Ronnie O’Sullivan admits talking about his matches causes him 'trauma' after Welsh Open win over James Cahill
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Published 01/03/2022 at 17:41 GMT
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby have spoken out recently about the mental health problems snooker poses, with The Rocket admitting that talking about his matches “puts him in a bad place”. O'Sullivan saw off James Cahill at the Welsh Open on Tuesday and refrained from speaking about the match, saying to do so would cause him “trauma”. O’Sullivan will meet Lukas Kleckers in the second round.
O’Sullivan admits talking about his matches causes him 'trauma'
Ronnie O’Sullivan admits analysing his snooker matches causes him “trauma”, just a week after he opened up about his struggle with “snooker depression”.
The Rocket bounced back from his shock defeat to Fan Zhengyi in the European Masters final with a 4-0 whitewash of old foe James Cahill at the Welsh Open on Tuesday.
However he was reluctant to talk about the encounter in his post-match interview and instead shifted the spotlight onto his 26-year-old opponent, who staged one of the biggest upsets in snooker history when beating O’Sullivan at the 2019 World Championship.
“Like I said, I won’t talk about my matches,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport.
“Obviously James is a great player, great cue action, good for the game, great to watch. I don’t like talking about my matches, it causes me trauma so I would rather not open up that can of worms.”
O’Sullivan shone a light on his mental health problems at the European Masters last week, joining world No. 1 Mark Selby in speaking about the challenges snooker poses. Selby admitted he has been “suffering for a few years” with depression and “bottling everything up”.
“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 last week.
“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.”
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O’Sullivan threatens to quit amid photographer row
O’Sullivan suggested he might skip the Welsh Open after his deep run at the European Masters in Milton Keynes, but is now targeting a record-equalling fifth title in Newport.
“I’m just enjoying what I’m doing and if it doesn’t work out it’s no big deal, I’ll just come and do a little bit of work for you guys,” he added on Tuesday, referencing his work as a Eurosport pundit.
“So it’s a win-win situation!”
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Stream the Welsh Open and other top snooker live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
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