World snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan was on the verge of losing his world number one position after an early exit from the Northern Ireland Open. Neil Robertson missed the qualification to the finals of the tournament, and therefore the opportunity to climb to the first step of the hierarchy.

Ronnie O’Sullivan remains world leader after defeating Neil Robertson at the Northern Ireland Open

The Australian had to reach the last act of the competition and win the tournament that just ended.

Robertson lost in the semi-finals even to the one who should have lifted the trophy – Mark Allen (2-6). Even with that result, Robertson moved up to second overall ahead of Judd Trump, who was also knocked out in the opening rounds of the Northern Ireland Open.

“The Rocket” has seriously shaken in the fight for the first place in the world ranking, but Ronnie O’Sullivan has kept his position in the ranking and will also start from the leading position at the Bolton Tournament of Champions.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is unhappy with his latest world title win, his seventh

The seven-time world champion seems to have lost motivation to develop in this sport, as evidenced by his statements in an interview with the BBC.

“This job is not worth the stress and hassle. Sometimes defeat is just a blessing in disguise. It allows me to do other things.

I gave up about 8 years ago and I’m just trying to get what I can out of the sport. But this defeat was good because it gives me freedom to do other things.

I no longer care about making a name for myself in snooker. One day I will have the desire to play well in a tournament again, but if it doesn’t happen again, I don’t care anymore. Looking back at his seventh world title in May, I wish it hadn’t happened.

I get asked every day if I still play snooker and I’d like to say no. I want to say that I retired. But then I won the Crucible and got a lot of messages about the next World Cup.

It’s like my worst nightmare come true. I wasn’t upset if I ended up with 4 world titles. I was very happy with 4 trophies and I wouldn’t want my name to depend on how many titles I won,” he said Ronnie.

The last hundred meters to the Snooker Tournament of Champions

The tournament of champions will start on October 31, and the grand final will take place on November 6. This competition features all of last year’s World Snookers Tour winners and has a prize pool of £150,000.

Northern Ireland Open quarter-finalist Mark Williams will not attend this tournament.

The Championship Tour record is held by Ronnie O’Sullivan, who won the title three times in 2013, 2014 and 2018.