Ronnie O'Sullivan has been given permission to wear different shoes to his opponents at the Masters.
The seven-time champion has been hampered by a foot injury and revealed he was 'struggling to walk'.
O'Sullivan reached his 14th Masters final after beating Shaun Murphy 6-2 in Saturday's semi-final.
He has been critical of his own performance this week as well as criticising the Alexandra Palace venue.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has been given permission to wear different shoes
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But it appears he has also been suffering from a physical issue which may have influenced how he has played.
Eagle-eyed fans will have seen O'Sullivan wearing trainers in his semi-final.
He started the week wearing smarter shoes but he was given permission to change his footwear.
Six-time world champion Steve Davis was on commentary duty for Sunday's final.
Davis said: "He's been struggling with some kind of foot injury so has been given permission to wear training shoes."
O'Sullivan revealed the extent of the injury after Saturday's win over Murphy.
He told Eurosport: "I've got a bad foot so I'm just trying to keep these on so my feet don't hurt.
"They get a bit sore otherwise.
"They're alright in these trainers but when I wore my shoes the other day, I could barely walk.
"It's quite painful yeah."
O'Sullivan overcame Ding Junhui, Barry Hawkins and Murphy to set up Sunday's match against Ali Carter.
Saturday saw an improved performance from the 48-year-old.
However, he still believes he is a long way from his best.
O'Sullivan said: "I try to not analyse it. If I was to analyse my performance technically I would give myself a one out of 10, two out of 10.
"But I'm just trying to will the balls in the holes sometimes.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan has been wearing trainers in his last couple of matches
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"It feels like I'm on the edge a lot of the time. It feels like anything can go wrong at any time.
"I just kept my head down from start to finish and try not to beat myself up too much out there and then just try and do a job.
"Everyone goes to work, just try and do your best job on that day and just take it like that.
"It's a hard game, mentally it's a tough game to go out there and keep your mind and forget all this.
"It's easier said than done. You can talk all that talk beforehand and get all the sports psychologists you can but it's not easy to do to go out there and play like you're playing for fun.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is taking on Ali Carter in Sunday's final
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"A lot of guys are out there, whatever the sport is, like it's a matter of life and death.
"You're probably not going to play your best like that.
"So I try and sort of play like it doesn't really mean much and have some fun with it.
"And then the magic can sometimes happen."
