‘I DON’T HAVE TO WIN, YOU KNOW‘ – SNOOKER LEGEND RONNIE O’SULLIVAN ON HIS FUTURE IN SNOOKER AHEAD OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
BY ALEX LIVIE
The World Championship is looming into view and Ronnie O’Sullivan will arrive at the Crucible with an eighth title in his sights. The world No. 1 has had a superb season in terms of winning titles, but he is not happy with the state of his game but is ready to buckle down and fight to remain at the top end of the sport over the next 12 months and more.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has said he will dedicate the next 12 months to working hard on his game in a bid to extend his career at the top level.
O’ Sullivan has had some stellar results in the 2023/24 season, winning the UK Championship and Masters to add to his tally of Triple Crown events.
But despite the wins, the world No. 1 has been unhappy with the state of his game.
After beating Gary Wilson in the semi-finals of the Tour Championship, O’Sullivan spoke about battling the yips.
He has begun working closely with Steve Peters once again, and the revered Sports Psychiatrist will be in his corner at the World Championship and for the next 12 months.
“Steve’s gonna be there a lot,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport about his plans for a shot at an eighth World Championship, which gets underway on Eurosport and discovery+ at the weekend. “I told him, whenever you can make it, that’d be great.
“I’ve been speaking to him a lot on the phone recently.”
O’Sullivan is not happy with the state of his game, but has committed to working hard to feel comfortable at the table.
He continued: “I’m in that situation at the moment where I’ve just got to get myself in a frame of mind for maybe the next however long. I’ve given myself a year to the end of next year’s World Championship to work with Steve and hope, you know, to get back to where I feel it’s acceptable.
“I could do another year like this, I’ll commit to that playing how I’ve been playing and the struggles and what we all want to call it – the yips or the snatches, whatever you want to call it.
“I don’t consider that snooker, I’m butchering balls.
“Everyone’s got their own problems. But that ain’t fun for me.
“I’ve got two options. Like Steve said, you can learn to live with it. You can learn to live with anything and be happy or choose to be miserable.
“The task I’m gonna have to set myself is if I can’t get my game in the right place, and I really don’t wanna stop then I’ve got to get round my head round acceptance. Learn to live with it, play it.
“But if I can’t, then maybe do 18 months, two years, exhibitions, go see all the fans and really just go down that testimonial route and then hang my cue up. Would be, like 51, 52. No big deal.”
Should O’Sullivan triumph at the Crucible, it would give him an eighth world crown to go with his eight Masters and eight UK Championships.
Such an achievement would not be the trigger to consider retirement.
“I’ll only retire if I think I’m not playing well enough for long enough, which has been going on a while now,” he said. “That’s obviously something that distresses me enough to think. ‘I don’t want to keep doing that.’ But like I said, if I can learn to live with it.“
The lifestyle snooker has handed O’Sullivan is one of the reasons for him to keep playing.
He said: “I don’t have to win, you know, I just like travelling, I like the people I meet, I like the people I work with; I have a great time with all my sponsors and stuff like that. That’d be hard to give up.
“It’d be hard to give up all the exhibitions I do, the places I get to travel to. That’s why I don’t want to give it up.
“But you’ve got to enjoy the playing, you know, and it’s been a tough year.
“If I can get back to enjoy the playing, then I’ll be the happiest man in the world.”
Despite being unhappy with his game, O’Sullivan is pleased with how he has approached the mental side of snooker.
“I think I’ve mentally been really strong to just keep going at it,” he said. “But I thought I’ve won five tournaments, got to the finaI and I’m not enjoying it.
“I want to win and enjoy it. So that’s why I said to Steve, ‘come on, I need to work this out now.’
“I need to work something out where I can feel in a better place with it all.“
Provided his game is in shape, O’Sullivan does not feel this is his last shot at an eighth world crown.
“I think there are plenty of opportunities to win that World Championship,” the 48-year-old said. “It’s just if I’m not enjoying it. If I’m enjoying it and like I said when I’m playing snooker, I feel like my mind is young around that table.
“I think like a youngster, so age is not important.
“I feel agile. As long as I keep feeling that young when I’m out there, then it doesn’t matter if I’m 60 if I feel like I’m still performing well out there. And I’m making, you know, my opponent look sluggish to me. I’m like, ‘cool, we can still do this.'”
HE Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), has announced an agreement between Riyadh Season and WST to further expand and develop collaboration which will promise to bring the sport to more fans across the Middle East.
Ahead of this weekend’s World Snooker Championship, Riyadh Season has agreed to become an official partner for snooker’s most prestigious tournament, underlining the commitment to supporting the WST.
With the ambition to grow snooker throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond, HE Turki Alalshikh has also announced a new three-year ambassadorial agreement with world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has won a record 23 Triple Crown titles. This agreement guarantees that O’Sullivan will play in all WST events in Saudi Arabia and will also make special trips to the Kingdom to coach and foster aspiring talent.
Saudi Arabia hosted its first-ever WST event last month –Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker – which was won by O’Sullivan. Such was its success, the tournament is confirmed to return as part of the calendar for Riyadh Season during the 2024/25 schedule and will feature the world’s top ten players in addition to two wild cards being invited.
The event will again feature the innovative golden ball, known as the Riyadh Season ball, which will give players a chance to score a world record break of 167 if they pot it at the end of a maximum 147, with HE Turki Alalshikh confirming that the prize for the ‘super maximum’ will be doubled to $1million should anyone succeed in achieving this milestone.
On this announcement, HE Turki Alalshikh stated that these initiatives will act to drive the development of snooker in Saudi Arabia, inspiring a new generation of young fans who idolise the sport’s biggest stars. This expansion of snooker is one of many sporting events offered by Riyadh Season, building a vibrant community of snooker fans that will increase the popularity of the game in Saudi Arabia, where all enthusiasts can thrive and pursue their passions.
HE Alalshikh added “Riyadh Season is delighted to be a partner of the World Snooker Championship, which will start next Saturday and continues until May 6th at Crucible in Sheffield.”
WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “We are honoured to work with HE Turki Alalshikh on his visionary plans for progress. We share his ambition of bringing snooker to many more fans across the Middle East, and to foster new talent and develop grassroots structures. We share a dream that one day Saudi Arabia will produce a World Snooker Champion, and each of the three initiatives announced today are steps towards that dream. We are thrilled to be working with His Excellency and to deepen our relationship with Saudi Arabia.
“The inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker was a fabulous event and many of the players enjoyed the atmosphere created by the local fans. We look forward to returning to the Kingdom in the summer for the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, which will be the first ever world ranking event in the region. These tournaments grow the sport and provide fantastic opportunities for the players to compete for outstanding prize money.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan said: “Playing in Riyadh last month was an amazing experience, I love the atmosphere and the enthusiasm of the fans. We can make snooker huge in Saudi Arabia. So I am excited by this chance to work to grow the sport there and the opportunity to coach the best young talent and pass on my experience. I’m also relishing the chance to play in more big events in the Kingdom, and to work alongside HE Turki Alalshikh on his ambitions.”
As much as I disagree with the Saudi regime, developing snooker in new regions is not just good, it’s absolutely necessary. I wish such efforts could be made to get more and bigger tournaments in mainland Europe. Snooker faces serious challenges, we should not be deluded about it, notably because hey-ball has become the number one billiard sport in China, dethroning snooker. We have seen several British snooker platers being tempted by it this season, and they enjoyed the experience.
And maybe … only maybe … something good can come from this when it comes to the human rights situation. Further opening your country to visitors means being under more scrutiny. It also means more contacts between the local population and foreigners who grew in a different culture and have a completely different live style. No matter the regime efforts, this is unavoidable and it is bound to force some societal changes. At least I want to hope so…
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Ouch, double link, sorry