , who is judged at 10.1% for the title after triumphing in the last week at the age of 49.
Legend might be delighted to sit third in the list, given his long lay-off.
The seven-time world champ is said to have an 8.5% chance – ahead of Selby on 8.4% and Wilson.
The supercomputer reckons only three other players have hopes above five per cent.
and are on 5.5%, with Masters winner at 5.3%.
