O'Sullivan eyes eighth snooker world title amid more retirement talk

LONDON - Ronnie O'Sullivan may be the most gifted snooker player of his generation, but even the prospect of winning a modern-day record eighth world title has not stopped him from talking about retirement once again.

O'Sullivan threatening to quit snooker is almost as much of an annual event as the World Championships -- which start on Saturday -- themselves, but it's not one officials can disregard lightly given the 48-year-old Englishman remains the sport's biggest drawcard.

O'Sullivan has won both the UK Championships and the Masters, snooker's next two most important tournaments, this season but remains unsatisfied with his own form.

Days out from his latest attempt to break the mark of seven world titles he shares with Stephen Hendry, the 'Rocket' said he planned to give himself 12 months to see if he still wants to compete at the highest level.

"I'm in that situation at the moment where I've just got to get myself in a frame of mind for maybe the next however long," O'Sullivan, who faces Jackson Page of Wales in the first round, told Eurosport. 

"I've given myself a year to the end of next year's World Championship to work with Steve (Peters - psychologist) and hope, you know, to get back to where I feel it's acceptable."

He added: "I'll only retire if I think I'm not playing well enough for long enough, which has been going on a while now. That's obviously something that distresses me enough to think. 'I don't want to keep doing that.'"

O'Sullivan also made headlines last week by calling for the World Championships to be moved from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, northern England -- the tournament's home since 1977 -- while suggesting larger venues in China and Saudi Arabia as alternative locations.