Exclusive: Ronnie O’Sullivan 'hated' seventh World Snooker Championship title that took him to 'dark places'

Ronnie O'Sullivan has explained to Eurosport's The Breakdown podcast why he did not enjoy his record-equalling seventh World Snooker Championship title. The 46-year-old has started the 2022/23 snooker campaign as the sport's undisputed world No. 1 after he conquered the Crucible for a record-equalling seventh time with his latest incredible showing on the biggest stage.

Ad The 39-time ranking event winner joined Stephen Hendry as the most prolific world champion in modern history with the 18-13 triumph over 2019 champion Judd Trump in what was a memorable 46th final at the famous Sheffield venue. World Championship'I hated it' — O'Sullivan on why he did not enjoy winning seventh world title3 HOURS AGO But perhaps surprisingly, O'Sullivan admitted to Eurosport's Greg Rutherford and Orla Chennaoui that he was forced to go to «dark places» with the triumph and he «hated it» because he had never wanted to do so again. The Breakdown returns next week for the second part of its first season.

Previous episodes have included conversations with Sir Chris Hoy, racing driver Jamie Chadwick and sprint legend Mark Cavendish. You can listen here. «It's a tough event,» he said on the Eurosport podcast.

«Up until my fifth one, I would finish it and I could wake up the next day and go 'I could do that again'. »When I won it in 2020, I was gone for about 10 days afterwards. The nervous system was kind of like pulverised for 17 days straight.

«It's not until you have finished that it kind of hits you, and I didn't like that feeling. I just thought that's not right, not normal to go through that. »You are obviously shutting down a lot of emotions during the event, and it just comes out at some point afterwards.