Ronnie O’Sullivan makes history with eighth UK title but admits lack of ‘buzz’

Ronnie O’Sullivan soaked up the adulation after becoming the oldest winner of the UK Snooker Championship in York but admitted: “I get more of a buzz from going for a run in the morning and having breakfast with my mate.”

O’Sullivan, who celebrates his 48th birthday on Tuesday, reeled off the last three frames to beat Ding Junhui and win the title for a record-extending eighth time, 30 years after he won it for the first time at the age of 17.

Predictably raucous scenes greeted O’Sullivan’s match-winning, exhibition-style finish of 129 at the Barbican, but the world number one cut a distinctly underwhelmed figure when grilled about his latest history-making achievement.

“I’m not sitting here with a massive grin and super-excited,” said O’Sullivan. “I just go through the motions a lot of the time.

“It’s great to win and I give my best when I’m out there and I want to win, but it’s not the same excitement as years ago when I was winning my first world and UK and Masters titles, and you’re buzzing.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a nice feeling and a job well done, but I get more of a buzz from going for a run in the morning or having breakfast with my mate.

“I don’t actually feel like ever playing. Once you get down there you think you’re glad you’ve done it, but even in this match today I was thinking I didn’t feel like it, I’d rather sit on my bed and watch a bit of Netflix. I feel like that a lot of the time.”

Hauled back from 4-1 and 7-5 leads by Ding, who like O’Sullivan won his first UK title as a teenager in 2005, the world number one dug deep when it mattered and consecutive breaks of 100 and 74 set him up for his final flourish.

It was an admirable effort from the Chinese player, who had clambered off his sick bed