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World primary Ronnie O’Sullivan stated he has gone by way of a interval of feeling scared to play snooker as he reached the Tour Championship remaining.
The seven-time world champion hit three century breaks as he beat Gary Wilson 10-7 on Friday in Manchester.
However he revealed he felt like he has been affected by the “yips”, and has tried to “change his mindset”.
“I’m just trying really hard to not get down on myself,” stated the 48-year-old, who has received 5 occasions this season.
O’Sullivan hit breaks of 102 and 110 to show a 2-0 deficit right into a 4-2 lead however fellow Englishman Wilson compiled runs of 83, 84, 82 and 96 to stage at 7-7.
Nevertheless, he barely received a look-in from there as O’Sullivan received the ultimate three frames, helped by visits of 98 and 129.
O’Sullivan, who faces Mark Allen or Mark Williams in Sunday’s remaining, instructed ITV4: “It’s not easy. Maybe two weeks ago I’d have mentally thrown the towel in, just because I wasn’t flowing.
“However I simply thought, ‘simply preserve going, preserve going’ and simply concentrate on a number of the positives that may be not far away.”
He says he has been speaking regularly with psychiatrist Steve Peters, adding: “I’ve simply received to decide to it now for yr to attempt to get myself out of this kind of gap I’ve received myself in mentally with the obsession of the sport, tinkering.
“I know I’m never going to stop tinkering, but I have to somehow get sort of my head strong enough to be able to deal with it and not go too deep into that horrible murky world that it is.
“Each sportsman – perhaps golfers, tennis gamers, snooker gamers – I suppose all of us do it, however I went so deep into that it is like detoxing myself from it.
“It kind of felt like I’ve had the yips in a way – mentally, physically – it feels like you get scared to even want to go and play.
“That is not a pleasant place to be, so I’ve received nothing left to do apart from to attempt to get myself mentally out of it and hopefully my recreation will begin to circulation once more, perhaps.”
The Tour Championship is in its sixth edition after being launched in 2019 for the top players on snooker’s one-year ranking list.
This is the third time O’Sullivan has reached the final, having won the inaugural event by beating Neil Robertson before losing to the Australian in the event’s showpiece two years later.
Northern Eire’s Allen and Welshman Williams, each searching for their first Tour Championship title, contest the second semi-final on Saturday, beginning their best-of-19 encounter at 13:00 BST.
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