EXCLUSIVERonnie O'Sullivan reveals the chances of him playing at the World Snooker Championship - and opens up on being at the 'end of his tether' with the sport
- Ronnie O'Sullivan has not competed at a tournament since his January meltdown
- The Englishman snapped his cue and said he was 'burnt out,' needing a break
- Now he has given an insight into his mentality about the World Championship
Ronnie O'Sullivan admits he still does not know if he will play at this month’s World Snooker Championship – and he will give himself until the day before the draw to decide.
The record seven-time world champion has not competed in a tournament since snapping his cue in anger at the Champions League in Leicester in January.
Explaining his prolonged absence for the first time, O’Sullivan said he needed to take a break because he was ‘burnt out’, revealing he had become ‘scared’ to pick up his cue because of how badly he was playing.
The 49-year-old has since returned to the practice table and is working with coach Gary Filtness to see if he can improve his form in time to make a comeback at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan has been given a provisional seeding of four for the World Championship which starts on April 19, with the draw taking place two days before.
But the Rocket told Mail Sport: ‘If you'd asked me three days ago, I'd have said, “100 per cent I'm playing”, because I found something, and I was like, “Wow, I'm hitting the ball good”.
Ronnie O'Sullivan says it is 'highly unlikely' he will play in the World Snooker Championship
However, the seven-time world champion says his attitude towards it has changed regularly
The 49-year-old conceded he has been at the 'end of his tether' after breaking his cue
‘The confidence came back and it lasted for three days, and I was like, “Oh yeah, I fancy it”. But then the last two days, it's gone downhill. It seems to be one step forward, two steps back.
’As I sit here, it’s highly unlikely I’ll play in the World Championship. But I've got some practice sessions booked in with a very, very good player who is in the top 16 on April 14th, 15th and 16th. So I'm going to give myself until that very last practice session to just see where my game is at.
‘If I think, “You know what, it's all right”, I'll probably play. But if it's like it is today, it's just not going to be pretty for me.
‘Obviously, I snapped my cue and I'm still trying to find a cue I'm comfortable with, which I haven't yet been able to do.
‘I'd love to be back playing. I really, really would. Pulling out of tournaments ain’t good for me. It’s not what I want to be doing. I want to be out there competing.
‘The last three or four weeks I've been practising a hell of a lot. But at the start of the season I was getting scared to go near the practice table and getting scared to get my cue out of my case.
‘I got to the end of my tether with my game. Now I'm just focusing on getting that fixed because if I don't get that fixed, there are no tournaments.’
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