'I am not someone who likes to blow smoke out of my whatever it is' - Ronnie O'Sullivan happy with his position
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Updated 13/01/2022 at 18:42 GMT
“I tried to make as much of it as I could,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “I tried to hang in there and do what I could. I am not too disappointed, it’s the way it goes sometimes. You set yourself to have a certain mentality towards something, so you can’t change your mind halfway through it. I’ve decided how I want to feel about how any of my games go."
‘I tried to hang in there and make as much of it as I could’ - O’Sullivan
Ronnie O’Sullivan has said he is not big-headed, but feels a reminder of his achievements from time to time is a positive thing.
Since winning the World Championship in 2020, O’Sullivan has spent a lot of time talking himself down - saying he is more interested in playing snooker than competing for trophies.
O'Sullivan snapped a trophy drought at the World Grand Prix last month, and he arrived at the Masters with a positive frame of mind.
After beating Jack Lisowski in the first round, O’Sullivan said that he had 20 major titles on his record and that the other players need to worry about him.
He fell to Neil Robertson at the quarter-final stage, with his level below what he produced against Lisowski.
O’Sullivan has said he was not disappointed by the defeat, but would have liked to have pushed Robertson harder.
“I tried to make as much of it as I could,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “I tried to hang in there and do what I could. I am not too disappointed, it’s the way it goes sometimes.
“You set yourself to have a certain mentality towards something, so you can’t change your mind halfway through it. I’ve decided how I want to feel about how any of my games go.
“I am not as disappointed as I would be a few years ago, or most players would be on the circuit.
“I play for different reasons and I enjoy it and I enjoyed being out there today, it’s just a shame I could not find a good enough game which would have deserved to win.”
As a seven-time Masters and UK Champion and a world champion on six occasions, O’Sullivan holds most of the major records in the game and said it is nice to mention that on occasions.
““It is a good target for someone to chase, they have to chase that record, the Triple Crowns, the Masters, the UK,” O’Sullivan said. “I have not got the worlds, [Stephen] Hendry has that one, but I am chasing that one so it is good for everybody else to go for.
“I am not big headed, I am not someone who likes to blow smoke out of my whatever it is. But sometimes the statistics say everything and sometimes you have to remind yourself and everybody else that I have set pretty much every target to achieve in the game. Hendry did it in the 80s and 90s and [Steve] Davis, and I am pleased to be in that bracket, but I still like to enjoy playing.”
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