Jimmy White has provided a different opinion to that of Ronnie O’Sullivan regarding his game at the moment. Ahead of his opening match at the UK Championship yesterday, The Rocket claimed he is not enjoying his snooker this season. The 46-year-old spoke about the need to work on his mental game, which will positively impact the technical side of his game.
But White shared an opposing view and suggested the world number one is playing better than ever. “I know he’s his own man, if he feels he needed to play today he would have done, but I think he sharpened himself up nicely yesterday," he said on Eurosport. "The last two tournaments - the Hong Kong Masters and Champion of Champions, when anyone has got close to him he has gone up another level. I think Ronnie O’Sullivan’s game is in the best shape ever.”
Telling Eurosport how he feels about his game, O’Sullivan said claimed he enjoys the sport more when results aren’t going his way. “I always do these smiley, neutral and sad faces,” the record seven-time UK Open champion began. "There’s a lot of neutral and sad faces this year. For some reason, I’m not really enjoying my snooker. When I get out there I do my best, whatever that is great.
“It’s more working on the mental side because technically I’m not great, I have winged it a bit. So that means I have to work more on the mental side if I want to put in a half decent performance.” But challenging periods in his career ignite O’Sullivan’s competitive instincts, especially when people start to doubt him.
“In some ways I’m a lot happier when I’m not doing so well on the snooker table,” he added. “The year I got to five finals, a lot of people see it not as a success, but I enjoyed my snooker more that year than any other because I was trying when I felt like it and if I didn’t I would accept it wasn’t my day and go home.
“I think people started to doubt me a little bit and that got me excited again. I thrive on being written off. It excites me. I think, ‘Ok that’s a bit of a challenge’. It was a good little thing for me to focus a bit more maybe, if that’s the right word. Dig out a few results instead of seeing what time I can get home for tea.”
O’Sullivan scored two centuries and two 90 breaks in a 6-2 victory over Wales' Matthew Stevens. O'Sullivan, who won the last of his seven UK titles in 2018, said he felt flat despite winning two tournaments this season, but believes he "has his snooker in a good place".
"A lot of people on tour are under pressure for different reasons. I am under no pressure at all," he told BBC Sport.
"For me, every match is just like a practice match. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy to do, but I have made my life in such a way that this is so insignificant that this is just a bonus," added O'Sullivan, who last month claimed he lacked the "passion and desire" to play snooker following defeat at the Northern Ireland Open.
"You don't mind whatever snooker throws at you - I am unbreakable really. It's where we should all be. We take sport too seriously - someone has got to win, someone has got to lose, just have fun."
