05 April 2024 , 10:16
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Ronnie O'Sullivan thrashed rival Ali Carter at the Tour Championship after instituting a self-imposed ban on discussing his opponents.
O'Sullivan and Carter met in the quarter-finals in Manchester for the first time since their explosive clash at the Masters back in January and it was the Rocket who emerged victorious once again.
He beat Carter 10-2 in commanding fashion to set up a semi-final match against either Gary Wilson or Zhang Anda and it seems O'Sullivan's new policy of refusing to comment on his rivals has paid off.
Speaking ahead of the match, O'Sullivan decided not to reignite the war of words that took place after the Masters where he branded Carter a "f***ing nightmare" and told him to "sort his f***ing life out" following his rival's claim that he had "snotted on the floor" during the final.
"I don't comment on players now," O'Sullivan told ITV. "I've learned my lesson and there's no value in it for me. Every time I say something it's kind of a bit of a headline, Ronnie says this and that, and if they get interviewed and they say something about me then it becomes a headline of them talking about me.
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"I just thought: 'What am I actually gaining out of this?' I'm not actually gaining anything other than people getting the chance to say what they feel like they want to say and I am like: 'You know what, I'm happy with my life, I'm happy with my job and I'm happy with what I do'.
"I just want to delete all that other stuff so I think that it is best that I don't comment on any player and just make it a policy, a boundary that I just don't overstep just for my own piece of mind and my own sanity.
O'Sullivan and Carter clashed at the Masters earlier this year (Tai Chengzhe/VCG via Getty Images)"I just let the other guys do what they want to do and I wish them all the best, but as far as I'm concerned that's not something I want to kind of get involved in every again." Following his latest win over Carter, O'Sullivan opened up about his mental health struggles after pulling out of the Welsh Open in February due to " stage fright brought on by anxiety".
O'Sullivan has been working with psychiatrist Steve Peters and revealed: "It's been a hard year, drove myself pretty much insane really - it's just got to me. I had to go back to basics and get my head right.
"Deal with it because doing it the other way round isn't working. Just getting my head around it is the only option I have left. I've driven myself mad for the last two years and not enjoyed any of it."
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