Ronnie O’Sullivan worried about embarrassing himself as harsh comments finally make sense

Ronnie O’Sullivan attempts to save himself from embarrassment before every tournament.

Before a tournament, Ronnie O’Sullivan has acknowledged that he minimizes his prospects in order to save face. The Rocket maintains that in order to avoid having his remarks backfire, it is preferable to downplay his potential performance at an event.

O’Sullivan is known to be extremely critical of his own performances. That is despite him being a seven-time world champion and one of the best snooker players of the last several decades.

The 48-year-old is currently missing the Welsh Open due to experiencing stage fright, which he says is brought on by anxiety. While providing punditry for Eurosport, he opened up about ‘undercooking’ his own expectations before he plays at a tournament despite insisting that he knows what he is capable of doing.

“It is better to underplay it,” O’Sullivan said. “We all know what we are capable of, but you don’t want to be putting yourself up there saying you are great and then don’t perform.

“It is better to undercook it, under promise and over deliver is always a nice way to be I think.”

O’Sullivan had just seen Anthony McGill, who had defeated Mark Williams handily in Wales, give a dejected interview. It was an unexpected reflection of his victory that McGill had claimed he “hates the way I play snooker”.

However, O’Sullivan thinks that kind of response is typical and advised celebrities to consult with reliable friends. He advises against thinking that you have performed poorly and instead to find out what a friend thought of your performance.

O’Sullivan went on, “You can have a fantastic match and feel really bad out there.” However, if you rewatch it, things might have changed. It’s challenging, but you should really make an effort to stop critiquing your own performances.

“Just try and speak to someone who has watched it whose opinion you trust. I do that a lot – I come off thinking I’ve played terrible but my mate is saying I played amazing. I am ‘oh’.

“Then I just think it’s probably he does not know much about snooker. Try and not judge your own performance is the big thing.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan has called on the sport’s authorities to provide a doctor at every tournament to help players. He believes it would help stars overcome what he calls the “most frustrating game on the planet”