O'Sullivan - could play into his 40s.
O'SULLIVAN AIMS FOR LONG CAREER
Ronnie O'Sullivan, who once threatened to quit the sport when he was only 18,
now insists he could be potting balls at the top level beyond his 40th
birthday.
And the unpredictable Essex star is determined to add to his solitary world
title victory.
O'Sullivan first claimed he would hang up his cue this year after becoming the
youngest ever winner of a ranking tournament, aged just 17.
There have been similar suggestions for almost the last decade but the
27-year-old world number one said: "I feel like I'm in good physical and mental
health for the first time in about three years.
"I'm not going to make myself miserable over snooker again. I can handle it
now so maybe I'll have another 10 years at the top. Maybe it will be 15 or 20
years.
"You just don't know whether my game will suit the longer distance.
"But I want to be in this game for as long as I possibly can," added the
Chigwell-based star ahead of his opening match in the Embassy World
Championship.
O'Sullivan is favourite to regain the trophy he held in 2001, with Hong Kong's
Marco Fu providing the opposition in what should be an attractive first round
match.
Fu, briefly the leading overseas professional, will be a good test for the
'Rocket' but should not prevent him qualifying for the last 16.
O'Sullivan has been in outstanding form during the second half of the
campaign, winning the European Open in Torquay and then the Irish Masters after
the match of the season against John Higgins in Dublin.
An early exit from the Scottish Open in Edinburgh has not dented his
confidence and he is better prepared than ever for the 17-day marathon at the
Crucible.
O'Sullivan continued: "I've had a lot going on since winning the world
championship," he says. "I got off to a slow start the following season, OK I
won the UK title, but I wasn't focused on my snooker.
"My shop, Viva La Diva in Soho, took up a lot of my energy but now that's up
and running I've got no more distractions.
"Maybe I shouldn't have got so involved but my heart was set on it and I made
it mine. Still, it took the edge off my game.
"I wasn't prepared to give that that extra 10 or 15%. I used to give it
1000%.
"Watching the other players do well has spurred me on. You can't let them get
too far ahead of you.
"It's all about hard work. Stephen Hendry has proved it with his dedication
over the years. Mark Williams is the same. That's why they get the results they
get, it's no coincidence.
"It's the same in any sport. You look at Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher and
Pete Sampras. They are all single-minded people and I haven't been for the last
two years.
"There was a time when I thought I wouldn't win the world championship and so
when I won it it was a massive burden off my shoulders.
"I definitely want to win another two or three world championships but I'm
not going to do it if I don't put the work in. I don't want to be coming to
tournaments feeling guilty and not competing.
"In the back of my mind there was that niggling feeling that I wanted to
retire because I was never totally happy with my game and I'm still not.
"But it's there more often than not and maybe I've just accepted that's it
OK. Before, it was never OK, it was diabolical.
"I've listened to people like Andre Agassi say he only practises his tennis
an hour a day and I chose to believe that.
"I thought I wouldn't have to practice five or six hours a day but that's
rubbish.
"People like Agassi and Tiger Woods don't just do an hour a day they work and
that's why they're the best.
"I'd put Hendry and Davis on the same level as Woods, Sampras and
Schumacher."
"They are one off people who come along every so often, I'm not one of them,
I'm a little bit too inconsistent to be that. Maybe I'm on the same level as
someone like Eric Cantona.
"The new model could turn out to be better than the model when I was 15 or
16. That's got to be the goal that drives me on. I have to believe that.
"I don't know what's going to happen over the next ten years but I know if
I'm dedicated it won't be too bad.
O'Sullivan, a semi-finalist 12 months ago, starts his campaign against Fu in a
two-day, best-of-19-frames match on Tuesday.
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