Ronnie O'Sullivan has indicated he will retire from snooker in 18 months, after taking advice from Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, two of the sport's greatest players. The 50-year-old, who turns 51 in December, has been out of form for several years and has not won the World Championship since 2022, reaching only one final since 2024.
Advice from snooker greats
O'Sullivan has spoken to both Hendry and Davis about the timing of their retirements. He revealed that both felt they had continued playing for almost a decade longer than they should have, believing they could still produce the level of their prime before eventually accepting they should have walked away sooner.
O'Sullivan is determined not to repeat their mistakes, saying: "I asked Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis, I spoke to them a couple of times and they said they probably played 10 years longer than they should have done. Because you always have this feeling, I want to play like I used to, because it's a nice feeling."
Self-assessment of current form
He added: "I'm not going to waste 10 years. I've wasted three or four, in my opinion, three or four years where it's been not great. I'll give myself another year-and-a-half, to see if I can find something. If I can't I think it's good to draw a line under it and move on to other things that are more suitable to me."
O'Sullivan is currently competing at the Wuhan Open, where he has won three matches, beating Ashley Carty, Yao Pengcheng and Stephen Maguire. Despite this, he insists his run will end in the last eight when he faces Mark Selby.
No hope of victory
"No. Absolutely no chance," he said when asked about his chances of winning the tournament. "I was happy to win a match. When I won two matches I was over the moon. To win three, for me, was a miracle at the moment. I've probably gone as far as I can go."
He continued: "If anybody plays well against me, they win, it doesn't matter where they're ranked. If they play poorly then I have a chance, but I don't expect anyone from now to play poorly. My game is now very, very poor. I'm not playing to a good enough level. My technique is so rubbish I don't have a clue where the balls are going, it's like hit and hope snooker. I'm delighted to have won three matches, I can't believe it really. I just hope for some improvement in the future. I'm playing more for the future, to hopefully find something."
