In his latest Sporting Life snooker column, Nick Metcalfe wonders why Kyren Wilson isn't appreciated more after his Crucible triumph and two tournament wins already this season. Plus, Nick looks ahead to another eagerly awaited edition of the Champion of Champions.
Kyren Wilson claimed snooker's ultimate prize six months ago and he's already picked up two tournament wins this season.
By any yardstick, he's established himself as one of the game's top players and the way he's going, could well become a dominant force for a number of seasons.
So why on earth is he getting so little credit?
Listen closely the next time anyone is talking about Wilson and I suspect you'll hear the words "yeah, but" soon enough.
There are seemingly so many caveats where the 32-year-old is concerned.
*Yeah, but he had an easy run to the world title
*Yeah, but he's not as exciting to watch as Ronnie O'Sullivan or Judd Trump
*Yeah, but he doesn't regularly win events
Poor old Kyren. Does he really deserve "yeah, but" time and time again? I think not.
Look, we've all followed sport long enough to know that certain players and teams can sometimes get fortunate with tournament draws. Here's looking at you, Gareth Southgate.
But I found all the downplaying of Wilson's Sheffield success in May pretty unfair when you consider what he'd already done in the game.
This wasn't some plucky outsider on an outrageous dream run. Wilson had been winning tournaments for a decade. He'd reached a Masters final in 2018, and then a World Championship final in 2020. He had already completed some mighty hard yards in this sport.
Also, there's something so uniquely testing about the World Championship, any suggestion that it's somehow been "easy" when you're the last man standing feels grating in the extreme. Winning 71 frames over two weeks in the sport's most intense arena can never be easy.
And he really did still have some significant hurdles to climb. Like John Higgins in the quarter-finals. Scot Higgins may be past his outstanding peak now as he closes in on his fifties, but he remains an all-time great to be reckoned with and had just knocked out the highly fancied Mark Allen.
What about Wilson's opponent in the semi-finals, David Gilbert? It was hardly Gilbert's first rodeo. He had come within a whisker of reaching a world final five years before. He's also won a ranking event and been in two Masters semi-finals. In short, he's a highly accomplished player with two decades of experience.
As for the final, there's no doubt Wilson was the clear favourite against Jak Jones. But Welshman Jones had just beaten former Crucible winners Trump and Stuart Bingham on his way to the showpiece match. Horses don't get darker than that.
If you are however still labouring under the misapprehension that this was some kind of wild fluke, surely the way Wilson has stormed to two tournament victories already this season may be helping to change your mind.
Wilson won the Xi'an Grand Prix in August and followed that up two weeks ago by claiming the Northern Ireland Open title. His opponent in both finals? None other than that generational talent and current world No.1 Trump.
Let's now move on to this idea that Wilson somehow sells us all short in the entertainment stakes, particularly in comparison to that swashbuckling pair, O'Sullivan and Trump.
Well firstly, who does compare to O'Sullivan and Trump in that regard? Probably nobody else on tour. They're two of the most exciting players to have ever graced the sport.
That doesn't mean Wilson himself isn't good to watch though. He's attack-minded, brave in his shot making, an excellent break-builder and scorer.
I feel duty bound to point out that he's made five maximum breaks in his career, one of only a dozen players to reach that number. You don't compile 147 points five times without having a game that's seriously worth watching.
Yes, Wilson's cue action may lack the pure fluency of some others, but does that really bother you that much? This game has always been about its different styles and approaches.
If you think I'm exaggerating over the levels of downbeat attitudes towards Wilson, have a look back at the reaction following his latest complaints about not having more time on the main television table during the recent British Open.
To call it disrespectful would be a polite way of saying it. In all truth, it was bang out of order. I was shocked looking at it and know I won't have been alone.
Let me put on record right now that I think Wilson is a fabulous professional - a brilliant winner on the table, a thoroughly decent and courteous character off it.
He's been a proper ambassador for snooker in his half a year so far of being world champion.
It would be nice to think that when he completes a full year come Sheffield in the spring, more people could give him the credit he so richly deserves.
Champion of Champions a major highlight of today's game
The modern snooker calendar is made up of so many special tournaments and landmark weeks, we're spoilt for choice when it comes to highlights.
But one thing that unites nearly all of us is a high regard for the Champion of Champions.
The event, which begins in Bolton on Monday, has established itself as a firm favourite among players and fans alike.
It's got a gravitas no money could buy and the roll call of winners in its current incarnation from 2013 onwards says it all. Ronnie O'Sullivan four times, Neil Robertson twice, Mark Allen twice. Plus John Higgins, Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump.
The nights are really drawing in now here in the UK and once again it feels like the best of snooker times.
I don't know who is going to win the Champion of Champions, but I do know we're in for a week of very fine viewing. Enjoy it all.
ALSO READ: Richard Mann's Champion of Champions preview
