Ronnie O'Sullivan says he is trying to 'cure disease' after 'nightmare' four years after Mark Selby comeback at Wuhan Open 2026

React to this story

Ronnie O'Sullivan has been open and honest about his form after coming from behind to beat Mark Selby and reach the 2026 Wuhan Open semi-finals. On Thursday, O'Sullivan found himself two frames adrift of Selby after an underwhelming start, where he was clearly frustrated with his cueing.

O'Sullivan hopeful of curing snooker 'disease' after making semis

Video credit: TNT Sports

But he rattled off three consecutive frames to take the lead, before another error allowed Selby to level the tie heading into the late stages of the best-of-nine affair.

However, O'Sullivan got the job done with breaks of 80 and 129 to add gloss to a 5-3 victory and set up a meeting with Chang Bingyu for a place in the final.

After the match, the seven-time world champion described how he has been struggling to escape a "disease" in his game, in what has been a "nightmare" for the last four years.

Wuhan Open

'One of my dreams' - Zhao keen to learn from O'Sullivan after becoming new world No. 1

7 hours ago

"I don't ever get involved in personalities when I'm playing the game, I'm always focused on how I'm hitting the ball," he said on defeating old rival Selby.

"Am I playing well enough to play every shot that I need to play? I haven't been. I'm worried that whoever I play against at the moment, it doesn't matter if it was Mark Selby or No. 128 in the world. I'm still playing with zero confidence.

O'Sullivan hits cue on floor after frustrating miss against Selby

Video credit: TNT Sports

"But I'm working hard on my game. I'm on the practice table a lot. I'm trying to figure out how to get out of this, I call it the disease, because it feels like the method I took on has kind of ruined me.

"I've got no cue power, no sense of direction. I don't know where the balls are going. As a player, you always have some anchors to hang on to.

"I used to have like four or five. If one wasn't working, I'd try another one to get me going. At the moment, I just have nothing. I haven't for four years.

"It's been a nightmare. But I'm going to give it a really good go to try and cure the disease - it's easier to call it a disease - and if I can that will be great.

"I think 18 months is a fair amount of time to unlearn it and maybe find some flow. If I play alright and I cue alright, I know I can still win tournaments. I don't think the competition's that good and I don't think I'm that bad, I'm just not cuing the ball well.

"The balls are just not doing what I know they should be doing, or what I used to be capable of doing."

O'Sullivan and Selby have come head to head on numerous occasions over the years, including the 2014 World Championship final, which the latter went on to win.

'The Jester from Leicester' has been in excellent form of late, and picked up the China Open title earlier in August to boost his chances of becoming the new world No. 1.

"We've had some unbelievable battles," O'Sullivan claimed of the pair.

"I look at Mark and I just think that I know where he is in his career because I was there maybe seven or eight years ago.

"He's still got a lot of good years in the game. He's going to be around for a long time, he's a legend of the game - an all-time great."

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

How O'Sullivan was 'all at sea' before remarkable Selby win - 'Rank bad misses'

18 hours ago

Wuhan Open

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

Yesterday at 13:18