{"id":2093,"date":"2026-03-23T07:11:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=2093"},"modified":"2026-03-23T07:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:11:53","slug":"ronnie-osullivan-admits-world-championship-doubt-after-shock-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=2093","title":{"rendered":"Ronnie O&#8217;Sullivan admits World Championship doubt after shock defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27604240\" alt=\"World Open Snooker 2026 - Day 7\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan was \u2018scared\u2019 about the prospect of the World Championship (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan says he will \u2018probably\u2019 play at the World Championship next month, but admits he did not expect to compete in Sheffield as recently as last week.<\/p>\n<p>The Rocket reached the final of the World Open in Yushan this week, making snooker history in the quarter-finals when he made a break of 153, the highest in the history of the sport.<\/p>\n<p>The 50-year-old looked excellent on his run to the showpiece, with wins over the likes of Shaun Murphy, Ryan Day and Wu Yize, displaying the best form he has shown for some time.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Sullivan was favourite in the final against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and was an extremely short price when he raced into a 4-0 lead.<\/p>\n<p>However, the 40-year-old Thai then reeled off six frames on the spin to shockingly take control of the match.<\/p>\n<p>The Englishman responded with three centuries in as many frames as he regained the lead, but Un-Nooh was unfazed, making breaks of 77, 132, a maximum 147 and 131 to secure a 10-7 victory in sparkling style.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Sullivan was looking on the bright side of a good string of wins in Yushan, feeling more comfortable and confident in his game than he has for some time, despite the disappointment of defeat to Un-Nooh.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787617_36fd53.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27604557\" alt=\"World Open Snooker 2026 - Day 7\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Thepchaiya Un-Nooh stunned O\u2019Sullivan despite losing the first four frames (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He is expecting to be at the Crucible, but says he may well not have been if he had not found something on the table in recent days after a season of relative inactivity compared to his rivals.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I can only take one day, one week at a time. I can\u2019t look any further than a week at the moment, with my career,\u2019 said the seven-time world champion. \u2018I\u2019ve not been playing for a reason, just because I haven\u2019t had a game good enough to compete. So I\u2019ve been trying to find that on the practice table and hopefully bring it to the match table.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve had quite a good year, really. I felt like I played really quite good at the start of the season, better than I was, and then I had a dip for a couple of months. January and February wasn\u2019t good and I thought \u201chere we go,\u201d but I\u2019ve managed to pull it back a little bit. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787610.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27599845\" alt=\"World Open Snooker 2026 - Day 7\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>O\u2019Sullivan reached a second ranking final of the season (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019ll just see how it goes. I wasn\u2019t even going to play in the World Championship 10 days ago because I was too scared. I felt like I would embarrass myself. But now I feel I probably will go, because I feel like I might pot a few balls. It\u2019s not great, I\u2019m not in a great, great place with it, but I\u2019m better than I was maybe two weeks ago.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Sullivan was full of praise for the champion and felt that Un-Nooh was producing a standard he could not match after making tweaks to his technique.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s been a positive week. Thepchaiya was unbelievable, deserves his victory, he played much better than me today,\u2019 said O\u2019Sullivan. \u2018I watched his game yesterday in the semi-finals, he was strong. I couldn\u2019t go with that, he was far too good for me.<\/p>\n<p>My game\u2019s not good enough to go to that level, simple as that. It used to be. Everyone\u2019s played okay against me this week, so my game is good enough to beat players playing okay.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I just can\u2019t get to the potting angle of certain shots, I can play maybe 60-70 per cent of shots comfortably, but there\u2019s other shots I just don\u2019t have in my locker. When someone plays like that, I\u2019m just one-dimensional, really. It limits what I can do and the amount of pressure I can put on my opponent. I just have to accept that\u2019s how it is.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018On the whole I\u2019m in a much better place now that I was in the last three years and I was two weeks ago. But it could easily fall apart and be in a bad place again soon. I\u2019m just taking each day and week as it comes. Not getting too excited or too down.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The rampant champion deserved the last word, though, with the Rocket saying: \u2018He was unbelievable. Some of the balls he potted and the break-building and how fast he does it. I felt like a really slow, negative player. I thought, this is scary! Incredible.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>A stunning victory, worth \u00a3175,000, made all the more special by his opponent and the 147 in the penultimate frame, Un-Nooh said: \u2018After being sat on my chair watching Ronnie make three centuries, I told myself this is a great final and to enjoy it. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don\u2019t know how what happened after the interval came true. I can\u2019t believe it. I\u2019m still stunned with my performance. How did I do that? Sometimes snooker is one way traffic. To make a 147 in the final against Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan in a final is a great honour.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This is my first time winning a major event and this is the biggest prize of my career. It is a dream come true and a step forward. I want to make snooker come back to be as famous as it used to be in Thailand. Like the old times.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Un-Nooh had not been to a ranking quarter-final since 2022 and climbs from number 39 to 22 in the world thanks to his scintillating win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan still \u2018not feeling great\u2019 despite making snooker history with 153 break at World Open<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan makes huge claim after World Open win \u2013 \u2018It would be my biggest achievement\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Snooker chiefs \u2018in communication\u2019 with players potentially affected by Middle East conflict<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--sport\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>Football Newsletter \u2013 In The Mixer<\/h4>\n<p>Punchy analysis, transfer talk and more from Metro&#8217;s football experts, sent straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; 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display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/> Ronnie O&#8217;Sullivan admits World Championship doubt after shock defeat<br \/>\n<br \/>#Ronnie #OSullivan #admits #World #Championship #doubt #shock #defeat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan was \u2018scared\u2019 about the prospect of the World Championship (Picture: Getty Images) Ronnie&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1635,1636,316,1637,414,413,1638,328],"class_list":["post-2093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-admits","tag-championship","tag-defeat","tag-doubt","tag-osullivan","tag-ronnie","tag-shock","tag-world"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-1115x630.jpg",1115,630,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-800x500.jpg",800,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267787592_1774208787-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=6\" rel=\"category\">Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}