Ronnie O'Sullivan explains 'nightmare' snooker struggles after win over Mark Selby at Wuhan Open

Ronnie O'Sullivan says his snooker game has been a "nightmare" for four years despite reaching the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open with a 5-3 victory over Mark Selby.

O'Sullivan, widely regarded as the greatest snooker player ever, has not won a ranking tournament since January 2024 and his last world title came in 2022.

The 50-year-old has tried to evolve away from a technique called 'SightRight', in which the intention is for a player's eyes to correctly line up with the shot, to a more natural style.

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So far this season, O'Sullivan only won one match at the Shanghai Masters and China Open and appeared to be struggling this week in Wuhan, despite victories over Yao Pengcheng and Stephen Maguire. However, he beat rival Selby on Friday with his most impressive performance of the season yet.

"I'm always focused on how I'm hitting the ball. Am I playing well enough to play every shot that I need to play? I'm worried whoever I play at the moment, so it didn't matter if it's Mark Selby or No 128 in the world," O'Sullivan told World Snooker Tour.

"I'm playing with zero confidence 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 a disease because it feels like the method that I took on has ruined me really. I've got no cue power, got no sense of direction. I don't know where the balls are going.

"As a player, you have always have some anchors to hang onto. I used to have, like, four or five where if one wasn't working, I try another one, and then that would just get me going. But at the moment, I just have nothing. I haven't for four years, so it's just been like a nightmare."

O'Sullivan: Eighteen months enough time to unlearn 'disease'

Last month, O'Sullivan stated he had set himself a deadline to win a record-breaking eighth World Snooker Championship by 2028 and revealed he will retire from the sport if required to play qualifying matches.

Players ranked outside of the top 16 are required to play qualifiers for most tournaments and O'Sullivan's strong run in Wuhan this week will ensure he is in the top 16 over the coming months.

He continued: "I'm going to give it a really good go to try and cure the disease. It's easier to call it a disease, I suppose. If I can, that'd be great.

"But I think 18 months is a fair amount of time to try and unlearn it and maybe try and find some flow because if I play alright and cue alright, I know I can still win tournaments.

"I don't think the competition's that good, and I don't think I've got that bad. I'm just not cueing the ball well, so the balls are just not doing what I know they should be doing, or what I used to be capable of doing."

O'Sullivan will face rising Chinese star Chang Bingyu in the Wuhan semi-finals on Friday for a place in Saturday's final.

"You have [Zhao] Xintong and Wu [Yize] but this kid [Chang] is up there with them. He stormed through the qualifiers and maybe this is going to be his week to win the trophy," he said of his opponent.

"You probably have to say his favourite to win the tournament. With the results and what we know he's capable of, it's just a matter of time before he starts winning a lot of tournaments."