EXCLUSIVE

The dark days are over for snooker’s Jekyll and Hyde but a fire will always burn within for the man who realises the sprint has turned into a marathon.

He is the Jekyll and Hyde of the green baize, at times magical, at others whimsical. At last month’s World Championships, Shaun Murphy called him the boy that cried wolf over his repeated threats to quit the game while Judd Trump said the five-time world champion was attention-seeking.

But such descriptions fail to fully understand Ronnie O’Sullivan, prone in the past to outbursts when sometimes he doesn’t know what he wants from a game twhich has defined him for 32 years and at times seemed destined to destroy him.

In one breath, he talks of emulating the seven world titles of Stephen Hendry, in the next he then argues convincingly why he will never win another world title.

“I know it’s achievable for me to get the record,” he explains. “But with me playing only eight or nine tournaments for me a year, I have to be realistic.”

Citing the example of his quarter-final against eventual world champion Stuart Bingham, he says: “Stuart went into that with 125 matches under his belt and I’d had about 25 so I’m not as sharp. To get to that I have to play more but I’m no longer prepared to live out of a suitcase. I don’t want to be like George Clooney [in the film Up In The Air]. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve done a great job with snooker and if I was a younger man without a girlfriend and children I’d be chasing every tournament. When I was younger I wanted to win, win, win.

“Now I’ve stopped being greedy. I’m just trying to enjoy it, just trying to hang on in there and get a few wins.”

There is a part of him that is tempted to step away from the game when still arguably its best player — prior to this year’s exit at The Crucible, he had boasted two wins and a final appearance the previous three seasons — but then he is always pulled back in.

Citing the example of 20-time champion jump jockey AP McCoy, who retired from the saddle in April, he says: “Maybe I’ll do what McCoy did… I don’t know. It’s nice to go out at the top like Pete Sampras or McCoy but I don’t know whether I could do that.

“This is what I’ve known for 32 years of my life. To not have that in my life — for all the ups and downs with it — would be very difficult. I think even if I’m not winning I’ll continue to play as long as I still enjoy it.”

It’s hard to imagine O’Sullivan scrapping around solely for ranking points in the twilight of his career, a player labelled a genius by so many consigned merely to being a bit-part player in a sport he dominated and defined for so long.

As he approaches his 40th birthday at the end of the year, he admits to focusing more away from snooker than ever before, whether that be playing pool with Ed Miliband and backing in the General Election or extending his passion for running.

As for the landmark birthday, he has no plans to celebrate it — birthdays a reminder of the darker days when his depression reached its lowest ebb.

“I never celebrate birthdays — those are some of the worst days I’ve had,” he admits at the same time as insisting the dark times have gone: “I don’t have them any more, I can work my way through it, I don’t let it grab hold of me. I still like to win and play well but I’m realistic to know you can’t hit the heights every time. You can only do your best when you’re at the table. I don’t want to start losing my mind if it doesn’t come. You have to be patient, persist and wait your turn.”

The assumption is that at least another world title lies within his grasp although his outlook has changed. Snooker no longer solely defines him as it once did and he believes he has a far better perspective on life than ever before. There is no longer the striving for perfection nor is there quite the same fear that once drove him.

His friend the artist Damien Hirst described him thus: “He’s scared of everything. That’s his beauty — that he is absolutely s***ting himself.”

O’Sullivan himself laughs: “In a way fear drives you on. Before a match I’d be thinking I can’t even get out there and 10 minutes later I’d be feeling like I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Moments ago I was so scared to be out there performing. Now I’m up for the fight now and less fearful.”

It has led to a generally greater consistency in his performances rather than the alarming peaks and troughs. The occasional fog of negativity that can envelope him is more often than not erased by the psychiatrist Professor Steven Peters or else running, his other sporting passion.

For now with snooker, though, the race is not run. As is so often the case with O’Sullivan, there are more twists and turns yet to come.

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