While he may be in the latter stages of his career, Ronnie O'Sullivan is still capable of consistently performing at the very top level. He may no longer have the drive that he had in his younger days, but few can live with 'The Rocket' when he is on form.
The 46-year old has been open in the past about the fact that he often finds it difficult to muster up the motivation for many events on the tour, picking and choosing where he will compete as a result.
O'Sullivan is currently in action at the European Masters in Milton Keynes, defeating Zhang Anda 5-4 to reach the last 32 this afternoon. He did not have it all his own way in the contest, with the Englishman at one point also asking for the lighting above the table to be adjusted.
Has anyone got a spare pair of sunglasses for Ronnie O'Sullivan? 🕶#BVEuroSeries | @WeAreWST | @ronnieo147 pic.twitter.com/LI42PsHjPW
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 22, 2022
Ronnie O'Sullivan opens up on 'snooker depression'
Speaking after that match, O'Sullivan opened up on how he struggles to discuss the match he has just played in directly after stepping away from the table.
I find it hard to talk about my games, I have snooker depression for two or three hours after my matches. Talking about it puts me in a bad place.
I call it snooker depression because it is depression due to snooker. I don’t just wake up and say ‘I’m depressed’. You aren’t when you are doing something you enjoy.
You might afterwards, but you can get it doing this job if it bothers you and you are not enjoying it. And that happens to me. Snooker plays on the mind.
If you love your job, any job then you wont’s suffer with it – unless you are totally detached from your feelings. Let’s call it sports depression, across the board.
It’s up to you to find ways to deal with it, and I am going to smash the gym, feel better, eat nice food, get into my spa and sauna and watch it disappear. Don’t talk to me about snooker now.
I don’t know why there was the glare off the light, someone must have turned them up brighter than usual. I could hardly look at it, but they did sort it out so I could look at the table.
Zhang could probably have done with the money from this match and had a run, so I felt a bit sorry for him. Let’s hope they get the China events back for these guys, the tour is reliant on them.
Ronnie O'Sullivan will now face 18-year old Chinese youngster Wu Yize in the next round.
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