RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has played “pretty terribly” this season and relied on his opponents to make mistakes, claims rival Neil Robertson.
The Rocket has won the last three tournaments he has competed in and won the first two Triple Crown events of the season.
Advertising He triumphed at both the UK Championship and the Masters, which was his record eighth victory, and then followed this with success at the World Grand Prix.O’Sullivan, 48, has often criticized his own performances despite having a 15-game winning streak since November.
And he revealed he isn’t enjoying playing at the moment as he announced he would be withdrawing from the German Masters ahead of the World Championships in April to protect his “health and wellbeing”.
Robertson, the 2010 world champion, advanced to the third round in Berlin yesterday by beating his namesake Jimmy.
He too has struggled to find form this season but said success is not always about performance, as he highlighted when watching O’Sullivan’s performance.Robertson said:
“You can feel very comfortable and smug just going into the last 16 quarter-finals with your opponents falling over the line.
“We probably saw it recently with Ronnie. Let’s be honest, he played pretty badly, but he managed to keep winning because people still miss the black and pink from the spot.
“This season he has earned the reputation of being unbeatable, even though he has played terribly.
“He even talked about it himself, he almost laughs about it, people just can’t send him away.
“Now I no longer feel like people will send me away if I don’t play well, so I just have to play well.
“I don’t focus on whether my opponents are playing the game of their lives. If they’re playing the game of their life, I’ve done something wrong.
“I’m very focused on getting the best out of my performance and controlling everything I can do, which is really hard work, eating well, sleeping well, diet and exercise.
“There will be absolutely no stone left unturned for the rest of the season.”Ron’s verdictO’Sullivan mocked his rivals in their bid to win the Masters by claiming they couldn’t beat him even though he was struggling physically.
He said: “I don’t feel that old. I know, I’m old, but I feel young inside, I feel young when I sit at the table.
“I feel much younger at the table than when I play against these young players, they look old!
