Ronnie O’Sullivan revealed he is preparing to start a “new life somewhere else” following his World Snooker Championship humbling at the hands of Zhao Xintong. O’Sullivan’s bid for an eighth Crucible crown ended in a humiliating 17-7 loss with a session to spare on Friday.
The Chinese star, 28, who came through qualifying, won all eight frames in the morning before finishing the job in the evening. Prior to his arrival in Sheffield, the 49-year-old had not played on the tour since he withdrew midway through his Championship League group in January when he snapped his cue in anger and dumped it in a bin.
And he struggled with his new cue at the Crucible, getting through three tips in all and changing both his tip and ferrule after the first session of the semi-final. Although his run to the last four provides some cause for optimism, O’Sullivan admitted he does not know what the future holds, with a move from the UK to the Middle East on the cards.
“I think I’m going to be moving out of the UK this year. A new life somewhere else,” said the Essex potter, who has a snooker academy in his name in Saudi Arabia. “I’ll still try and play snooker but I don’t know what the future looks like for me really.
“I’m moving away soon so I’ll just see how it goes. There’s a lot of more important things in life to worry about than a game of snooker.
“For me, it’s a big part of my life but I’ve got to try and figure out what my future looks like, whether it’s playing or not. I’ll be moving away to the Middle East but we’ll see how it goes. I might be back in six months, who knows!”
O’Sullivan, who recently split from long-term parter Laila Rouass, added: “There are going to be a few changes in my life so we’ll see how that goes.”
When asked whether he’d like to throw his cue a long distance following his exit, O’Sullivan replied: “I won’t throw it. The merchandise people want it so it’ll be up for sale! But I won’t be throwing it.”
He insisted his cue issues weren’t necessarily to blame for his Crucible struggles, saying: “I don’t even know if it was the cue, the ferrule or me. There were three things.
“I just don’t even know where the white ball’s going. I’m at a loss, to be honest with you. I don’t even know what to say. Sometimes you’ve got to try something different, you know? It didn’t feel great before so I tried to go back to the old brass ferrule.
“I’m not making the cue as an excuse or anything like that but if I hadn’t snapped my old cue maybe I’d have been able to give him a better game but really my performances have not been good enough.”
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