By Elliott West
“It can be tough. Snooker is a tough sport. You are sitting in your chair and a lot of it is out of your control. A lot of the time you are sitting in your chair and you have to process a lot of this dialogue in your head.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Introduction
Every sportsperson has an ultimate goal and that is to succeed and be victorious. However, in order to achieve this ultimate prize, an arduous journey of body and mind has to be undertaken. A task that will tax every sinew in your body and take you on a mental trip that descends into a burning pit of anxiety, and self-doubt and tests your very own self-worth. Ronnie O’Sullivan in a recent Eurosport interview, described this as the ‘dark place’, somewhere that drags you kicking and screaming and returns you to terra firma in a state of ecstasy or disbelief that forces you to re-evaluate yourself, your worth and your skill set.
Ronnie
Behind the bravado and headlines, Ronnie is the ultimate sportsperson, someone who at times has to rein in his burning desire to compete and win because he fears that it could ultimately destroy him. This snooker player who has set the benchmark in the history of the game, a genius with a cue and someone who can hypnotise a cue ball, is like every human being, fallible. His battles with depression leading to stays in the Priory Clinic and dependency on alcohol and drugs are well documented but ultimately these coping mechanisms haven’t been his saving grace.
O’Sullivan has always put his fate in the hands of the snooker gods, deities that he believes will place him on dry land after a spell on the wave of the snooker sea. Ronnie has always been quite open about his mental demons, ones that have at times caused him to suddenly withdraw from a tournament at short notice or walk out of an arena after conceding a match to his opponent. In the past, he has bitten off his cue tip, scratched his face or even thrown his cue into the audience, irrational behaviour but coping mechanisms at the time to quell the heat of the moment.
This snooker great doesn’t cope well with anxiety. A camera crew once followed him on a World Championship campaign and were given total access and the express wish from Ronnie not to stop filming. Behind the dressing room door and the maze of corridors that there are at the Crucible Theatre backstage, O’Sullivan struggled to deal with the anxiety factors imposed on him before walking out onto the Sheffield stage. He is a sportsperson who copes better with anxiety when he is playing. Dr Steve Peters and Ray Reardon have brought him to a better place but ultimately this snooker icon is like a china doll that breaks into a thousand pieces at any time.
Ronnie uses his time away from the table wisely and has pumped his insecurities into running. A headspace where it is just you and the open air. You can lose yourself in the run and test your capabilities without being judged by others. As long as he has a run once a day, O’Sullivan is happy and can quite easily spend eight hours on his sofa watching television as long as he is supplied with tea, coffee and food.
‘The Rocket’ as he has become known in the snooker world, believes that he doesn’t have the coping mechanisms of success of his sporting heroes, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods. In fact, when he reached the final of the Hong Masters against Neil Robertson in 2017, a match he lost 6-3, Ronnie had to take a course of anxiety relief medication for four days, just to cope with coming down from the event.
The Future
Ronnie O’Sullivan doesn’t envisage going on in snooker forever and has already set plans in place to spend more time doing punditry, mentoring promising snooker players of the future and a recent spell of spending time working with a homeless charity at Christmas. The reason for this is that he is no longer a snooker star at that moment. He has nothing to prove and just blends into the work of the charity. O’Sullivan has a secret passion for politics and has revealed his support for the Labour Party in the past. Perhaps his burning desire to help others comes from an encounter he had with a homeless person he saw lying in the snow in Cardiff in 2018.
After his defeat to John Higgins in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, O’Sullivan left the Motorpoint Arena and spotted a rough sleeper. Ronnie felt compelled to help and went to a nearby Tesco store and bought food supplies for this needy man. A mixture of sandwiches and refreshments. A lovely thought that appeased the arctic conditions of the moment.
Afterthoughts
Ronnie O’Sullivan is ultimately the greatest snooker player and few would deny he is. A sportsperson who is revered by all in snooker and adored by fans. An ambassador of the game, O’Sullivan sells out arenas as fans rush to watch their idol in action. A 46-year-old player who has won everything in the snooker trophy cabinet including a record seven World Championship titles and a total of 39 ranking titles.
However, beneath this label of snooker champion is a fragile and sensitive character who struggles with the heat of the moment and has to withdraw to recharge his emotions. Everyone is fallible and Ronnie probably has more than others. A gentle soul beneath the bravado who has a desire to help others and keeps his small circle of friends close to his chest. A man who recently spoke to Mark Allen, a Crucible conversation that led to the Northern Irishman losing a staggering four stones in weight after going on a strict and healthy diet.
