Ronnie O’Sullivan feels he’s benefitting from a “low mileage” schedule during his most successful season ever and will attempt to “nick” more trophies. The five-time world champion is in the midst of a stellar season. The 42-year-old has four ranking tournament wins already, more than any other season in his career, while he has also compiled more centuries and pocketed more prize money than ever before in a single season.
A comfortable 6-1 win over Graeme Dott has O’Sullivan looking at a Players Championship quarter-final showdown with Ding Junhui on Wednesday evening. They met in last month’s Grand Prix final in Preston, where O’Sullivan coasted to a 10-3 win. Reflecting on his successes this season, the Rocket attributes it to his reduced schedule and compares his current status to that of looking after a Ferrari. “A lot of the other players are burned out. I just chip in now and then and nick a few trophies,” he said. “I’m as fresh as a daisy because you have to pace yourself. I look at myself like a Ferrari – you can’t keep driving it every day, you have to polish it, clean it, keep it in the garage and keep the miles down. “If you want to put 300,000 miles on the car you will wear it out pretty soon so I try to keep my mileage down.”
O’Sullivan is favourite at 17/10 to win the Players Championship in Llandudno this weekend, while China’s Ding is 12/1. World number one Mark Selby was eliminated by in-form Ryan Day on Tuesday, the Welshman staying on course to make it three straight tournament wins.