Ronnie O’Sullivan: Snooker is “most frustrating game on the planet’ as Anthony McGill talks about struggles

Ronnie O’Sullivan claims that snooker “is the most frustrating game on the planet” after Anthony McGill opened up on his struggles.

Having just taken an average of 21 seconds to play a shot in what was a stylish display, it was strange timing for McGill to make such a shock confession.

“I just hate the way I play snooker. It’s just so slow all the time and I don’t like it,” he told Eurosport.

“I don’t do it on purpose, it’s just because I doubt myself. It’s up there [pointing to his head]. It’s a tough game between the ears.”

O’Sullivan agreed, remarking: “You can play with a broken foot, a broken arm, but if your head’s bad you can forget trying to play this game.

“Sometimes you might get away with it but temperament is everything. The game gets to all of us. It’s the most frustrating game on the planet without a doubt.

“If you ask all 128 players if they struggle with it most of the time, the answer would probably be yes – maybe with the odd exception of John Higgins, Neil Robertson who are so good technically that they might have less frustrating days.

“It’s just the nature of the beast.”

He added: “You’d do well to get a doctor in for every tournament, have his little surgery around the corner and any player that felt like they were in a bad place could go in there for 10 or 15 minutes.

“Sometimes that’s all you need, someone who knows what you’re going through, who understands the difficulties of the game. Get it off your chest, it wasn’t that bad, let’s go again tomorrow.

“I have full respect for this game and the players who plays it.”