Ronnie O’Sullivan insists a record-equalling seventh world title has brought him unwelcome attention – and wishes it had never happened.
The Rocket, also back at No1 in the world, is now widely recognised as the greatest player of all time after matching Stephen Hendry’s haul at the Crucible earlier this year.
The 46-year-old pushed himself to the limit in Sheffield for a documentary crew that had been following him all season to give the forthcoming film the perfect ending.
But O’Sullivan struggles with “the circus” of being mobbed and besieged by fans at events seeking selfies and autographs – as well as fielding hundreds of messages on his phone.
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Speaking to The Climb Podcast, he said: “After looking back on it, I actually wish I hadn’t have won it.
“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.
“I didn’t want to get in the pit again, but I did. The reason for it was I had a film crew following me about, so that kind of spurred me on to do as well as I could.
“Probably if they weren’t following me about I might have made the quarters or semis and thought that’s enough, because I don’t like going so deep anymore.
“On reflection, it was great to win it, but I was never driven by records or awards.
“Things that a lot of people seem to think is important in sport, for me it’s about loving what I do and enjoying just playing for fun, treating it like a hobby.
‘But to win the world title you can’t enjoy it, you have to go deep and find some reserves from within, you find something within you to push forward.
“Going to the after party is what annoyed me. I’m just like, I don’t need this, I just want a cup of tea and go to my bed.
“That’s why I enjoyed it when I won it in Covid in 2020, there was no crowd, no party, just whoever happened to be there with me.
“I just can’t be doing with the circus, the circus is what drives me crazy. The World Championships is the biggest circus of all.
“I disengaged about seven or eight years ago with anything that didn’t make me feel comfortable in snooker.
“There’s no amount of money in the world someone can offer me to do something I don’t want to do.
“It was great. I knew I could have a longer career, more enjoyable, more happy, more fun. Still compete, still be in the top eight in the world because it’s easy for me to be in the top eight, I’ve just got to be 50 per cent, really.
“I go 100 per cent and I go back to No1, like I have done. But I don’t want to be at 100 per cent, I don’t want to be that animal anymore, it’s exhausting, it’s tiring and I’ve done it.
“Having won the world title and having got back to No1, it’s not a good place to be for me, personally.”
O’Sullivan has been out and about on the podcast trail, and in another meeting with Rob Moore on ‘Disruptors’ he insisted that his public rebel image is a long way from his true character.
Speaking to the successful entrepreneur, O’Sullivan said: “Sometimes I am misunderstood, and sometimes not.
“I don’t put myself out there on social media much and document my private life on there. Tyson Fury does that, and it wasn’t until he started posting videos that people saw the reality rather than just what they heard. He has done a good job turning it all around.
“But I just don’t like social media. And so I meet people and they often say I am not how they thought I’d be – they thought I’d be some violent person causing trouble wherever he goes. And they discover I am basically quite a gentle and quiet fella.
“And they also think I might be mentally fragile – but you don’t do what I have done and win what I have won by being mentally fragile, I am anything but and a lot tougher than people think.
“If I don’t want to be somewhere then I am okay with that, maybe that comes over as someone who is a bit mentally weak. But you don’t get success if you are that and I hold onto that.”
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