O'Sullivan set for announcement

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s future in snooker should be made clear tomorrow when the world number one reveals what comes next in his career.

The 29-year-old may announce he will be taking a year out of the game for which he has often professed disenchantment.

A quarter-final defeat to Peter Ebdon at the World Championships last season was followed by an emotional O’Sullivan questioning his future in snooker.

It had been a mentally draining match for O’Sullivan, whose attacking instincts were curbed by the tunnel-vision safety-first approach of Ebdon.

He has since returned to action, but O’Sullivan may opt out of the remainder of the campaign.

After exiting August’s Northern Ireland Trophy to Joe Swail, in his first match, O’Sullivan declared: “I’ll keep turning up and see how it goes.”

But his commitment has seemed to be waning, with off-the-table business interests occupying much of his life.

O’Sullivan has won 18 ranking titles to date, including three UK Championships and two world titles.

He will give a press conference in the morning at Waltham Abbey, five and a half months since, clearly fatigued, he went out at the Crucible and revealed it might be his last visit to the World Championships for a couple of years.

“I’ll probably have a year off,” said O’Sullivan in April.

“I’ve not made a final decision yet but I’m 90% positive that’s what I will do.

“It’s not an irrational decision, it’s something I have been thinking about for a while. It will be good for me to have a break.

“I wouldn’t lose my place in the world’s top 16 but I’m just waiting on a few things from people to see if it’s worth a go next year.

“I’ve not fallen out of love with the game, it’s still my passion. It would break my heart to turn my back on it. But mentally the game is taking its toll on me.”

A snooker career time-out for O’Sullivan might see him lay down his cue, but he has also revealed his appetite for playing pool professionally in the United States.

“I would give pool tournaments in the USA priority over those smaller events if there was a dates clash,” he recently told the Daily Express.

“I don’t anticipate any problems with the snooker authorities. No-one can force you to play in a tournament.

“If it came to it, I’d say: ‘All right then, I won’t play in any of the BBC events, any of the Sky events. I’ll hand in my contract and go off to America to play pool for a year.’

“My first pool tournament should be in Orlando in November.”