Ronnie O’Sullivan admits 'hit-and-hope snooker' as he gives himself 18 months to find form - 'It’s pretty ugly'

React to this story

Ronnie O’Sullivan has given himself 18 months to turn his form around after insisting that he is playing ”hit-and-hope snooker”, despite his progress into the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open thanks to a 5-2 victory over Stephen Maguire.

‘He’s still dangerous’ – O’Sullivan reaches quarters after dazzling century

Video credit: TNT Sports

O’Sullivan has claimed three convincing wins in Wuhan this week en route to the last eight of the ranking event, where he will face Mark Selby, dropping just three frames in the process.

Despite this run of results, O’Sullivan believes he has ”absolutely no chance” of lifting the trophy on Sunday, with the seven-time world champion describing his technique as ”rubbish” and saying he expects to be beaten if an opponent plays well.

”I was happy to win a match,” O’Sullivan said following Wednesday’s victory. ”Then I won two matches, I was over the moon. To win three for me is a miracle at the moment, so [I have] probably gone as far as I can go now.

Wuhan Open

'I just miss playing well' - O’Sullivan admits he’s gone 'four years without hitting the ball well'

Yesterday at 14:48

”Listen, if anyone plays well against me, they win, doesn't matter where they're ranked. If they play poorly, then I have a chance, but I don't expect from now on anyone to play poorly.

”My game is just very, very poor. I'm not playing to a good enough level. My technique is just so rubbish. I don't have a clue where the balls are going. To be honest, it’s hit-and-hope snooker.

”I’m just delighted to have won three matches. I can’t believe it really.”

He added: ”I’m not modest, I’m telling the truth. I have very, very bad technical issues, I don’t even know where the balls are going. I know they’re going in because… somehow. I don't even know, I can't even explain it.”

Speaking at the Shanghai Masters last month, O’Sullivan set himself a deadline of winning a record-breaking eighth World Championship by 2028.

Following Wednesday’s win over Maguire, he used the 2028 tournament once again as a timeline, but on this occasion just to return to his previous performance levels, though he was not confident he would manage to do so in such a short period of time.

”I don’t really have much hope to regain the kind of level I was at before,” he said. ”I know that I can play that well, but when you have really bad technical issues, if you can fix them, then obviously I would be much more optimistic about the future.

”But I just don't think they're able to be fixed, especially at this stage of my career. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, I could have had the time to do it, but I just don’t really have the time to see it through, maybe.

'A really good way to end' - O'Sullivan seals Yao victory with century

Video credit: TNT Sports

”I’ll give myself 18 months maybe, until the end of the 2028 World Championships, to see if I can get somewhere back to how I used to hit the ball and if I can hit the ball half decent I can still win tournaments.

”But as it stands, it's pretty ugly out there for me and maybe ugly for you guys to watch me play.”

O’Sullivan’s seventh world title in 2022 drew him level with Stephen Hendry’s record tally while taking him clear of Steve Davis’ haul of six.

O’Sullivan has struggled to reach those heights again since, and the 50-year-old revealed on Wednesday that he has sought advice from the two legendary figures about finding the right time to call it a day.

”I've always been a bit of a realist,” he said. ”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 have this belief and feeling, ‘I want to play like I used to,’ because it’s a nice feeling.

‘Firmly in control’ - O’Sullivan hits century to take commanding lead

Video credit: TNT Sports

”I’m not going to waste 10 years. I've probably wasted three or four years where it's been not great, so I'll give myself another year and a half to see if I can find something.

”If I can’t, I always think it's good to draw a line under it and then move on to other things that are more suitable to me.”

O’Sullivan delivered a similarly brutal verdict of his display following his exit at the China Open earlier this month, telling reporters that he is ”just a very poor snooker player at the moment”.

Meanwhile, he recently told World Snooker Tour: ”It has been pretty bad for a long time, so I expect to play pretty bad every time I go out there.

”I miss playing well and dominating the table, beating anyone who is in front of me. I miss that feeling, but there is nothing I can do about it.”

O’Sullivan is currently enduring a lengthy trophy drought by his standards, with his last significant triumph coming at the World Grand Prix in January 2024.

He came close to ending his wait for a title last term but was beaten in the final of the Saudi Arabia Masters in August and the World Open in March.

Add TNT Sports as a preferred source here to enjoy more content like this.

Download the TNT Sports app on iPhone and Android.

Watch and stream the 2026/27 snooker season, including the World Championship and Home Nations events, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

Wuhan Open