Ronnie O’Sullivan ‘EXPLAINS’ Why He ‘Can’t Be Bothered’ With Snooker
Even though Ronnie O’Sullivan made it to the UK Championship quarterfinals, he claims he “can’t be bothered any more” with snooker.
In York, the seven-time UK champion overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Robert Milkins 6-5.
However, the disgruntled world champion was not at all pleased with his performance.
For my crimes, I had to grind out another victory. Thirty years later, I’m still tormented by this weird game,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport.
“I believed he deserved to prevail. I was engrossed in the show and unable to feel anything. I no longer have any idea how this game is supposed to work.
“I’ve given up a long time ago; I just keep showing up and causing trouble for people.” Today, I blew it off and
O’Sullivan, 47, is going to face consequences for openly denouncing the World Snooker Tour for how it handled the situation involving five players participating in a Macau exhibition tournament earlier this season.
Due to the argument, he has vowed to give up pool.
After a spirited opening session in which Milkins amassed a 63 break to take a 2-0 lead, O’Sullivan mounted a comeback, scoring runs of 142, 86, 83, 53, and 49 to get within one frame of victory at 5-3.
Milkins took the match to extra time after to breaks of 120 and 91, but O’Sullivan completed the task after his opponent blew two great opportunities to win the championship match.
“Mentally it’s hard for me. I’m not going to kill myself out there, but I still want to play,” added O’Sullivan, who has never lost to Milkins in a ranking tournament.
“I just can’t be bothered any more. I just don’t want it bad enough, that’s the problem.
“I’m having to dig deep, whereas when I was younger I didn’t have to did deep and I was so hungry.
“At this point, my concern is little. Competitive sports are really difficult; what matters most is your will to succeed rather than your skill level.”
“I just played a really poor decider, I could have won that,” Milkins said to BBC Sport.
“However, I’m annoyed that I’ve just stayed there because I constantly lean against Ronnie.” I tried hard, but I’m not happy at all.”
Zhou Yuelong of China defeated three-time UK champion John Higgins 6-3 in a “very poor” match. Zhou Yuelong will now play O’Sullivan on Friday.
“Ronnie’s my idol, but I believe I can beat him,” Zhou replied.
World champion Brecel ousted by Zhang
Luca Brecel, the world champion, lost unexpectedly against Zhang Anda of China, ending his hopes of winning the title.
After falling short against O’Sullivan in the Shanghai Masters final in September, the 28-year-old Belgian has had a terrible run of form.
Before Zhang answered with runs of 78, 54, and 51 to create a two-frame margin, he had the lead, 2-1.
World No. 3 Brecel levelled the match with breaks of 54 and 53, but his opponent put on a show with breaks of 124 and 68 to win it.
Zhang will next take against Hossein Vafaei of Iran, who easily defeated Matthew Selt with three centuries to clinch a 6-1 victory.
With breaks of 133, 132, 121, 94, and 56, Vafaei dominated and advanced towards the £250,000 first prize.
