Exclusive: Ronnie O’Sullivan Quits Lucrative Exhibitions to Give His All to Snooker Once More

Ronnie O’Sullivan has given up his lucrative exhibitions and rededicated himself to snooker.

The Rocket is the greatest player to ever pick up a cue with a trophy-laden CV which boasts the most Triple Crown majors (23), most ranking titles (41) and most maximum 147 breaks (17). 

But snooker's biggest star realises he is heading towards the twilight years of his record-setting career as he approaches his 50s.

O'Sullivan moved to a new Dubai base earlier this year to make travelling to tournaments in China and Saudi Arabia easier after months of being in a "zombie state" due to severe jet lag.

The Rocket admits he burned himself out with constant trips to and from China from the UK over the past couple of years and last season severely struggled on the baize.

World No.4 O’Sullivan is enjoying life in the Middle East and looked back to his breathtaking best at times in the Saudi Arabia Masters earlier this season, losing to Neil Robertson in a gripping final.

And ahead of returning to action at the Xi’an Grand Prix, O’Sullivan told SportsBoom.com: “I decided I couldn’t do the exhibition circuit and play. That was just making it so much harder.” 

“I decided to take out all my commitments, including exhibitions, even though there are good fun and I enjoyed doing them, it was just too much to do that and play tournaments as well.”

“I know I’m probably towards the end of my career. I’ll probably get two more years, if I get three, four or five then that would be a miracle.”

“I don’t have long left so I thought I’d give it all I can. I’ve got a couple of sponsors which is great and that helps. It takes the pressure off the finances so I don’t have to do the exhibitions.”

“As long as my sponsors are on board and supporting me then I can keep playing.” 

“I just want to focus on playing, get ready for tournaments and see if I can find that love for the game which I’ve had pretty much my whole career.” 

PAINFUL LOSS

O’Sullivan will still skip a lot of UK events with his next assignment back home expected to be the next month’s UK Championship. 

The Rocket is behind the launch of brand new snooker channel Pluto Snooker 900.

And O’Sullivan fondly remembers his TV debut where he played at the 1990 Thames Classic as a fresh-faced 14-year-old, and the pain that went with losing in the semi-final. 

When asked how it felt, he recalled: “It was probably the most excited I ever was. I was winning junior tournaments, pro-ams which were massive achievements.”

“The Cockney Classic was just the one frame so it was a bit of a lottery really, but that feeling of putting a suit on, cameras there, it was a professional set up it was live my dream to play on TV.”

“It was the most exciting moment of my amateur career by a long, long way. I won bigger tournaments, beat much better players, but nothing was as exciting as playing in that at the time.”

“I was so gutted when I lost in the semi-final. I was absolutely devastated because I would have loved to have played in that final. That killed me really.”

“It was always the dream to play on TV, play Stephen Hendry, play at the big tournaments. I was always hungry for it," he concluded.