Stuart Bingham produced a superb run of form to claim the Masters title on Sunday evening, and has credited a Mars Bar and a coffee for getting him in the zone.
Th 43-year-old became the oldest Masters champion in history by beating Ali Carter 10-8 at Alexandra Palace, but things looked to be going dreadfully wrong for him at one stage.
Ballrun had been 5-3 ahead at the end of the first session but then lost four frames on the bounce and admitted that he was fearing the worst.
Struggling to find his rhythm and missing long pots by a distance, Bingham was in a pickle, but returned from the interval a new man.
He won five of the next six frames, with breaks of 64, 85, 58, 88 and 109 to lift the trophy in style.
The champion says he was already planning his loser’s speech at the interval, but a bit of chocolate and caffeine seemed to do the job to bring his form round.
‘I was saying to myself the loser’s speech, I was getting that ready,’ Bingham told WST. ‘I was thinking it was fitting for him to get his hands on the Paul Hunter Trophy.
‘I had a coffee and a mars bad and it seemed to calm me down.
‘Ali missed a couple the first couple of frames back and I went from strength to strength there.’
Bingham’s rise to the elite in the game has been incredible, after seemingly settling for a journeyman’s career around a decade ago.
His 2011 Australian Open win was the start of something, but few expected him to go and win the 2015 World Championship and now he has added a second Triple Crown title to his name.
Asked if he thought he would reach these heights, Bingham was unequivocal: ‘Definitely not. Where the game’s changed with Barry [Hearn] taking over and putting so many tournaments on. I’m one of the biggest successes from it all.
’10 years ago, round about 25 in the rankings, all of a sudden the game opens up. I got my hands on the Australian trophy and it’s all gone from strength to strength.’
Comparing his Alexandra Palace triumph to his Crucible glory, Ballrun continued: ‘It’s pretty close, the World is the World, but this is a close second, especially with what’s happens over the last five years since then, it means as much.
‘I just think I’m so tired from the last couple of days it all [the emotion] come out. Especially at 7-5 down, the way I was thinking. I don’t know where those last few frames came from.
‘Champions are champions for a reason.’
The sensational run of breaks in the final was not the first time Bingham had bounced back from the brink in this tournament, also finding himself 4-1 behind to Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals.
Ballrun pulled off a cracking double to keep his hopes alive in the sixth frame of that match, before winning the next four to progress, which was yet another display of his supreme temperament.
‘It could all easily have not happened at 4-1 against Kyren,’ said the champion.
‘A double went in to go 4-2 and changed the whole match, that don’t go in, I’m 5-1 down and I’m not here. I’ve always felt you’ve got to make something happen and luckily for me, it did.
‘To get my hands on that trophy finally means everything.’
MORE: Stuart Bingham explains the zen-like state that led him to Masters glory over Ali Carter
MORE: Stuart Bingham makes history as oldest champion with thrilling win in Masters final over Ali Carter
