Ronnie O'Sullivan has opened up on the 'biggest mistake' he made as a youngster as the World Snooker Championship creeps closer.
The Rocket is yet to confirm whether he'll be gracing the Crucible, having not played since January.
O'Sullivan has spoken candidly about his mental health demons over the years and, in recent months, has opened up on his confidence issues.
He isn't feeling himself at the current moment in time, hence snooker fans facing an anxious wait to see whether he plays at the World Championship.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has opened up on the 'biggest mistake' he made as a youngster as the World Snooker Championship creeps closer
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And O'Sullivan says his 'biggest mistake' was trying to copy players such as James Wattana and Ken Doherty as a teenager because it's shaped him into such a perfectionist.
"My biggest mistake was when I was like 13, 14, trying to copy players like James Wattana and Ken Doherty," he told the Daily Mail.
"They were the best players I’d ever seen live and I thought I needed to cue like them.
"That’s where the problems started. I should never have gone away from what I had because what I had was better than anybody else has ever had, in my opinion.
"I was self-taught. It was just very solid, very natural. I played for fun then."
O'Sullivan has won trophies galore over the years. He says, however, that he's not actually enjoyed snooker since 2018.
The British legend added: "I think the last time I actually enjoyed playing was probably about 2018."
In January, after exiting the Championship League in Leicester, O'Sullivan snapped his cue in a fit of rage.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the World Snooker Championship on seven separate occasions over the years
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He then stormed away after losing 3-2 to Robert Milkins.
O'Sullivan admits he regrets that behaviour but also spoke honestly and openly about his issues with his technique.
"I regret it, but that wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, I’d had four years of just really struggling and I just couldn’t take it anymore," he said.
"It wasn’t the losing, it was the playing really, really badly. Four years of bad spells is a long time, so it burnt me out. It ground me down. It’s been torturous.
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"I got to the point, especially at the start of the season, when I was getting scared to go near the practice table or getting scared to get my cue out of my case.
"I tried playing left-handed for a whole month in August. Then I tried to change my bridge and I was wearing plasters on my fingers. So I have tried a lot of things but I’ve hit a dead end, which is why I needed to take time out.
"It’s not a mental thing. It’s more of a physical thing. It’s really hard to explain.
"Watching my game on TV, I could see what was wrong, but I just didn’t know how to fix it.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has revealed he's not enjoyed snooker since 2018
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"In the end, I couldn’t even watch myself play because I just hated it.
"I believe that goes back six years to when I started changing my technique to try to find that extra five per cent of consistency. But I’ve totally made my game worse."
