Sydney Wilson (born 6 April 1990 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex) is an English former professional snooker player.
Wilson began playing snooker at the age of three with his father teaching him the basics of the game. He later took lessons from Vic Harris, a former professional player. As a teenager, he beat most of the best players in his class and won several junior tournaments. At 15, he began playing in the Pontin's International Open Series. He participated for five seasons with his best finish being a second round defeat in 2009. Due to a lack of financial opportunities he had to sell his own snooker table and could not afford to practice full-time. He played in 2011 Q School but could not get beyond the third round. In the 2011âÂÂ12 season he took part in seven of the twelve tournaments in the Players Tour Championship.
The following year he won a match in the main rounds of a PTC for the first time with a 4âÂÂ2 success over Gerard Greene in the first event in Gloucester. Wilson was knocked out 4âÂÂ3 by Dave Harold in the second round. In Q School, he lost in the fourth round in the second and third events. His high Q School Order of Merit placing gave him entry into many ranking event qualifiers for the 2013âÂÂ14 season, but he was unable to win a match. Wilson made his debut at the venue stage of a ranking event at the 2014 Welsh Open and he led world number 11 Mark Allen 3âÂÂ0 and made a break of 54 in the fourth frame. However, Allen responded by winning four successive frames to edge it 4âÂÂ3, with Wilson stating afterwards that a kick in the fourth frame had ruined his chance of winning. He came within two wins of securing a professional tour card in the first event of Q School, but lost 4âÂÂ3 to Duane Jones.
Wilson's only win during the 2014âÂÂ15 season came at the 2015 German Masters when he defeated Anthony Hamilton 5âÂÂ3, before losing by a reverse of this scoreline to Ryan Day. In the second round of the first event of the 2015 Q School he defeated ex-professional Marcus Campbell. Wilson won three more matches to reach the final round and beat Chen Zhe 4âÂÂ1 to seal his professional status for the first time, earning a two-year tour card starting with the 2015âÂÂ16 season, with Wilson stating that his goal is to remain on tour. He won his first match on tour by beating Oliver Brown 5âÂÂ2 in the first round of the 2015 Australian Goldfields Open qualifiers, before losing 5âÂÂ2 to Jack Lisowski. At the UK Championship Wilson won a ranking event match at the venue stage for the first time in his career by seeing off Michael White, who at world number 15 was ranked 100 places higher than Wilson. He lost 6âÂÂ2 to Mark Joyce in the subsequent round. In the German Masters qualifiers, Mike Dunn edged past Wilson 5âÂÂ4 and by 86âÂÂ79 points on the final black. Wilson defeated Gerard Greene 4âÂÂ3 at the Welsh Open, but lost 4âÂÂ1 to Matthew Selt in the second round.
Wilson opened the 2016âÂÂ17 season with 11 straight defeats, before beating Dechawat Poomjaeng 4âÂÂ2 at the Scottish Open. He was defeated 4âÂÂ1 by Liang Wenbo in the second round. Wilson recorded a 10âÂÂ6 victory over Kurt Maflin in the first round of World Championship qualifying, before losing 10âÂÂ7 to Rory McLeod and was relegated from the tour after not getting past the third round of both Q School events.
Wilson has practiced in Stepfield Snooker Club in Witham, where two-time World Championship runner-up Ali Carter plays.