Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed that he is dealing with ‘snooker depression‘ and that he suffers with it for up to three hours after his matches.
O’Sullivan is currently competing in the European Masters and, despite edging out world No 104 Zhang Anda in a decider to set up a last 32 clash with Wu Yize, claimed he is not enjoying competing for success in the sport.
‘I find it hard to talk about my games, I have snooker depression for two or three hours after my matches,’ O’Sullivan told reporters after his 5-4 victory – in which he produced a break of 128.
Ronnie O’Sullivan admits he is finding it hard to get motivated over competing for titles
‘Talking about it puts me in a bad place. I call it “snooker depression” because it is depression due to snooker. I don’t just wake up and say “I’m depressed” – you aren’t when you are doing something you enjoy.
‘You might afterwards, but you can get it doing this job if it bothers you and you are not enjoying it. And that happens to me, snooker plays on the mind. If you love your job, any job, then you won’t suffer with it – unless you are totally detached from your feelings. Let’s call it sports depression, across the board.
‘It’s up to you to find ways to deal with it, and I am going to smash the gym, feel better, eat nice food, get into my spa and sauna and watch it disappear.’
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O’Sullivan’s comments come after he had admitted to being ‘bored’ of snooker shortly after defeating Nigel Bond to qualify for the European Masters.
In the modern day, only Stephen Hendry has won more than O’Sullivan’s six world titles
The six-time world champion is only one title shy of the modern day record set by Stephen Hendry, yet admits he has no motivation to match the Scot’s tally.
‘It might sound selfish, but I love what I do. I love my life and I just want to enjoy every moment of it,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t give a monkey’s (about the World Snooker Championship). I’ll just go, have good fun, enjoy it.
‘It gets boring after a while and I just don’t get excited. I’m sorry, but if you’d won as much as I’d won, you’d probably feel the same. When you’ve broken every record and done everything there is to do in the game, you kind of think “why am I still doing it?”.
‘I have to find other reasons to do it and winning is not one of them. I enjoy just doing what I do.’
Source: Daily Mail
