Ronnie O’Sullivan says reaching the pinnacle of snooker has proved to be an anti-climax, but he is still striving for more success, having enlisted the help of a coach ahead of the World Championship.
The Rocket begins his bid for an eighth world title on Wednesday, looking to set an outright modern record as he currently sits alongside Stephen Hendry on seven Crucible crowns.
Despite being level with the Scot, the Englishman is almost universally considered to be the greatest player ever, although he says it is not actually nailed on.
The 48-year-old says he is in the discussion to be the GOAT, but even if he is at the top of the pile, reaching that point has been a little bit of a letdown.
‘I don’t regard myself as the greatest. I’m one of them, maybe. You’ve got Hendry, [Steve] Davis, and my hat’s in the ring with them,’ he said.
‘I suppose as a kid I’d have been desperate to be up here with them guys, but when you get there it’s a bit of an anti-climax. It’s not as great as you thought it’d be, but by then you’re so far in it’s too late to back out and live it all again.
‘I’ve got what I’ve got, what are the benefits of it? I love playing, I enjoy it, get to travel wherever I want to go, play snooker, I get to take time off when I want to, my own boss. They’re the most important things, then just getting your head around the game. I want to win because competitiveness has always been in me.’
O’Sullivan is clearly right about his competitiveness because even at this stage of his career he is looking to improve and evolve, which is why he has signed up coach Nic Barrow, who worked with the Rocket’s former coach, Frank Adamson.
‘I’ve struggled quite a bit to be fair. I know I’ve won tournaments but winning tournaments and playing to a certain standard don’t necessarily always match up,’ he said.
‘I’ve played a lot better and not won anything all season. In some ways it doesn’t make sense. I know I’ve won quite a few events this year, but for me I haven’t really enjoyed playing, I’ve been struggling to just get through the ball smoothly.
‘I’ve tried to think how the next five or 10 years will be. If I play I’ve got to find some game, some flow, so I’ve been working with a coach, similar to the one I worked with in 2000, Frank Adamson. I’ve realised I don’t know a lot about snooker. I’ve got to stop coaching myself and just trust in someone. Tell them what I want and then go, how do I get it? It’s getting out of my own head.’
The idea that the seven-time world champion doesn’t know much about snooker is a confusing one, but he insists it is true.
‘I don’t!’ O’Sullivan said. ‘I thought I did. I know how to get a ball in a hole, I know what I need to do and I know how to compete. I know how to wing it. I’ve got an idea of what needs to happen. I know if I get this bit of wood and this ball and I do this and that, that should happen. But there’s an efficient way of doing it and I haven’t had that for two years.
‘I’ve had periods of my career where it’s felt effortless, which is nice. I’m just trying to accept I need a bit of help. So I went to a coach that worked with my old coach, just going back to that sort of stuff that worked for me.
‘I just want to enjoy it. I’m not really bothered if I win or lose, I’d like to win. Playing, being happy with the game is what it’s all about. Or I’ve got to get my head around not playing well and accept it. But I’m not good at accepting stuff.
‘That’s what I said to Steve Peters. I don’t want to stop, so do something about it, come at it from a technical point of view to get it all right. Or if I can’t get the technical side right, I have to accept I am where I am and don’t let it wind me up. That’s worst case scenario.
‘Then there’s the other one, which is can’t be bothered, leave it, it’s too much hassle and just not play. But I’m not quite ready for that.’
In terms of O’Sullivan’s chances of an eighth world title this year, he feels good going into his campaign, motivated to take on the challenge.
He has won five titles this season despite feeling like he is struggling and is in Sheffield believing he is in a better place now than during any of that trophy-laden spell.
‘I feel like the last 2-4 weeks I’ve been working on some stuff and I feel better about playing,’ he said. ‘I feel more excited about getting my cue out of my case.
‘When you’ve got that vibe of looking forward to getting on the table, then concentration, technique, they’re just a given anyway. If you can have some form and get all the other bits right then you start to fancy you might have a chance, but it’s hard to predict. Something just has to click.
‘Sometimes I’ve come here playing awful, got on the practice table and started flying. I come here one year without playing a game of snooker for a year and won it, who would have predicted that? There’s no way of predicting what can happen. You just have to be prepared to get through whatever obstacle is put in front of you.’
His first obstacle is Jackson Page in the opening round, starting on Wednesday afternoon.
MORE : Barry Hawkins finally backing himself: ‘I’d be horrified to say that years ago’
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