Ronnie O’Sullivan ‘wishes he hadn’t won’ seventh World Snooker Championship

Ronnie O’Sullivan says he wishes he hadn’t won a seventh World Snooker Championship title this year, as he doesn’t enjoy the attention, pressure and expectation that has come with it.

The Rocket beat Judd Trump in the final at the Crucible, after seeing off Dave Gilbert, Mark Allen, Stephen Maguire and John Higgins, as he equalled Stephen Hendry’s record of seven world crowns.

It was an emotional moment for the 46-year-old, who was in tears after securing the win in Sheffield, but he now says he would rather not have lifted the trophy for a seventh time.

O’Sullivan insists he prefers to fly under the radar and not have to deal with everything that goes with being at the summit of snooker, which he says he gets no enjoyment from at all.

‘After looking back on it, I actually wish I hadn’t have won it,’ O’Sullivan told The Climb Podcast. ‘The question I get asked more now than anything is, “do you still play snooker?” I want to say to them, no. I want to say I’ve retired, I do little bits and pieces, it’s great and I slip under the radar.

‘All of a sudden when I’ve won this, I’ve got 600 messages on my phone, everyone’s saying well done and asking when I’m going for the eighth. It’s like my worst nightmare come true again.’

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A documentary was being made about the Rocket during this year’s World Championship and he says it was this added incentive that pushed him on to succeed again in Sheffield.

‘I didn’t want to get in the pit again, but I did,’ he explained. ‘The reason for it was I had a