Ronnie O’Sullivan claims that the presence of a film crew working on his documentary was the only thing that got him over the line at the World Championship last year, and he doubts he will be able to lift the famous trophy again.
In 2022, the Rocket won the sport’s biggest prize for the seventh time, defeating Judd Trump in the final to tie Stephen Hendry’s record of Crucible titles.
Throughout the campaign, he was closely followed by a film crew, and the excellent documentary ‘Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything’ was released this week on Prime Video.
O’Sullivan was extremely focused and business-like as the tournament progressed, and he says the presence of the cameras was behind his attitude because he didn’t want to let himself or the viewers down by throwing in the towel at any point.
‘I knew I had to try, and I knew I had to give it my all because I knew I’d have to watch it back, and I didn’t want to defraud the public,’ O’Sullivan said.
‘Normally, if I don’t feel like playing in a tournament or if it’s not my week this week, I’ve earned the right to do that [not give my all].
‘But when you put it on screen and ask people to take time out to watch it, and I’m going to have to watch it back, I wanted it to be genuine and for me to put my heart and soul into every ball and every pot for the entire year. It was not just the World Championships, but the entire year! I put my whole heart and soul into it.
‘It made me win that Championships, I don’t think I would have won it without having that sort of pressure on me to perform.
‘I don’t think I’d have made it past the quarters. Because that’s a difficult game for me, I believe [John] Higgins would have done me. I could have lost that match, but I fought hard.’
O’Sullivan’s title defense ended in the quarter-finals this year, when he was defeated by eventual champion Luca Brecel, but he will be one of the favorites to win the Crucible again next year, when he will be 48 years old.
Given how much stress the World Championship puts on the Rocket, he doubts he will ever reach the summit again, but admits that he felt the same way over a decade ago when he had only won three world titles.
‘Probably not, to be honest,’ he said of his chances of winning an eighth championship. I’m sure I’ll pitch and play again, but I’m not sure if I have another one in me.
‘To be brutally honest, I don’t think I have, to be honest with you. I don’t think I’ll be able to do another one. But I said that in 2011, and I’ve won a few since then, so it’s strange how things can change.’
The pressures and strains of a Crucible campaign are made abundantly clear in The Edge of Everything, when O’Sullivan is mentally struggling during the final against Judd Trump, questioning his ability to return to the arena at times.
The legendary cueist claims he had stage fright during the match, which has only happened once before, during his first World Championship victory over John Higgins in 2001.
‘I had a bad afternoon session on Monday where I got stage fright,’ he explained. ‘I’ve only ever had that twice at the Crucible. ‘The first time was during the final session of the final against John Higgins, and I thought to myself, “What am I going through here?” I’d never had it before.
‘Then the only other time I had it was in the afternoon against Judd. I think it’s because the first one is so difficult to win because you’ve never won it before and want to get that monkey off your back. Then there were the five years in between when I was in my prime, when you go through it but you always seem to have the upper hand, and I always felt in control of the majority of the matches.
‘Then I thought this might be my last one, so having such a big lead and everyone around me thinking it’s in the bag…I knew it wasn’t in the bag because I know how quickly matches can change at the Crucible.’
O’Sullivan explained that dressing room meltdowns are common at the Crucible, but he only felt he couldn’t play properly against Higgins and Trump because of the pressure.
The documentary shows Dr. Steve Peters assisting O’Sullivan through difficult times, and the Rocket stated that it was not the first time he told the psychiatrist that he just couldn’t keep playing.
‘I did it before in 2012 when I was playing well in the final against Ali Carter,’ he explained. ‘I played great throughout the tournament, but I was talking to him [Peters] before the game, he left the room, and about 10 minutes later I was like, “Shit! I can’t go out there and have fun!”
‘It’s just that the Crucible can do that to you sometimes, it really can.
‘So I’ve had stage fright twice when I’ve been out there playing. But I usually get it before the game, during the dressing room period, when I’m nervous. But when I go out there and play, it has no effect on my performance; there have only been two instances where it has.
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