Ronnie O’Sullivan says he would ‘rather play well and get beat’ after reaching World Grand Prix last 16

Ronnie O’Sullivan insists he’d rather play well and lose, than carry on winning like he is at the moment.

He compiled his 32nd century of the season en route to success, and sealed the match with a superb break of 95, but remains far from satisfied with his form.

“The biggest worry for me is that I’m not really comfortable, or I don’t feel like I’m playing with confidence,” he told ITV Sport.

“It’s a lot to do with cueing. I know I’ve won tournaments, but I’m still not really happy with my game, which is more important than winning tournaments to me.”

O’Sullivan, in fact, has now won each of his last 10 completed matches, a run that dates back to the International Championship semi-finals in early November.

“It’s been surprising,” he continued. “I don’t know where it’s come from, to be honest with you. I’ll take it! I’m not going to say no to it!

“But, maybe [it’s] just because I’m not that bothered really? It’s not the most important thing for me.

“I still want to do alright. But the most important thing is I want to play well. I’d rather play well and get beat than play badly and win. That’s my feeling on it.”

He has now confirmed he will miss the upcoming tournaments, German Masters and Welsh Open.

“I’ll be missing quite a few tournaments after this,” he said.

“I shouldn’t really have even come here to be honest with you,” he added. “I thought I’d be alright here, so I thought I’d just turn up, but in hindsight, I probably should have just bailed on this one as well.

“But I’m here now, so I’m going to give it my best shot.

“I’ll try and qualify for the China events, because I like the China events, and that will be me pretty much done until the Players Championship. I’ll try and show up for that as well, because that’s quite a decent tournament.”