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‘I felt like my body had been battered’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan opens up on health struggles ahead of World Championship

Published on April 08, 2025 at 08:06 PM

RONNIE O'SULLIVAN has opened up on his health struggles as he ponders playing in this year's Snooker World Championship.

The Rocket has featured in every single showpiece since 1993.

Ronnie O'Sullivan during a snooker match.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has opened up on his difficult 2025
Ronnie O'Sullivan of England at the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The seven-time world champion has yet to decide if he'll play at the Crucible this year

, 49, is a seven-time champion in Sheffield and remains one of snooker's greatest active players.

But his recent health struggles have seen him take an extended break from the game.

The Rocket after losing four of his five matches in the Championship League in January.

He has since missed the Masters, German Masters, Welsh Open and the World Grand Prix on medical grounds.

O'Sullivan has yet to confirm if he will play in Sheffield, with just over a week until the first round.

He told TNT Sports: “I don't know yet. I haven't made my mind up.

“I'll probably make a decision on maybe April 17 or 18.

“I don't know when I'm due to play my first match so I'm going to try to leave myself as much time as possible.

“I'd love to be able to go there and play. I'd love to be able to have the confidence to be able to get my cue out and go and play snooker.

“I just need to give myself as much time as possible to see where I'm at with it and see whether it's something I'm going to be able to do.”

O'Sullivan has with snooker throughout his career.

Blessed with remarkable talent, the 49-year-old openly admits the game can leave him feeling “terrible”.

He continued: “It ground me down to the point where I lost the love for the game.

“That's why in January, I snapped my cue just in temper, in frustration.

It had a weird effect on my body. I was shocked to be honest with you.

Ronnie O'SullivanTNT Sport

“I don't really want to feel like that, so I've taken time out.

“I am just going to try to fix what I think is the problem before I come back to play serious snooker again.”

O'Sullivan's came back in 2022.

But he admits he found the tournament easier when he was younger, with his most successful runs never feeling like “hard work”.

O'Sullivan explained: “On the whole, probably three and a half years out of the last four have been pretty terrible for me and that's taken its toll.

“When I won [the World Championship] in 2012, 2013, I got up Monday morning and I could do it again, ‘That was easy'.

“I've never found any World Championship that I've won hard work because I've probably won every match by five, six frames.

“Never had a close game, never had a decider. So, in many ways, when I look back they were quite comfortable tournaments to win.

“When I won it in 2020, I woke up on Monday morning and felt alright.

“But then for 10 days, I just couldn't even think straight. I was drained. I couldn't quite work it out.

“I won it again in 2022 and the same happened again. It's just an age thing.

‘I felt like my body had been battered’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan opens up on health struggles ahead of World Championship 2

“It had a weird effect on my body. I was shocked to be honest with you.

“I can only put it down to an age thing because 2020 I was like, OK, maybe it was a one off.

“But then when I won it in 2022, and it felt quite easy winning it that year as well, I still felt like my body had been battered.”

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