Halo World Championship
Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 19 April to 5 May
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app; live text coverage of selected matches; updates on Radio 5 Live.
Seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan says he will overcome “stage fright” to take on Ali Carter in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.
O’Sullivan, 49, who only confirmed his participation on Thursday, has not played competitively since snapping his cue at the Championship League in January.
“Because it is the World Championship and the last tournament [of the season] I thought I need to try and break that cycle,” he told BBC Sport.
“Call it stage fright, I just haven’t had the [will] to go and compete. Call it lost my bottle. You sometimes lose your nerve. Just to come here is an achievement for me.
“The kind of nerves I have [been] feeling off and on for the last two years have not been good nerves. I have just been not wanting to go out there – sometimes struggling to even take my eyes off the floor. The confidence has been draining away, so it has not been a great place to be.”
Next Tuesday’s meeting with Carter, who at 18th in the world is the highest ranked qualifier, is a repeat of the 2008 and 2012 Crucible finals, which were both won by ‘The Rocket’.
The pair also contested a Masters final in 2024, which O’Sullivan triumphed in, but there were genuine fears that he would not go for a record eighth world title in the modern era this year having been an ever-present at the sport’s showpiece event since turning professional in 1992.
He pulled out of the Masters at Alexandra Palace on medical grounds, missed the German Masters in Berlin and apologised to fans after electing not to play at the Welsh Open.
He also withdrew from the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong in March and has not played in anything over a best-of-seven match since his first-round loss to Barry Hawkins at the UK Championship in November.
“Ali is a really good match player and I will have to play better than I have been just to give him a game,” added O’Sullivan.
“I really have nothing to lose. I have done well to just get here to be honest. If it was any other tournament I probably wouldn’t have come.
“I don’t know how excited I am because the reason I stopped was because my game was suffering and I wasn’t getting anything from it. Not much has changed but I thought at some point I have to try and play.
“I am always mentally ready, that has not been a problem. I always find a way to get through any situation but with my game technically I am at a loss with it and I have never been in this situation before in my life. I have never experienced this and it is hard especially at this stage in my career, you sometimes think ‘is it worth trying to rebuild?'”
In the build-up to the 17-day tournament, O’Sullivan said that he received “a proper good hiding” while practising with world number 11 Barry Hawkins.
However, recent footage of him constructing a maximum 147 break in less than seven minutes in practice suggests he is acclimatising well to a new cue.
“It is the second time I broke my cue. The first time was a similar situation, I was struggling for maybe a year or two and you just get tired in the end and so frustrated,” O’Sullivan added.
“That was kind of like the end of my tether. Obviously regretted it but that is how the game got me.”
O’Sullivan, who has won a record 41 ranking titles, also outlined that he is not ready to pack away his cue just yet.
“I’d like to do another two or three years playing so the aim is to try and just focus on this event,” he continued.
“The longer term thing is to play another two or three years and finish semi-positive on a career that has been good to me. You need to find a cue you like and I have got one I am kind of happy with.”
O’Sullivan has previously stressed that he has had to take medication to deal with anxiety and also had a candid studio discussion on TNT Sports, external with Mark Selby earlier this season around the mental health pressures faced by snooker players.
That prompted some debate around the potential for players to be offered a counsellor at tournaments to help them deal with issues.
And four-time world champion Selby, who has had well-documented struggles of his own to contend with, believes that service would be a valuable addition to the professional tour.
“I don’t think we have carried on and progressed with it but I think something definitely needs to happen,” Selby told BBC Sport.
“Ronnie hit the nail on the head. There are probably a lot more players on the tour going through it than you think that just don’t speak out or feel strong enough to speak out.
“If you had someone like that there, who you could go in a room with for 20 minutes or half an hour to speak to, a neutral person, to get things off your chest, it would be a great addition to the tour for all the players. You would definitely use it for sure.”
Selby, 41, also believes that O’Sullivan did the right thing by taking some time away from snooker.
“He obviously wasn’t in the greatest place to miss all these tournaments. He must be suffering a lot off the table. If I look back at how I was last year going into the World Championship, if I was in the same position now coming in as I was 12 months ago, there is no way I would be playing.
“I would pull out and I have learnt from that, and know if I am in the same position I won’t make that mistake again.
“He’s definitely done the right thing. At the end of the day it is a game of snooker and you have to put yourself first and be selfish.
“That is what he has done. If he feels as though he is in a better headspace to go and give himself a chance to win the tournament he is doing the right thing to play.”
