Ronnie O’Sullivan says he is fed up with snooker and has blamed fatigue after suffering a surprise early exit from the Northern Ireland Open on Thursday. The 41-year-old has recently covered thousands of miles around the world after taking part in the International Championship, Shanghai Masters and the Champion of Champions competition.
O’Sullivan, who is priced at 3/1 to win The Masters 2018 outright, highlighted the huge amount of travel as the reason why he struggled to perform at the Northern Ireland Open this week. ‘The Rocket’ crashed out in last-32 stage after falling to a shock defeat at the hands of compatriot Elliot Slessor in Belfast. Slesser, who is ranked number 82 in the world, claimed a 4-1 triumph and dashed O’Sullivan’s hopes of scooping snooker’s first £1million jackpot.
The world number four won the English Open last month and victories at the Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Opens would have seen him pick up the six-figure prize. O’Sullivan insists he never expected to seal the jackpot and has blamed fatigue for a poor performance against Slessor. “I am so happy the chance of the £1million is gone, all the silly headlines, it was ridiculous. I went along with it, but you have more chance of winning the lottery,” O’Sullivan said. “Elliot played really well and handled the situation well. He potted some good balls, and was solid and sometime solid is good enough. “I am a bit fed up with playing, all the travelling and going from one hotel to another, one country to another. It’s greed really, and I’m not greedy, and haven’t done my training camps.”
Dafabet Northern Ireland Open odds available at Dafabet.