Ronnie O’Sullivan: I no longer question my addiction

09.05.2023 - 09:35 breakingnews.ie

After a life that’s proven almost as colourful away from the table as on it, Ronnie ‘The Rocket’ O’Sullivan, snooker genius and recovering addict, reckons he has found some balance. “I’m less intense.

I’ve not mellowed in that I’ve changed my personality, but I’ve learned to just not take myself too seriously. I’m much more philosophical,” says the seven times world champion.

At 47, he’s been at the top of his game for longer than many of his peers. Yet it wasn’t an easy start for the former ‘bad boy’ of snooker – given his family history (his father was jailed for murder when O’Sullivan was 16) and his battles with drugs, alcohol and depression.

He won his latest world title just last year – but was defeated by Luca Brecel in the quarter-final of this year’s World Championship at The Crucible, Sheffield – and has overcome periods of self-doubt, plus a year-long break from the game, only to come back stronger than ever.

Sport addiction O’Sullivan Ronnie Osullivan Luca Brecel

Alexander Ursenbacher completed a comfortable win in his first match at the 208-player Q School event with a 4-0 whitewash of Tan Wang Chooi in Leicester. The man dubbed 'Federer of the Baize' endured a forgettable season to finish outside of the top 64 despite defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 at the British Open, but is aiming to bounce back at the first attempt by securing a fresh tour card. Ad He compiled 51, 76 and 50 to advance to the third qualifying round and a match against Belgium's Daan Leyssen on Monday evening.

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Alexander Ursenbacher will return to snooker Q School this week in a bid to regain his professional status after enduring a miserable time last season. The talented Swiss player — dubbed 'Federer of the Baize' — won only eight matches in ranking events with half of those coming via the shorter format Championship League and Shoot Out competitions. Ad He slumped from 45th in the rankings at the end of the 2021/22 season to 87 a year later, with the fallout forcing him to head to Leicester in the quest to recapture a fresh two-year tour card.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan idolised fellow icons Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry as a kid during the 1980s, but the snooker GOAT believes Joe Johnson produced arguably the most magical performance of the sport's modern era. Speaking during a run of interviews to promote his new autobiography Unbreakable, O'Sullivan revealed his admiration for the unheralded 150-1 outsider, who completed a stunning 18-12 victory over Davis in the 1986 World Championship final in Sheffield. Ad It was remarkably the stylish Bradford player's only ranking triumph in a 25-year professional career, but Johnson showed his class by returning to the final a year later when Davis held him off for an 18-14 win in the 1987 title match to claim the fourth off his six Crucible trophies.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan has compared his larger-than-life father to Del Boy from iconic British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, but admits his presence has always added pressure to his play. The seven-time world champion was forced to visit his dad in prison every month after Ronnie Snr was jailed for murder in 1992, the same year his son turned professional, before he was released in 2010. Ad Despite loving spending time with his father, the snooker GOAT admits the dynamic did not help him focus on potting balls during the heat of competition.