Ronnie O’Sullivan has hinted towards a lack of desire after he crashed out of the World Snooker Championship.
O’Sullivan was beaten 17-7 by Zhao Xintong in this year’s semi-finals on Friday evening to end his hopes of winning an eighth title.
He suffered a disastrous second session in the morning by losing all eight frames to leave a huge mountain to climb at the Crucible.
Chinese star Zhao has become the second Asian finalist at the World Championship after compatriot Ding Junhui in 2016.
O’Sullivan has seemingly been impressed with his performance at the tournament so far as he praised him for his victory.
“Zhao played good, he deserved his victory,” he told BBC Four.
“I think he’s done brilliantly all tournament and all credit to Zhao. He played better than me.”
Speaking on his eight-frame defeat on Friday morning, he said: “I’ve been awful for quite a while. Those performances are in there, they’ve been coming out quite regularly recently.”
O’Sullivan was also beaten with a session to spare at the Crucible for the second time in his career, and it was the first occasion in 31 years.
The 49-year-old’s appearance at this year’s World Championship was uncertain in the preceding weeks having not played since January.
He has been absent throughout 2025 on medical grounds and also revealed his belief that snooker is a ‘horrible’ and ‘evil’ sport.
After defeat to Zhao, he was asked about his desire to want to play and offered yet another honest answer.
O’Sullivan warmly congratulated Zhao afterwardsGetty He then bemoaned his lack of quality at the snooker tableGetty“I’d like it to be [there], I’d just like to play alright and I just felt like I never gave him a game so that’s a bit disappointing.”
Zhao showed his respect to O’Sullivan following his victory as he told the BBC: “I can’t believe that.
“I need to say thank you to Ronnie because he has helped me a lot before. He’s my idol. I’ve just tried to enjoy the Crucible.
“It’s my first time playing on the single table here, it’s an amazing time for me and I just want to enjoy it because I don’t know how many times I can try to enjoy it here.
“I’ve played here and sometimes the crowd is helpful for Ronnie and he deserves that, he is a legend here so I needed to control myself.”
Zhao meets Mark Williams or Judd Trump in the World Championship final, with the pair currently level at 8-8 ahead of Saturday’s session.
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