Ronnie O’Sullivan fears that he won’t be able to rediscover his best form as he prepares to compete at the 2025 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
The seven-time world champion hasn’t played competitively since January when he snapped his cue amid pulling out of the invitation version of Championship League Snooker.
A match victory in a ranking event goes back even further, with O’Sullivan having not won at that level since the start of November.
As a result of a string of withdrawals since, there were question marks over whether or not the Rocket would decide to compete at the Crucible Theatre this year.
Those doubts may still linger until he actually steps onto the iconic stage for his eagerly anticipated first-round tie with Ali Carter.
But for now, the 49 year-old has expressed his intentions to be involved and was at the World Championship media day at the Crucible on Friday.
O’Sullivan, however, is unhappy with where his game is at the moment and was downbeat on his chances of challenging for a record eighth Crucible crown.
“I’ll always love the game,” fifth seed Ronnie O’Sullivan told the World Snooker Tour.
“I don’t know. Listen, I tried a new training technique method six years ago, and I think it’s completely stopped me from playing and knowing what I used to do.”
“That’s been the difficult thing, and I just don’t know how to get back to somewhere near I used to play.
“I’m not sure it’s actually fixable, if I’m being honest – especially at this stage of my career.
“But I will give it a couple of years to try and rediscover a way of playing where I feel like I can hit the ball.
“At the moment, it’s pretty scary, if that’s the right word. The white ball is doing things that I’ve never seen it do before.
“With a still-ball sport, you can’t blame the balls. The balls will go where you have instructed them to go.
“Some of the angles and the reactions that I’m getting from the ball is obviously telling me that my timing is really out of sync.
“The lines that the white is taking, I’m thinking I don’t know how the white has taken that line. It’s obviously something I’ve done.
“It’s really hard to navigate my way around the table. Before, I just used to see it and get that white there, there, and there. No problem.
“Now I can’t get that white there, there, and there. I’m having to play a game that I’m not familiar with to be honest with you.
“Whether I can repair it, whether I can get somewhere near to where I was, I don’t think I can. I’m being honest.
“But I will try. I’ll give it two proper years and devote myself to the game, and just see if I can build back something that’s just okay.
“There possibly is an age thing. You watch players that get into their late-40s maybe or early-40s, and they kind of look a bit less smooth through the ball.
“Maybe that’s an age thing. My eyes aren’t the best, but I don’t think it’s a visual thing.
“I think it’s more not being able to get my body into the position and see what I need to see on the shot, so I’m having to compensate.
“My arm and my body just don’t feel like they are connected in any way. It’s quite scary to even get down and play a shot.
“The most simple shots feel like they can go wrong, so I’m having to…I don’t know…it’s like guess work a lot of the time.
“I think I decided that, if I wasn’t going to play this tournament, I was definitely going to play next season.
“Start from the beginning and devote all my time to playing in as many tournaments as I want to play.
“In between that, just practice and rest and have no other distractions. I owe that to myself, to my career, and to snooker.
“Then I was a little bit bored from taking time out, so about a month ago, I got my cue out of my case and just practiced.
“Obviously I got to this tournament and Barry Hawkins gave me a little bit of support if you like, which was nice. And Steve Peters as well.
“Barry was great, I had a couple of practice sessions with Barry. I knew he was playing great obviously, all season he has looked fantastic.
“He gave me a good hiding, which I expected. But I kind of needed that. He said I wasn’t playing as bad as I probably thought I was, but we’ll see.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan is scheduled to face Ali Carter in round one of the 2025 World Snooker Championship draw on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Featured photo credit: WST
