Ronnie O'Sullivan celebrates victory in Sheffield, England on May 2, 2022. Photo: VCG

World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan said he felt he was suffering from "imposter syndrome" and did not want to play snooker right now despite easing into the last 16 of the UK Championship in York on Monday with a 6-2 win over Matthew Stevens.

O'Sullivan is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in snooker history, with the 46-year-old Englishman winning a modern-day record-equaling seventh world title in May and triumphing at the Hong Kong Masters in October. But his career has also been marked by O'Sullivan repeatedly proclaiming he has fallen out of love with snooker.

And even though he is now just two wins away from a record eighth title at the UK Championship, O'Sullivan seemed far from excited by the prospect of more on-table success.

"I feel flat. I'll be honest with you," he told BBC Two.

"I don't really want to play snooker at the moment. I don't play much snooker," O'Sullivan said.

"I just listen to my body, listen to my mind and just go out there and treat it like a practice."

"One thing I am doing is applying myself mentally. Whether I play good or bad, I don't really care and I will always apply myself well while I am out there, but I don't feel buzzed up at the moment. I suppose that is normal."

O'Sullivan, not for the first time, cast doubt on how long he would continue to play top-class snooker.

"I shouldn't even be playing at my age really, by rights," he said.

"Look at [Stephen] Hendry, [Steve] Davis and those guys, so I don't take it too seriously and just find it quite funny I am still here. I feel like I have a bit of imposter syndrome."

"I felt happier when I lost them five finals because it felt right but when I've started to win a few tournaments, I don't really feel like I deserve it or that I have played well enough."

"It feels like there has been a plot maybe to allow me to do it, so you feel like a bit of a fake."

"I feel a bit not good about it, so that is why when I won the worlds I was saying it wasn't really a great thing for me because it put me in that place again of questioning myself and the game."

"I don't get excited like I used to. I am here to do a job."

AFP