Ronnie O'Sullivan teases retirement plan: 'I will stink places out for another three years'
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Updated 16/12/2021 at 20:26 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan avoided a repeat of his German Masters disaster, when he was whitewashed by Hossein Vafaei, but was slow to get going at the World Grand Prix in Coventry. "I want three more world titles and I have earned the right to smell a few places out," O'Sullivan said after the win, which set-up a quarter-final meeting with Jimmy Robertson.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan has suggested that he will retire in three years, insisting he has earned the right to "stink out" events when not at his best.
'The Rocket' was slow to get going against Hossein Vafaei in the last 16 of the World Grand Prix, but progressed with a convincing 4-1 margin after finding his fluency later in the match.
The Iranian had dumped O'Sullivan out of the German Masters without conceding a frame but could not reproduce a similar performance.
Six-time world champion O'Sullivan said afterwards that he was eyeing a further three triumphs at the Crucible, though recognising that he is not at the level he once was.
"I will stink places out for another three years, I want three more world titles and I have earned the right to smell a few places out," O'Sullivan argued after his win.
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"Then if it doesn’t get any better it’s time to hang the cue up. I still love the game but you can’t play like that, I can’t anyway.
"It is showing in my results, I used to win a lot of tournaments but now get caught out in semis, quarters, finals, and there is a reason for that.
"I’m not as good as I was, but I accept that, I am not one of these deluded people, I am quite realistic and there is only so much juice to squeeze out of the lemon."
The 46-year-old needs one more World Championship to equal the record of Stephen Hendry.
He is yet to reach a final in the 2021/22 season having gone without a ranking title last season.
O'Sullivan apologised to fans at the Coventry Building Society Arena for what he felt was a particularly below-par start against Vafaei.
"I felt embarrassed and really sad for the crowd that they had come all that way to watch that," he said.
"At least it was better to click a bit at the end, that was better for the fans who paid their money took the afternoon work and expected to see some decent snooker.
"That was as bad as it’s ever been for the first three frames. If he had played alright it would have been 4-0 and I’d have been done and dusted.
"I get it now what Steve Davis used to say, that it’s time to pack it in when your ranking goes above your age.
"I’m not going to get any better now, and I will know when it is time to throw it in because I didn’t enjoy that today."
O'Sullivan will face Jimmy Robertson for a place in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix.
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