What to expect from Ronnie O’Sullivan this season – according to the Rocket

Ronnie O’Sullivan had a turbulent last season, taking time away from snooker as he tried to rediscover enjoyment in the game, so what can we expect from him in the coming campaign?

Predicting the Rocket is notoriously difficult, but he has laid out a pretty clear plan for himself and it sounds like it will feature plenty of snooker.

The second half of last season was extremely quiet for the 49-year-old, snapping his cue on an ill-fated visit to the Championship League in January and not playing again until the World Championship in April.

After chatting to psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, a two-year plan was put together to try and find form and pleasure from the game which he had lost.

Speaking on the eve of the World Championship, O’Sullivan explained: ‘I said I wanted to at least do two proper years.

‘Put everything I was doing on the back burner. I don’t feel like I have that luxury anymore to do other things and try and compete.

‘I think I owe it to my career to focus just on playing for the next two years, at least, and just see if I can rediscover some decent form. Try and finish my carer on a good note and not how it’s felt for the last three or four years. That’s my main goal.

‘If it doesn’t go great here, at least I’ve got another three months to go back to the practice table and really try and start next season, build some momentum and rebuild, find some sort of game that can at least give me some enjoyment.’

He confirmed that playing snooker would be strictly limited to competition, saying: ‘There will be no more exhibitions or distractions off the table.’

No more coaches

After a pretty comfortable first round win over Ali Carter, the Rocket also said that he no longer plans to dabble with different coaches, something he has done a lot over the years.

‘There will be no more coaches onboard, it will be just me and Steve Peters, trying to help me be a bit more instinctive and just try and find my own way of playing,’ he told TNT Sports after a 10-4 win.

‘I will commit to two years, even if it is terrible, and will give everything to play in the tournaments, practice and rest and rediscover the shots I have lost.

‘I just need to go back to my own way of playing, clear my head and not be too analytical and overthink things.’

Victories over Pang Junxu and Si Jiahui followed, but that enjoyment O’Sullivan was searching for did not.

After a 13-9 win over Si in the Sheffield quarter-finals, he told the BBC: ‘I’m playing awful and the cue feels awful. It’s the worst situation to be in as a snooker player. I’m still in so I’ll keep punching away, keep trying.’

His new cue was bothering him so much that O’Sullivan changed his ferrule and tip in the middle of his semi-final with eventual champion Zhao Xintong.

It seemed a desperate move and it did not pay off, but the seven-time world champ was not exactly sure what the problem was after a 17-7 thrashing at the hands of the Cyclone.

‘I’m at a loss to be honest with you,’ he said. ‘I have lost what I used to have. I’m so confused. It feels a struggle.

‘I don’t know if it was me, the cue, tip or the ferrule. I didn’t know where the white ball was going.’

On the one-sided result, he said: ‘I wasn’t surprised. I have been playing like that in practice. It’s hard to get my head around. I can’t even fix it, that’s the problem, I don’t know if I can fix it.

‘I want to give it two years but if you play like that, it’s pretty pointless. It’s not good.

‘I have been like that for four years, trying to grind it out. I haven’t had a clue where the cue ball was going. I have been willing it in the hole.

‘I don’t know how to correct the fault. That is the worrying thing. I am so far away – I don’t even know where to begin.’

A change in lifestyle

O’Sullivan then explained that he is leaving the UK to set up home in the Middle East, saying: ‘There’s going to be a few changes in my life so I’ll see how that goes. I don’t know.

‘I think I’m going to be moving out of the UK this year, so I don’t know how that’s going to pan out to be honest with you.

‘A new life, somewhere else. Still try and play snooker, but I don’t know what the future looks like for me.

‘I’ll be moving away to the Middle East. We’ll see how it goes. I might be back in six months, who knows?’

And that’s where we left the Rocket, with little update from him since, other than the launch of a YouTube channel.

What is encouraging for his fans, though, is that the two-year plan seems to be getting off to a busy start as O’Sullivan’s name is in the first three draws of the season.

He has been known to pull out of events, so don’t put the house on him playing in all three, but the Rocket is currently scheduled to compete in the Shanghai Masters, Wuhan Open and British Open.

The draw is yet to be done for the Championship League, which starts later this month, so we will wait and see if he competes in Leicester for the first time since his cue-smashing trip there six months ago.

The Saudi Arabia Masters is coming up in Jeddah in August and he will certainly be playing there given his ambassadorial role in the country.

So there is little reason to doubt that the Rocket’s two-year plan is still the direction of travel. The World Championship may have ended disappointingly, but he still reached the semi-final feeling awful about his game and his cue, so positives can be drawn.

Much may depend on how often he can and will lean on Peters, who is clearly hugely important to his success.

During his run in Sheffield he said: ‘Steve’s been amazing. I wouldn’t have got through the first round without Steve so Steve’s been incredible.

‘If I could afford him I’d have him every day but obviously he’s a busy man and I couldn’t afford to have him full-time, so I try to time when I can have him. Obviously Sheffield is a big tournament so it’s nice to have him around when this event’s on.’

If O’Sullivan gets the help he wants and is focussed on his 24-month schedule then there is every reason to believe that he will be back in the winners’ circle soon enough.

It was only two season’s ago that he won five titles and his Class of 92 rivals, John Higgins and Mark Williams, showed that age is not the issue as they both lifted trophies last season.

If we get what O’Sullivan has told us to expect, then we can look forward to the Rocket firing again soon enough.