O’Sullivan: 'Kind of felt like I had the yips'

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed he has been battling a form of the yips that have made him scared to play snooker.

The world No. 1 has had one of his best seasons in years, winning Triple Crown events at the UK Championship and The Masters as well as the World Grand Prix, Shanghai Masters and World Masters of Snooker.

As well as the five wins, he has also been absent from a host of events on account of medical grounds.

O’Sullivan has fought a mental battle for much of his career and began working with Sports Psychiatrist Steve Peters in 2011.

The Rocket revealed recently that he had started working more closely with Peters once again.

“I am just trying really hard to not get down on myself,” O’Sullivan told ITV Sport. “It is hard but I am trying to change my mindset.

“It is not easy, but maybe two weeks ago I’d have mentally thrown in the towel because I was not flowing but I just thought keep going, keep going and focus on the positives that might be around the corner.”

On his relationship with Peters, O’Sullivan added: “I’ve been speaking to him every day, three times a day, sometimes four times a day.

“I have just got to commit to it now for a good year to try and get myself out of this hole I have got myself in mentally, with the obsession with the game and tinkering.

“I know I am never going to stop tinkering but I have to somehow get my head strong enough to be able to deal with it and not go too deep into the horrible murky world.”

O’Sullivan has admitted his push for perfection took him into a dark place and that he has had to try and clear his mind after suffering a form of the yips – the dreaded state of mind among sports competitors who find it difficult to perform certain skills.

He added: “Golfers, tennis players, snooker players, darts, we all do it. I went so deep into it it is like detoxing myself from it. It is not going to happen straight away so if I want to get out of it I have got to put the work in.

“It has kind of felt like I had the yips, mentally, physically, you get scared to want to go and play and that is not a nice place to be.

“There is nothing left to do other than get myself out of it and hopefully my game will start to flow again.”