Sullivan: No more meltdowns
Ronnie O'Sullivan insists he will not crack in his pursuit of another place in the history books.
The 37-year-old is bidding to become the first player this century to retain the Betfair World Championship title and will resume with a 7-1 lead over Stuart Bingham in their best-of-25-frames quarter-final. The four-time world champion ploughed in breaks of 79, 54, 111, 60, 87, 133 and 98, before Bingham took the final frame of their opening session.
O'Sullivan knows he used to be categorised as a player who could mentally combust in matches, but his work over the past two years with sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters has transformed his outlook. "That won't happen again, none of those meltdowns will happen, no matter how frustrated I may be with myself out there," O'Sullivan said, heading into his clash with Bingham.
He added: "I'm able to put that on hold until the game's finished.
"Dr Steve Peters has been great to me. I've really worked hard with Steve and tried to take on board everything he's shown me and spoken to me about and obviously I'm benefiting from it massively.
"Ever since I first saw him, before the 2011 World Championship, for the whole year leading up to winning the World Championship last year, I worked really hard on trying to get hold of my emotions and my brain.
"And I'm able to not let my feelings out in front of everybody like the press and the crowd, and have people say, 'Oh, he's lost the plot'.
"Not once have you been able to see me lose the plot. Sometimes inside I feel it's tough and it's challenging, but I'm able to overcome that.
"It doesn't mean I'm going to win every match I play in. I suppose in some ways that's what endeared me to people, that I cracked up out there sometimes.
"They'd all want to make sure I'm all right, and the next tournament I'd come out and win and it'd be like a rollercoaster of 'which Ronnie's going to turn up'. In the last two years I've changed a lot."
