Ronnie O’Sullivan once received an important piece of advice from former Liverpool midfielder and manager Graeme Souness.
Souness has opened up on the time he spent with the Rocket before the height of his snooker success.
No player has won more World Championships than O’Sullivan’s tally of seven, while he stands alone with eight Masters titles.
At 48 years of age, he shows no signs of slowing down despite insisting he hasn’t enjoyed playing in recent months.
Ronnie O’Sullivan received advice from Graeme Souness over 20 years ago
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Perhaps the secret to O’Sullivan’s longevity is his meeting with Souness over two decades ago.
The Scot has revealed that the pair met while they were in Las Vegas.
And he advised him to maintain a high level of fitness, insisting that would give him the edge over other snooker players.
Souness told talkSPORT: “20 odd years ago I met him in Vegas and he was with a group of guys who were obviously there to look at the sights and enjoy themselves as much as they could.
“I’d gone out for dinner with my wife and come back in and the boys were just going out.
“I sat and had a beer with Ronnie and I said to him, ‘What you’ve got to do is get yourself really fit’.
“‘The sport you’re in, standing on your legs for hours, when you get physically tired you’ll lose your concentration and if you get yourself fit, when the going gets tough you’ll be ahead of the game’.
“He actually gave me a credit in the book he wrote soon after that.”
O’Sullivan only won the second of his seven World Championships in 2004, while seven of his Masters titles have come since 2005.
The Rocket continues to get better with age and is currently on a winning streak of 14 matches.
He hasn’t lost since last November and won the World Grand Prix on Sunday with a stunning comeback against Judd Trump.
Following the win in Leicester, O’Sullivan credited healthy eating as a reason for his success.
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Graeme Souness outlined the importance of fitness to Ronnie O’Sullivan
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He said: “The start of the week, I was feeling a bit rough and then I bought myself an air fryer and a smoothie maker. I started eating a bit better.
“I don’t like eating junk food, it sort of puts me in a funny place. I started to feel better as the week went on.”
It’s not the first time O’Sullivan has pointed to the importance of his fitness.
At the 2022 World Championship, he revealed he wants to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has continued to mop up snooker tournaments in recent months
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He told the BBC: “I am trying to change my gym work. Instead of running so much, I’m doing some weights to strengthen my bones and upper body.
“I look at a lot of the 50 year-olds and they look old and fragile.
“I was speaking to Barry McGuigan and he said the weights are the way forward to keep you strong. If I intend to play that long I need to look at the way I train.
“Instead of running and looking like you [the BBC reporter] I need to look more like Arnie [Schwarzenegger].”
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