Ronnie O’Sullivan believes Mark Selby’s form is not too worrying as he approaches the World Snooker Championship and believes the four-time world champion can click into gear at any time.
The Leicester-born clown suffered a shock 4-2 defeat to Aaron Hill at the Welsh Open on Wednesday, but the 40-year-old continues his search for his first title of the season.
It wasn’t a disastrous season by any means, reaching the British Open final and several semi-finals, but he spoke of the difficulties going on in his life off the table.
The World Championships are still a few months away, but the end looms large and Selby will want to start looking for somewhere closer to his best form before heading to Sheffield.
O’Sullivan expects the world No. 5 to be a threat at the Crucible, as he always is, able to bring the best out of nowhere.
O’Sullivan told Eurosport: “He’s a bit like me. We can both be really bad, or we can mesh well and play really well.”
“I know I won some tournaments this year, but my performance, as everyone said, was absolutely terrible, but I somehow found a way to win.”
“But he’s similar to me in that sense, in that it works out and he can play as well as he did last year.
“Last year he had a terrible year, he won at Leicester.” [WST Classic]do something on tour [Championship], and it looks like he won the world championship and was supposed to have a maxi. So don’t ignore him. ”
Hill is hoping to make his debut at the Crucible this year and is trending in the right direction after his impressive win over Selby.
The 21-year-old Irishman is currently ranked 66th in the world and has impressed O’Sullivan, who lost to Hill at the European Masters nearly four years ago.
“He’s a strong player, I’ve played him before, and he’s very good at hitting the ball, and he’s into it,” Lockett said. “He walks around the table like he’s there to win. It immediately puts a little bit of doubt in the opponent’s head.
“He plays shots in a positive way. Even if you play a shot in a positive way and miss, the snooker gods always say, ‘Look, you’ve been playing the right way, it’s going to work out one day.’ So it doesn’t really matter.
“That’s what I believe, and most people may think I’m crazy. But I truly believe that if you play the game the right way, it will pay off.”
Hill returns to action on Thursday afternoon at the Welsh Open against Fan Zhengyi in the last 32.
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