Ronnie O'Sullivan declared he would "rather not be playing", claimed he does not "really identify myself as a snooker player anymore", and made the cheeky claim he is only competing for "a bit of quiet time".
Yet the potting game's biggest star is two steps away from matching one of the great records at the World Championship, sauntering through to the semi-finals at the Crucible in Sheffield to close in on a seventh title.
On Wednesday in the Yorkshire city that has hosted this tournament since 1977, O'Sullivan completed a 13-5 quarter-final win over Scotland's Stephen Maguire, with the Essex-based 46-year-old one of a number of cuemen who is showing that middle age is no barrier to success on the baize.
"I'm struggling to see anyone that can compete with Ronnie," Stephen Hendry said on the BBC immediately after the match wrapped up. "He's taken the game to a different level."
Scotsman Hendry, the only man to win seven world titles in Sheffield, said it "would be an honour" for O'Sullivan, with six triumphs so far, to move alongside him.
Already this fortnight, Rocket Ronnie has moved past Hendry on the list of players with the most Crucible wins, going beyond his 70 and reaching 72, and counting.
He has blasted all-comers out of the water with his career total of 1,155 centuries, yet O'Sullivan still defers to Hendry's own greatness, labelling him "our Tiger Woods of snooker".
O'Sullivan, who has been threatening to retire since his teenage years, has battled myriad problems away from snooker during his career. He had drug issues, drank heavily, and was a binge eater.
Just feet away from where he spoke to the media on Wednesday, he once assaulted a junior press officer.
Now he is a gym regular, lives cleanly, and recently returned to the world number one ranking. Many see this world title, and the £500,000 top prize, as his for the taking.
Asked about his training regime, O'Sullivan said: "I wouldn't be able to tell you what it's like to be unfit really. I probably overdo it a little bit. There’s no place I’d rather be, other than the gym or on a run. That’s probably the most important thing in my life, so I do it because I like it, and I enjoy all the friends I've found through running.
"The gym’s a nice place to hang out. Some people like going to the bar or restaurants, but I enjoy going to the gym. I do it for those reasons, not for my snooker."
O'Sullivan and fellow fortysomethings John Higgins and Mark Williams are recognised as snooker's 'Class of 92', a title borrowed from the Manchester United golden generation that featured the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.
Snooker's kingpin trio made their tour debuts 30 years ago. All are now multiple world champions, and have shown in Sheffield this year they remain formidable competitors.
O'Sullivan plays a canny game on and off the table, taking the pressure off himself.
"I don’t really identify myself as a snooker player anymore," he said. "I just get my cue out because I can do it, and it's probably the easiest thing for me to do, because it’s a bit of quiet time. It just gets me out of the house and around the snooker circuit.
"I'm just here to have fun. If I win, great; if I don’t, I’ve had a fantastic tournament. I’m not motivated by playing anymore, those days have gone. I couldn't put all my eggs in one basket and just play snooker anymore.
"I'd rather not be playing here to be honest. It’s a hard tournament. This tournament and the Masters are my two worst tournaments, I probably enjoy them the least out of all the other ones."
Despite this, O'Sullivan has the six wins in Sheffield and a record seven at the Masters, a London-based tournament that is the second most prestigious on the circuit.
"I’d actually prefer going to Leicester and playing in the [low-profile] Championship League," O'Sullivan said. "I know you guys might think that sounds crazy, but it’d mean I don’t have to put up with any pressure, and I love it. But you’ve got to show up to this one and give it your best."
O'Sullivan has found he is often mobbed in Sheffield, as the biggest fish in the goldfish bowl of the 17-day tournament, bona fide British sporting royalty.
He complained last year of being troubled in a nearby cafe by a fan he reckoned to be drunk, but if it is privacy that O'Sullivan wants, then it is privacy he will get.
"It’s all right," he said. "The cafe give me my own room now upstairs, so when I go in there it’s really good. I’ve got a nice hotel and a good system going. I try to keep as much quiet time for myself as I can, because it's quite hectic round here."
Ronnie O’Sullivan dismisses talk of greatness ahead of World Championship opener
Ronnie O’Sullivan shrugged off suggestions of greatness on the eve of his bid to eclipse Stephen Hendry and become the first player to win eight world snooker titles in the modern era.
O’Sullivan is already routinely described as the best player to pick up a cue after a record-breaking career that includes eight Masters and eight UK titles within a total of 41 ranking tournament wins.
But the 48-year-old, who starts his first round match against Welsh qualifier Jackson Page on Wednesday, has never been one to pore over the record books, and questions whether such plaudits are worth having at all.
“I don’t regard myself as the greatest of all time,” said O’Sullivan. “Statistically I suppose I am, but I’m just happy to be playing.
“I suppose as a kid I would have been desperate to be up with those guys but when you get there it’s a bit of an anti-climax – it’s not as great as you thought it would be.”
O’Sullivan, who won his first world title in 2001, currently sits on seven alongside Hendry, with Davis and Ray Reardon one behind on six wins each.
Yet while the title-winning eras of those fellow greats spanned less than a decade, O’Sullivan’s longevity, which shows all the signs of pushing on beyond a quarter of a century, makes the reign of the ‘Rocket’ indisputably unique.
“I’ve had a different career to them,” added O’Sullivan. “They just did it over a 10-year period while I’ve sort of gone off track for five or six years, then got myself back together, then disappeared for another three years, then got myself back together again.
“I was a bit all over the shop really, stuff going on off the table that can affect how you perform. Hendry and Davis had everything fitted around them to focus on snooker, but that’s how it worked out for me, so I’ve had to go on longer.”
“I love playing, I enjoy it. I get to travel where I want, take time off when I want, be my own boss. It’s those little things, and you want to win because competitiveness has always been in me.
Amid more top-level retirement talk, with Mark Selby the latest to question his future in the sport after his first round defeat to Joe O’Connor, O’Sullivan appears to be heading back to the Crucible intent on many more attempts to increase his legacy.
He has linked up with a new coach and is clearly putting the effort in ahead of his opener against 22-year-old Page, who beat Barry Hawkins on his Crucible debut two years ago before suffering a heavy defeat to Mark Williams in round two.
O’Sullivan added: “I love playing, I enjoy it. I get to travel where I want, take time off when I want, be my own boss. It’s those little things, and you want to win because competitiveness has always been in me.
“I’m pretty cool with what I’ve done and I’d like to keep winning more. Whether that makes me the greatest or not, I don’t know. It really doesn’t matter.”
Jack Lisowski forges ahead against Ding Junhui in tight Crucible clash
Jack Lisowski forged a 5-4 lead in his World Snooker Championship opener against Ding Junhui as the clash lived up to its billing as the tie of the round.
Lisowski, who reached the quarter-finals at the Crucible in 2022, had to qualify for this year’s tournament after dropping out of the top 16, beating Matthew Stevens 10-3 last week to book his ticket.
But after falling behind early on against Ding, Lisowski looked back to his best as he edged a highly entertaining first session.
Lisowski, 32, looked in danger of being blown away by Ding on Tuesday morning as the 2016 finalist flew out of the blocks, compiling a clearance worth 127 to win the opening frame.
The Chinese star then enjoyed a huge slice of luck in the second as he fluked a red into a middle pocket early on, but a missed black at 23-0 opened the door for Lisowski to pot his first ball of the day.
Lisowski was only able to score a solitary point at that visit before letting Ding back in, though, and he finished the frame with a break of 60 to make it 2-0.
The Englishman hit back in the next, rattling off a break of 72 to reduce Ding’s lead to one.
And Lisowski went into the mid-session interval tied at 2-2 courtesy of a break of 91 in the fourth frame.
Ding displayed his brilliant battling qualities in the fifth frame as he conjured a 98 to edge ahead once more.
An attritional sixth frame, which lasted more than half an hour as a tactical battle broke out, went Lisowski’s way as he drew level.
But Ding made quick work of the next frame, winning it with a break of 90 to go 4-3 up before Lisowski took the eighth.
And Lisowski won the final frame of the session to lead for the first time in the match.
Former finalist Kyren Wilson has one foot in the second round after storming into an 8-1 lead against Welshman Dominic Dale, who is making his Crucible comeback after a 10-year absence.
Wilson started brightly, winning the first two frames before Dale seemed set to get his first frame on the board after opening up a 30-0 lead in the third.
But Wilson made Dale pay for missing the pink as he roared back with a break of 75 to take a 3-0 lead.
Dale was not to be denied in the fourth frame, though, producing a stunning break of 120 to get on the scoreboard.
Wilson regained command immediately after the interval with a phenomenal break of 123 before a 98 in the next frame moved him 5-1 in front.
Englishman Wilson then showed exceptional nerve to come from behind to win the next frame 74-70 to extend his lead to five.
Wilson’s dominance continued as he won the next two frames with breaks of 77 and 73 to extend his massive lead.
Make it shinier and nicer – Hossein Vafaei says ‘everything so bad’ at Crucible
Hossein Vafaei strongly criticised the conditions at the Crucible after crashing out of the World Snooker Championship in a 10-5 defeat by former champion Judd Trump.
The Iranian described the famous Sheffield venue as “smelly”, compared its practice facilities to “like playing in a garage”, and questioned the treatment of players in the course of the marathon 17-day event.
“Everything’s so bad – if you ask me if I want to come back here, I would tell you no way,” said Vafaei, who is no stranger to Crucible controversy after playing a rash break-off shot in his defeat by Ronnie O’Sullivan last year.
“Forget the history, you want to go somewhere really nice as a player. You walk round the Crucible and it smells really bad. You go to other countries, and everything is shiny. But here it’s completely different.
“The practice room – do you see anything special? I feel like I’m practising in a garage.”
Speculation over the future of the Crucible, which has staged he tournament since 1977, has been heightened since world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan suggested it should be moved to Saudi Arabia or China when the existing deal expires in 2027.
Vafaei, who made his debut in 2022, is clearly no fan and continued: “Look at the China venues, how fantastic they treat the players, a red carpet and an opening ceremony. The players are treated like stars. But here no one looks after the players, before and after the match no one cares who you are.
“If they don’t want to lose the Crucible invest some money, make it shinier, make it nicer, make it more luxury for the people. If they make it cleaner and nicer, people will enjoy it.”
Trump turned a 6-3 overnight advantage into a comfortable win over his opponent, who cut a frustrated figure after failing to take a series of chances to reach the midway point with more of a chance against the 2019 champion.
Trump was not even required to summon a half-century in a low-key second session, and was more than happy to ease though a potentially tricky assignment and seal his place in the last 16 against either Tom Ford or Ricky Walden.
“I got the job done in that first session,” shrugged Trump. “I knew it was going to be a bit demoralising for him to be 6-3 down after that performance, so today was about getting a few frames early on and knocking the belief out of him.
“Coming into this event I was a lot more confident than I have been in the last three or four years. It’s nice to know I’m into the second round and I’ve got a few days off so I can sit back and watch other people sweat.”
It was a different matter for four-time champion Mark Selby, who is on the brink of falling at the first hurdle after losing his first session 7-3 to debutant Joe O’Connor.
Selby, who questioned his future in the sport after losing to Gary Wilson in the Tour Championship earlier this month, was second best against his Leicester rival, who reeled off five frames in a row to leave himself in a commanding position ahead of Monday’s resumption.
Eleventh seed Zhang Anda followed defending champion Luca Brecel out of the tournament as he was hammered 10-4 by last year’s surprise quarter-finalist Jak Jones.
Resuming 5-2 in front after their abridged opening session on Saturday, Jones chiselled his way over the line with a top break of 60, while Zhang’s 95 in the 13th frame proved much too little, too late.
Shaun Murphy fashioned a 6-3 lead over China’s Lyu Haotian despite a dreadful missed black in the fifth frame that briefly inspired his opponent to claw back a 3-1 deficit and level at 3-3.
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