Ronnie O’Sullivan is in danger of giving up his legendary snooker career after an ’embarrassing’ defeat in the last 64 of the English Open.
The seven-time world champion lost 4-2 to 64th-ranked He Guoqiang in Brentwood when he started the tournament.
In a fit of rage, O’Sullivan called himself “completely useless” and cast doubt on his future in the sport he has dominated since winning his first world title in 2001.
Asked why he plays left-handed, he told The Sun: “I’m completely useless, that’s why. Forget Worlds. I’m not even going to bother to be honest with you, if I’m going to play shit anyway, I might as well play left-handed.
‘Play left-handed and enjoy it, but be useless, or play right-handed and be useless and do not enjoy it.
Ronnie O’Sullivan called himself ‘absolutely useless’ after crashing out of the English Open
The snooker legend claimed he could retire quickly after losing 4-2 to He Guoqiang in the last 64
‘I don’t have much time left, I’m not going to deny that. I’m not playing well enough, there’s no point in worrying about it. I’ve just accepted it and that’s actually very nice.’
It is not the first time O’Sullivan has talked about retiring. The past year has brought much joy to the 48-year-old, with titles at the World Grand Prix, UK Championship, Shanghai Masters, The Masters and the World Masters of Snooker.
Despite being ranked fourth in the world, he admitted he may only be able to squeeze a few more years out of his career.
On Tuesday night in Essex, where he lives, O’Sullivan fought back from three frames down to He to tighten the score, but a series of errors in the sixth inning proved his undoing.
“I’m awful, it’s embarrassing. I miss so many balls. I can’t get away from it, poor thing, but I can’t help it,” he added.
‘I’ve missed balls over the last four or five years and every now and then I might miss a few less, and still get a few results.
‘I don’t care, I’m just here to fulfill my obligations to my sponsors, to get away from home for a while, to travel.’
O’Sullivan last won his world championship in 2022, when he defeated Judd Trump 18-13 to equal Stephen Hendry’s record of seven world titles.
“Forget about the Worlds. I don’t even bother to be honest with you,” he told his fans
He Guoqiang went 3-0 up before O’Sullivan pulled a couple of frames back but the world number 64 held his nerve
After his latest comments, it remains to be seen whether he has what it takes to compete for his record eighth world title in April and May 2025.
Earlier this year, he said he was considering switching to Chinese 8-ball, a new type of pool.
“Every billiards sport fascinates me, so I look at how popular Chinese 8-Ball is in China now. It’s huge, it’s huge. I try to see if there’s any interest to go there and play pool,” he told Let’s Meet in Shanghai.
‘I can’t keep playing snooker against the young lads, going all out, match-in-match-out, I don’t want to just play for fun. I want to keep playing for the next 10-15 years, earning a living, having a good time.
“China is a country I like to go to. It is of course a very popular sport there, but I still have to see who my sponsors are. At the moment they sponsor me as a snooker player, but I want to know if they want to sponsor me as a pool player.
‘For me it’s all about keeping my sponsors happy, it doesn’t matter if I play pool, snooker, billiards or whatever. I just want to have a nice life. They pay my bills, pay my salary, so of course I have to keep them happy and if they want me to keep playing snooker then I have to keep playing.
“If they’re okay with me playing pool, I’ll definitely consider it. I’ll have to get used to the game, but that won’t take long.”