Ronnie O’Sullivan asserted that he was a superior player during his teenage years, despite becoming the oldest champion of the Masters at the age of 48.
O’Sullivan bounced back from a 6-3 deficit to defeat Ali Carter 10-7 in the final at Alexandra Palace, securing an unprecedented eighth Masters crown.
The top-ranked player in the world, who also clinched victory in the UK Championship in December, has now accumulated 23 Triple Crown titles, five more than Stephen Hendry. He stands on the brink of completing a clean sweep of the sport's major events with an eighth World Championship title at the Crucible.
However, when questioned about any aspect of his game that may have improved since winning his first Masters title in 1995 at the age of 19, O’Sullivan responded in his customary self-deprecating manner.
“I thought when I was 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 I was even better then than I was now to be honest with you,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport.
“Technically I felt I was much better, more consistency. These days I’m a bit in and out and I search for it.
“It’s got better since 2001 and I’ve had to work on the technical side just to keep things as tight as I can.
“I have some good spells, some good months, good years sometimes, but then I have some awful months and awful years and I just accept that that’s how it is and just try and play my way through it and hopefully it comes good at some point.
“It’s quite a struggle for me the game at the moment, confidence wise.”
O'Sullivan secured £250,000 for each of his UK Championship and Masters triumphs and has the opportunity to increase his earnings from Triple Crown events this season to £1 million by clinching the £500,000 first prize available in the World Championship.
