O'Sullivan admits he fell into a "terrible dark world" after reaching the final again
On April 7, 2024, according to sports editor John Maynard Keynes, O'Sullivan will face Mark Williams in the final of the tour in Manchester on Sunday after defeating Gary Wilson.
O'Sullivan said he had been battling his instinct to delve into the "terrible dark world" of overthinking his game after beating Gary Wilson to reach the final again.
On Friday night, O'Sullivan defeated Gary Wilson, the double champion of the Scottish and Welsh Opens, 10-7 in Manchester, to reach the final of the 64th ranking tournament of his extraordinary career. The Rockets will face Mark Williams in Sunday's Tour Final, his sixth Tour final of the season.
At the World Championships later this month, he is expected to win a record eighth title of his career, and he looks to be in good form. But the 48-year-old said his victory was far from smooth sailing, and he has been working alongside his psychiatrist, Steve Peters, to master the mental side of the game.
The Rockets told ITV Sport: "I've been trying not to let myself down. It's hard, but I'm trying to change my mindset. It wasn't easy, but maybe two weeks ago, I might have thrown in the towel mentally because I wasn't in good shape, but I really wanted to keep going and focus on the positives that might be coming. ”
Speaking about his relationship with Peters, Rocket added: "I talk to him every day, three times a day, sometimes four times a day. What I have to do now is to try to get myself out of my mental predicament in this wonderful year, with the obsession and tinkering with the game. ”
"I know I'm never going to stop correcting, but I have to somehow make myself strong enough to handle it and not go too deep into the horrible dark world. ”
The Rockets have already won more than £1 million this season and show no signs of slowing down before returning to Crucible a few weeks later. He won three heavyweight tournaments at the British Championship and the London Masters, as well as the World Grand Prix, Shanghai Masters and World Masters, although he suffered from "the high tension that occurs before an athlete hits a ball or completes a certain action".
"Golfers, tennis players, snooker players, darts players, we all have this pain point," he explains. I was so addicted to it that it was like forcing myself to quit some bad habit. It's not going to happen right away, so if I want to get rid of it, I'll have to put in training. ”
"It feels like I'm nervous mentally and physically and you're scared to go and play, it's not a good place. There's not much more I can do but get myself out of the woods and hopefully my game will start smooth again. (Welcome to click to pay attention to Runwu AB, please indicate the source for reprinting, thank you)