Ronnie fears going to back of cue
Ronnie O’Sullivan feels dazed and confused and is unsure if he will ever recover from his most crushing Crucible loss, writes ROB MAUL.
The Rocket, 49, was hammered 17-7 in the semi-finals by magnificent Zhao Xintong, who won with a session to spare, and is in line to become China’s first world snooker champion.
It is 31 years since O’Sullivan exited the World Snooker Championship in such embarrassing fashion with a spare session left.
Qualifier Xintong, 28, won EIGHT frames in a row over 82 minutes in the second session on Friday – the fourth time O’Sullivan had endured a session whitewash.
O’Sullivan – who changed his cue tip THREE times and ferrule once in the contest – said: “I’m at a loss to be honest with you.
“I have lost what I used to have. I’m so confused. It feels really 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.
“I tried something different with my cue. I tried to go back to the old brass ferrule.
“I wasn’t surprised (by the session loss). I’ve been playing like that in practice. It’s hard to get my head around it. 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.”
