O'Sullivan has no plan to stop playing snooker

Ronnie O'Sullivan won his seventh World Championship in May 2022

Ronnie O'Sullivan said he planned to continue competing at the top level of snooker, so long as he enjoyed it.

The seven-time world champion from Chigwell, Essex, had previously threatened to quit the sport over a row with its governing body.

He admitted there were times he would "hate" snooker, but later realised: "Actually, I really love this."

Asked if he planned to continue playing professionally, O'Sullivan said: "As long as I can pace myself."

The 48-year-old's struggles with snooker at times have been well-documented.

O'Sullivan came under fire in November after he publicly criticised the World Snooker Tour.

His comments related to five players being threatened with punishment for playing in an exhibition event in China, instead of the Northern Ireland Open.

In that same month, a documentary showed "The Rocket" almost in tears having got stage fright in a World Championship final in 2022.

O'Sullivan is one of the greats of modern-day snooker

Speaking to BBC Essex, the snooker great said he was back enjoying competing on the world tour.

"We all have moments where we hate what we do," he said.

"Then a few weeks later you wake up and you go, 'Actually, I really love this.' That's normal for everybody."

'Not hungry for titles'

O'Sullivan went on to overcome his anxieties and won the World Championship in 2022, becoming the oldest winner in Crucible history.

However, in the 2024 tournament he exited at the quarter final stage at the hands of fellow Englishman, Stuart Bingham.

He said his new autobiography would lift the lid on his personal experience of competing at the top level.

The seven-time world champion has twice been nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year

O'Sullivan told the BBC he had come to value the importance of enjoyment over heaping pressure on himself.

"There was a time where I didn't think I was ever going to win one World Championship, so to be sitting here on seven feels ridiculous," he said.

"I'm not going to get greedy and want the eighth. If you said I'm going to get one, I'd be happy with that.

"I'm not hungry to get titles. As long as I'm enjoying playing, that's the main thing."