Ronnie O’Sullivan returns to table fit and focused

The 37-year-old Chigwell cueman confirmed in February that he would defend the title he won 12 months ago, despite not competing in a tournament since.

“There’s a part of me that wants instant success,” the four-time champion said. “That would be nice, but for me it’s just about having fun.

“I felt it was time to have some sort of focus in my life. Running was a massive part of my life and I found I got that lazy having nothing to do, I had too much time to even go and run in the end. I started putting weight on.

“I realised that snooker gave me an opportunity to meet some good people, to travel and that’s kind of what I missed, missing the routine.”

O’Sullivan has lost a stone since deciding to come back by returning to a routine and plans to run during the 17-day World Championship, which begins on Saturday with his first-round match against Scotland’s Marcus Campbell.

O’Sullivan believes he has plenty to offer the game. “If you look at it statistically I’ve done pretty well, but from my own perspective I feel like I’ve still underachieved,” he added.

“I’d like to win another world title in my forties. I’ve not set myself the goal to win this year’s world title because that would be a bit of a silly goal.

“I’d like to be a world champion when I’m 40. It gives me a bit of leeway. It’s the long game I’m looking at, rather than just the short-term. This is just the start.”

Winning on his comeback would be an overwhelming experience, O’Sullivan admitted. “It would be a fairytale dream, but last year was my greatest performance,” he said. “I’d had a good season and it was expected by pretty much everyone that I was going to win the tournament before it started.

“To me that is the ultimate achievement, because anything other than a win would’ve been seen as a failure in most people’s eyes.

“This year it’s a different ball game. I’ve come here with no matches under my belt. It’ll just be nice to be out there playing. I don’t have anything to prove to the general public.”

O’Sullivan is something of an enigma and has worked with Dr Steve Peters, the sports psychiatrist who worked with British Cycling and whom he now regards as a friend.

O’Sullivan compared his return to Big Brother. He said: “It’s like my own reality TV show. It could be car crash, it could be good. You just don’t know.

“If I’m cueing all right and feeling all right, then I should be a match for anyone, but who knows? The World Championship is a one-off event and the form book usually goes out the window.” It sounds ominous for his rivals.

O’Sullivan was speaking at the Groucho Club in London’s Soho alongside Mark Selby, who is Betfair’s favourite for Sheffield.

Selby, described as an “invoicing operation” by World Snooker chief Barry Hearn, has won the UK Championship and Masters tournaments this year and is aiming to become the fourth player – after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams – to win the “triple crown” in the same season.

The 29-year-old from Leicester said: “It’s a tough tournament to win. There’s a lot of great players in it. It’s great to have Ronnie back playing as well, so it’s going to be tough.

“He’s one of the most natural players to ever play our game. If any one player can do it (win after a year out), Ronnie’s the person.”