Ronnie O'Sullivan, 49, opens up on concerning health struggles after winning World Snooker Championships in the past - as he hints he may miss out this year
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- O'Sullivan has played in eight tournaments in 2025 and has taken some time off
- He has laid bare how his previous Crucible triumphs brutally affected his body
- The Rocket has refused to confirm whether he will take part in the event this year
Ronnie O'Sullivan has revealed how his past World Snooker Championship victories took a devastating toll on his body, leaving him feeling like he'd been 'battered'.
O'Sullivan, viewed as one of the greatest players of all time, has won the tournament seven times and could surpass Stephen Hendry in the Crucible era this year.
But the 49-year-old, nicknamed The Rocket, has stopped short of confirming whether he will make an appearance, having not played on the World Snooker Tour since January and taken time away from the sport he endures a love-hate relationship with.
In his only appearance this year, O'Sullivan lost four of his five matches in the Championship League and snapped his cue before pulling out of his final game.
He then dropped out of the Masters, German Masters, Welsh Open and the World Grand Prix, apologising to spectators and citing a mixture of exhaustion and medical reasons. Such is his disappointment with his form, he has been unable to practice.
O'Sullivan has been a regular fixture at the Crucible since turning professional in 1992 and admitted he had often found his successes a breeze. Now, however, he has attributed his advancing age to his struggle to fully recover from tournaments.
Speaking to TNT Sports, he said: 'Last time I won it 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. 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.'
O'Sullivan declared he would give himself 'as much time as possible' before making a decision on whether he will play at the World Championship, which starts on April 19.
He added: '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.
'It's been a real struggle. I've tried to play my way through. I've had moments and glimpses where I thought: "OK, this is OK". But 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.
'I got a bit tired. 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.
'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.'
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