Ronnie O’Sullivan has acknowledged that, despite his performance on the biggest stage to win a record-tying World Snooker Championship title in 2022, he did not truly relish being at the top of the sport once more. The Rocket revealed his true feelings to Greg Rutherford and Orla Chennaoui of Eurosport during their conversation for the most recent episode of The Breakdown podcast.
In an interview with Eurosport’s The Breakdown podcast, Ronnie O’Sullivan gave his reasons for not being happy with his record-tying seventh World Snooker Championship victory.
With his most recent outstanding performance on the biggest stage, the 46-year-old captured the Crucible for a record-tying seventh time, and he now begins the 2022–2023 snooker season as the sport’s unchallenged world No. 1.
In what was a memorable 46th final at the renowned Sheffield venue, the 39-time ranking event winner defeated 2019 champion Judd Trump 18–13 to join Stephen Hendry as the most prolific world champion in modern history.
Surprisingly, though, O’Sullivan acknowledged to Greg Rutherford and Orla Chennaoui of Eurosport that he “hated it” because he had never wanted to go to “dark places” after the victory.
Next week, The Breakdown will return for the second half of its inaugural season. Conversations with sprint legend Mark Cavendish, racing driver Jamie Chadwick, and Sir Chris Hoy have all been featured in previous episodes. Listening is available here.
He stated, “It’s a tough event,” on the podcast for Eurosport. “Up until my fifth one, after finishing it, I would think to myself, ‘I could do that again,’ when I woke up the following day.