Running: The Autobiography

by Ronnie O'Sullivan

All it takes is a few months off the pace, and it’s like you’ve never run in your life.

But, of course, I was deluding myself because the reality was I was hooked on it.

if the coach believes in me I must have it.

Ask any sportsman or sportswoman and they’ll tell you the same. Without routine you’re lost; you’re not going to achieve anything.

We need our routine; we need to be focused; we are selfish; we do have to put ourselves first.

Sportsmen also tend to be superstitious, and I thought any slight change to what I was doing would detract from where I wanted to go.

Matthew Syed says in his great book Bounce, it’s not natural-born genius that tends to distinguish high-achievers from less successful sports people, it’s practice – he reckons that you’re never going to get anywhere in a sport unless you’ve put in 10,000 hours’ practice, and he’s got a point. Then, when you’ve put in your 10,000 hours you can’t just stop. You’ve got to keep practising, reinforcing your good habits.

That’s the thing about snooker, any sport really: so much is psychology – and the psychology swings one way then the other by the second.

A champion thinks: ‘That’s going in the hole, pot the blue and get on to the pink; that’s the shot.’ Embrace the moment, I told myself. This is what top sport is about, this is how you separate yourself from the pack. You grab these opportunities, and commit.

It wasn’t easy because you then thought, well, I gave it my best and still lost, but it was easier.

my logic was that the game I was going to play would be more risky but it would also give much more of a message to the opponent: if you miss, I probably won’t.

He knocked the complacency out of me, and made me want to win again.

‘What you’re doing, Ronnie, is an act of sabotage.

Do my best; that’s all I can do. 2. I want to be here playing and competing – period. 3. I’m an adult, not a chimp. I can deal with anything that happens, any consequences. 4. It’s impossible to play well all the time. 5. What would I say to Lily and little Ronnie if they said their game was not right?

Every time I panicked I controlled it. I didn’t rush or go for stupid shots because I was getting frustrated;

‘This part of your brain will never change. All you can do is manage it, and if you don’t practise managing it every day your emotional side will take over again and you’ll end up in the same place you were when you first came to see me. You’ve had twenty years of conditioning that mind, and you’re not going to rebuild it overnight, so just accept it and deal with it.’ He removed the idea that I was looking for this spiritual path to inner peace. This was much more about me being in control of my own mind; me deciding how I wanted to react to certain situations.

But even though it’s never been my thing, it’s always the tournament your career is going to be judged by.

Winning the World Championship is not just about talent, it’s about resolve.

And for various reasons – loss of technique, loss of balance, loss of confidence, poor posture, whatever – I forgot how to play.

Money caused so many problems – but not having money caused even more.

Now I’m not sure that’s healthy for somebody starting out in life but then again to be successful it’s necessary to go through that.

Messi’s a god, everyone else is shit,

The fact that I was so verbal wasn’t a sign of my confidence, it was the opposite.’

‘You can’t make people feel uncomfortable, and if you want something done you’ve got to persuade them rather than tell them.

it’s about maintaining that standard over a career. That’s what makes a player truly great.