Ronnie O'Sullivan reveals moment when he will 'probably retire' from snooker ahead of Masters final

Ronnie O'Sullivan reveals moment when he will 'probably retire' from snooker ahead of Masters final

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Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 14/01/2024

- 11:51

Updated: 14/01/2024

- 12:09

The Rocket has reached yet another Masters final

Ronnie O'Sullivan has revealed the moment when he thinks he will retire from snooker ahead of Sunday's Masters final.

The seven-time world champion says it will be time to call it a day if he is playing well but still losing.


O'Sullivan has reached a 14th Masters final after beating Shaun Murphy 6-2 in Saturday's semi at Alexandra Palace.

The Rocket was far better than in his previous two matches at the tournament against Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins.

Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ronnie O'Sullivan has revealed the moment when he would 'probably retire

Getty

He was still not happy with how he played despite putting on a show for the adoring London crowd.

Speaking to Eurosport after the match, O'Sullivan was asked where he gets his 'joy' at the table.

The 48-year-old replied in typical fashion, commenting: "Just playing absolute filth and still managing to win.

"I'm sort of thinking 'How am I doing it?'.

"The two tournaments I've won this year I haven't played good.

"The three I didn't win, I played alright, I played decent."

O'Sullivan believes it would be time for him to hang up his cue when he is happy with his game but is not getting the results.

He added: "Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. I can't work it out. "If I was playing well and getting beat I would probably retire.

"But I'm playing not great and still winning.

"So it's making me think if I was to start playing alright, I wonder what I can do.

"So I'm just squeezing as much lemon juice out of this lemon as I can at the moment."

He will play Ali Carter in Sunday's final after he beat Mark Allen in his semi on Saturday evening.

O'Sullivan claimed his below-par performance brought Hawkins down to an 'awful' level of snooker in Thursday's quarter-final.

He believes he did the same with Murphy on Saturday.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy

Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Shaun Murphy in Saturday's semi-final

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He said: "I did it today as well! I ruined him. But I don't mean to.

"That's up to them to put me away but they don't. 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.

"A lot of guys are out there, whatever the sport is, like it's a matter of life and death.

Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ronnie O'Sullivan put in his best performance of the tournament so far

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"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."

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