The greatest snooker player of all-time, but also one of its most fervent provocateur's, Ronnie O'Sullivan, has spoken about the "dark places" he went to to en route to winning the 2022 World Championship.
O'Sullivan has frequently stated that he plays snooker just for fun these days and does not take it particularly seriously. However, he has admitted on the Eurosport podcast that because of the documentary being filmed during the 2022 tournament, he tried harder and took the game seriously as he cruised to a record-tying seventh World Championship crown.
Ronnie O'Sullivan On His 2022 World Championship Win
He also stated that following the hardships of this year's tournament, while he will be playing in the 2023 edition, he "will not give blood, sweat and tears".
This year was no different," O'Sullivan stated on the podcast. "but I promised myself that I would never go to the dark places the tournament requires you to go to because it is such an endurance test mentally, more than physically. I checked out about eight years ago so I kind of play snooker for fun. I am still competitive because I am a competitive person, but I had to dial it down a lot just to enjoy it more for longevity reasons."Otherwise, I think if I had never got the enjoyment side of it, I probably would not have done it. So I have found a way to enjoy it, but part of the enjoyment was to not go to those dark places. The only reason I did go to the dark places was because we filmed a documentary so I was forced to actually try because the cameras were following me everywhere.
"I just had to give it blood, guts and whatever there was, and that was what I had to do. That is why I hated it because I promised myself I would never go there. It just requires a lot of determination and lots of resilience. I'm not hard on myself because I believe in the snooker gods. I always know things are going to be good for me. It was just hard. Sheffield is a hard, hard venue. It is a gladiatorial venue. There is a lot of pressure in the build-up. When you are out there playing it is okay - that's the best place to be."
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