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Ronnie O'Sullivan threatens to QUIT snooker after crashing out of English Open at first hurdle and claims he is 'absolutely USELESS' - before telling fans to 'forget about the Worlds' It is not the first time Ronnie O'Sullivan has threatened to quit the sport But his comments were particularly despairing after his loss to He Guoqiang He claimed he 'doesn't even care' about making next year's World Championship By Luke Power Published: 01:55 EDT, 18 September 2024 | Updated: 01:56 EDT, 18 September 2024 e-mail View comments Ronnie O'Sullivan has threatened to throw in the towel on his legendary snooker career after an 'embarrassing' loss in the last 64 of the English Open. The seven-time world champion crashed out at Brentwood with a 4-2 loss to He Guoqiang, the 64th-ranked player, at the stage he entered the tournament. In a self-lacerating outburst, O'Sullivan branded himself 'absolutely useless' and cast doubt over his future in the sport he has dominated since his first World Championship title in 2001.
Asked why he has been playing left-handed, he told The Sun: 'I'm absolutely useless, that's why. Forget about the Worlds. I'm not even bothered to be honest with you, if I'm going to play rubbish I might as well play left-handed.
'Play left-handed and enjoy it, but be useless, or play right-handed, be useless and not enjoy it. Ronnie O'Sullivan branded himself 'absolutely useless' after crashing out of the English Open The snooker legend claimed he could quit soon after losing in the last 64 4-2 to He Guoqiang 'I haven't got long, I'm not going to deny it, I'm not playing well enough, there's no point in even worrying about it - I've just accepted it now which is quite a nice place to be really.' It is not the first time O'Sullivan has discussed retiring and the last year has brought plenty of joy for the 48-year-old, with titles at the World Grand Prix, UK Championship, Shanghai Masters, The Masters, and the World Masters of Snooker.
However, despite being ranked fourth in the world, he admitted he may only be able to squeeze out a couple more years from his career. On Tuesday night in Essex where he lives, O'Sullivan fought back from three frames down against He to make the scoreline more competitive but a series of mistakes in the sixth presided over his downfall. 'I'm awful, it's embarrassing.
I miss so many balls. I can't get away from it, poor, but there's nothing I can do about it,' he added. 'I've been missing balls for the last four or five years and every now and then I'll miss a few less, maybe, and get a couple of results.
'I don't even care, I'm just here to fulfil my commitments to my sponsors, get away from home, travel.' O'Sullivan won his last World Championship in 2022, beating Judd Trump 18-13 to match Stephen Hendry’s record of seven world titles. 'Forget about the Worlds.
I'm not even bothered to be honest with you,' he told fans He Guoqiang went up 3-0 before O'Sullivan pulled back a couple of frames, but the world No 64 held his nerve After his latest comments, it remains to be seen if he has enough in the tank to challenge for a record-extending eighth world title in April and May 2025. Earlier this year, he claimed he was looking into the prospect of switching to Chinese 8-ball - a new type of pool. 'Any cue sport fascinates me, so I’m looking at how popular Chinese 8-Ball is in China now.
It’s huge, it’s massive. I’m trying to see if there’s an appetite for me to go over and play pool at some point,' he told Let's Meet in Shanghai. 'I can’t keep playing snooker against the young guys, getting up for it, match-in-match-out, I don’t want to be playing just for the sake of it.
I want to keep playing for the next 10-15 years, earning a living, having a good time. 'China’s a place I like to go, obviously it’s a very popular sport out there but I’ll just have to see what my sponsors are like because at the moment they’re sponsoring me as a snooker player, but I’m trying to see if they’ll sponsor me as a pool player. 'To me it’s about keeping my sponsors happy, it doesn’t matter if I play pool snooker, billiards, whatever.
I just want to have a nice life. They pay my bills, pay my salary, so obviously I’ve got to keep them sweet and if they want me to keep playing snooker then I’ll have to keep playing. 'If they’re cool with me to play pool I’ll definitely entertain that.
I’d have to get used to the game, but it wouldn’t take me long.' Ronnie O'Sullivan Share or comment on this article: Ronnie O'Sullivan threatens to QUIT snooker after crashing out of English Open at first hurdle and claims he is 'absolutely USELESS' - before telling fans to 'forget about the Worlds' e-mail Add comment.
