STUART BINGHAM hopes his new coach Terry Griffiths can help him return to his very best on a consistent basis.
Ballrun has only shown glimpses of the form which saw him crowned 2015 world champion, although he notably won the Welsh Open this season.
Retired Welsh great Griffiths, 69, who won snooker’s top prize at the Crucible in 1979, asked Bingham if he would like to work with him in February and the partnership will start in early June.
Bingham, 40, said: “It’s an honour for me really and you can’t get better help than from someone who has been there and done it.
“He’ll come down and we’ll have a chat and a practise and I’m sure he’ll be able to help me with the mental side of the game too.
“I’ve been working without a coach for 15 months now and I think it was important I did that.
“But having someone like Terry offering me a different perspective will be invaluable and hopefully it’ll get another five or ten percent out of my game and get me back to my best.”
Bingham felt he only played “so-so” in a 10-5 opening round World Championship win over Peter Ebdon last week.
And he said his next round 13-10 loss to Kyren Wilson just felt like a match he was never destined to win.
Ballrun said: “In the first five frames I just did not have my timing right after having a few days off.
“I got kicks and funny bounces during the match at important times and it just felt if it could go wrong it would.
“The stats showed I potted more balls than him and scored more points but in the end it felt like a match I was just never going to win.”
Bingham admits it is now tough to call a winner in Sheffield this year now the event has reached the last eight stage but feels it would be good for the game if one of the two remaining Chinese players were to be crowned champion.
He said: “I’ve just watched Ding Junhui go 2-0 up on Ronnie O’Sullivan and he has always got a chance.
“Marco Fu will find it tough against Mark Selby, who I don’t think has played his best stuff yet, but I just feel it would be good for snooker if we have a Chinese winner this year.”
Bingham is having a new cue made in May by Cue Creator ahead of the new season.
He will be back in action in an exhibition match against Kyren Wilson in Northampton on May 12 and at the end of the month is in qualifiers for the Riga Masters and China Championship.
