Peter Ebdon has revealed the turning point of his season came in Sheffield - and now he sees no reason why a second world title should be out of reach.
The 2002 Crucible champion had been unable to find consistent strong form during the current campaign, but a trip to the World Snooker Academy, just a short drive from the famous theatre, provided Ebdon with the jolt he needed.
He took a thrashing from a group of Chinese and Thai players which forced him to make an urgent assessment of the state of his game.
Rather than those setbacks breaking belief in his ability, Ebdon reacted in the manner of a champion, winning the Bank of Beijing China Open as an unfancied outsider.
Now he intends to make it back-to-back tournament victories by claiming Betfred.com World Championship glory.
'I don't see any reason why I can't win it,' Ebdon said.
'I'm coming into form at the right time. Not only have I won the World Championship, I've been to another couple of finals as well.
'So I have plenty of experience going into this championship and hopefully I can draw on the grit, experience and determination which I've shown many times in the past and hopefully I can be very, very strong and get the result which I'd like.
'Before the China Open I came to practise at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
'I played against a lot of very, very good Chinese players there and a couple of the Thai players as well and they beat me comprehensively in practice, so that wound me up a bit and spurred me on to work even harder.
'Fortunately the result came which I dreamed of, in winning the China Open. I put myself in that situation.'
Ebdon will turn 39 later this year and knows few players of his age, never mind those in their 40s, have won the world title.
If he does go all the way to the final this time, it will probably be thanks to his remarkable powers of concentration.
If Ebdon finds himself 'in the zone', as he was during his famous quarter-final win over Ronnie O'Sullivan four years ago, then he could take some stopping.
His ability to grind out frames may be gruelling to watch, but a focused Ebdon is every player's nightmare opponent.
He starts against Nigel Bond next Tuesday, with Bond, at 43, one of the few players who is Ebdon's senior in the draw.
Having achieved world champion status, Ebdon admits it hurts when he cannot find the form which took him to his famous 18-17 win over Stephen Hendry seven years ago.
'It's horrible if you are a winner and you're not winning,’ he said. 'It is the worst feeling in the world.
'No matter what walk of life you're from, if you're not being successful at what you want to be successful at then there is always a small piece of the jigsaw missing, and that's the way not winning is for me.
‘When you are successful and you win, you realise that it is something a bit special because you have beaten the best in the world and everyone there is trying their heart out to win the tournament.
'They are really hard to win these days so I'm thrilled to bits.
'Let's hope I'm peaking at the right time. There are no easy matches at Sheffield and I think all of the top players are going to want to win even more this year.'
