Ronnie O’Sullivan admits he still gets fired up by having a point to prove – but is trying to keep revenge out of Friday's grudge clash with Hossein Vafaei.
There has been a war of words this week between the Rocket, the world No1 and seven-time world champion, and fiery Iranian Vafaei. Vafaei, 28, has never forgiven O’Sullivan for showing “disrespect” by smashing the reds up from the break in slumping to a 5-0 defeat two years ago – and urged him to retire.
He reignited the feud by claiming that “O’Sullivan is a nice person…when he is asleep”, while the defending champion warned his rival not to “rattle his cage” or suffer the consequences on the table.
The pair used to be close and O’Sullivan, 47, told Eurosport: “It is good to share and offer advice and I did that with Hossein earlier in his career. You open yourself up. Some of his comments didn’t make sense but I saw two years ago that his behaviour towards me changed.
“A lot of players have said things about me that I thought weren’t very nice, but it just makes me want to stay in the game longer. The more they want me to go, the more I hang around. I like having something to prove – but I don’t make it a personal thing.”
Vafaei defeated Ding Junhui 10-6 in the first round to set up the grudge match with O'Sullivan. And the Iranian has made it clear he is relishing the chance to face the reigning World Champion.
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“Ronnie disrespected me before – and God gives us opportunities for revenge. It depends on me, and I said that to God myself," Vafaei said earlier this week.
“I said to him ‘Don’t make that happen, because if you do make it happen then I am going to do the same what he done to me – and the same what I did when I beat him 5-0’. He will remember that, that wasn’t nice.
"Play like a man, don’t play mind games and disrespect me and smash the balls around when 70-80million people are watching me in Iran. He always finds an excuse for himself, he's been like that for 30 years.
"If I beat my hero, well used to be my hero, if I beat him I'm going to be dangerous for the tournament. I'm not going to disrespect other players, I've seen so many players playing well, but it's going to be great if I go to the final."
Vafaei has been playing with fire though, with O'Sullivan having warned him earlier this week not to provoke him. The legend overcame Pang Junxu in the first round and insisted that a war of words would fire him up.
"Has he been saying much this year?. I think he’s learned to be quiet. Don’t rattle my cage! I’m just having fun. I love it when they call me out, I love it when they give me stick," he told Eurosport.
"I love it, it turns me on, I get off on it. I need it to fire me up so I’m hoping someone says something, so I can have a reason to perform. But they’re not going to say it now, they probably realise it’s not a good tactic."
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