Snooker icon Ronnie O'Sullivan has dropped a bombshell recommendation for darts' teenage sensation Luke Littler, suggesting the 17-year-old should consider walking away from the sport entirely to safeguard his wellbeing.
The Rocket, known for his own candid battles with pressure in snooker, delivered his surprising counsel during an appearance on the Impact Podcast, where he didn't hold back about the psychological toll of professional sports.
The Mental Health Warning
O'Sullivan's advice comes from a place of hard-earned experience. "If I was Luke Littler, I'd probably never pick a dart up again," the seven-time world snooker champion revealed. "I'd just leave it alone because you're never going to have a life."
The sporting legend painted a stark picture of the challenges facing young prodigies, emphasising how the constant pressure and expectation can become overwhelming. His words carry particular weight given his own well-documented struggles with maintaining mental health while competing at the highest level.
Littler's Meteoric Rise
Luke Littler took the darts world by storm earlier this year with his incredible performance at the PDC World Darts Championship. The Warrington teenager's fairytale run to the final captured the nation's attention and transformed him into an overnight sporting celebrity.
However, O'Sullivan believes this sudden fame comes at a significant cost. "He's 17, he's just burst onto the scene, he's probably had the time of his life for the last six months," O'Sullivan acknowledged. "But it's hard, then you've got to back it up, then you've got to do it again, then you've got to do it again."
A Life of Pressure
The snooker maestro elaborated on the relentless nature of professional sports, where yesterday's hero can quickly become today's disappointment in the eyes of fans and media.
"It's like you're only as good as your last tournament, your last World Championship," O'Sullivan explained. "You win it, you're the man, you lose first round, you're not the man anymore."
This constant cycle of expectation and evaluation creates what O'Sullivan describes as a "treadmill" that becomes increasingly difficult to escape as a sportsperson's career progresses.
The Alternative Path
While O'Sullivan's advice might seem extreme, it reflects his own approach to managing the psychological demands of elite competition. The snooker star has frequently taken breaks from the sport throughout his career to preserve his mental health and maintain his passion for the game.
His comments highlight the growing awareness of mental health challenges in professional sports, particularly for young athletes thrust into the spotlight before they've developed the coping mechanisms to handle intense public scrutiny.
Whether Littler takes the snooker legend's surprising advice remains to be seen, but O'Sullivan's words serve as a powerful reminder of the human cost behind sporting success.
