The Rocket, who will defend his title at the 2018 Betway UK Championship, discusses the impact Rhiannon Lambert has had on his game and their new cookbook.
If you were to ask the 128 snooker players, amateur and professional alike, that make up the draw for the Betway UK Championship, how they are preparing themselves for the first Triple Crown event of the season, no doubt the methods employed would be many and various.When Tom Bowles over at Betway Insider asked defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, the answer he received was probably very different to most. O’Sullivan is a firm believer that his preparation takes place as much at the dinner table as it does at the snooker table.
O’Sullivan will tell you himself that his success is down to a lot of hard work and he is always looking to improve. He has recently teamed up with Sight-Right coach Steve Feeney and last year started taking advice from Rhiannon Lambert who he says has re-educated him about food.
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The fact that this event is in the UK doesn’t help O’Sullivan though. He says the food in Thailand and China, which host several tournaments a year, is “incredible – some of the best I’ve ever eaten”.“I think the UK’s probably the worst place I’ve ever been for food,” he continues, unprompted. “It really is. I see what some places serve up and I just think: ‘Wow. No wonder we’re not producing great athletes.’
“You look at other countries eat and it’s fresh, proper grub. I think it makes a huge difference to your development. I travel in Europe a lot, to places like Bulgaria and Romania, and even there the tomatoes taste different, the cucumbers taste different. In the UK, it’s quantity over quality, and I’m trying to avoid being part of that system.”
O’Sullivan wants to help others avoid being part of it, too, which is why he and Lambert will release a health and fitness book, Top of Your Game: Eating for the Mind and Body, in December 2018.The Rocket’s other passion is fitness and he describes himself as a “decent club runner”. Unlike eating healthily, however, he doesn’t believe keeping fit improves his game.
“You don’t really have to be fit to be a snooker player,” he says. “If you eat well and play snooker, you’ll be absolutely fine.
O’Sullivan also loves his role as pundit with Eurosport, but this does sometimes mean a conflict when he is asked to provide analysis on tournaments that he is competing in.
“That’s my problem,” he says. “I love doing it. I love sitting there with Jimmy White and Neil Foulds. I love the crew at Eurosport – there’s no pressure. And I get to talk about a subject that I’m quite knowledgeable on.
“It’s a dream job, really. But then I’ve got my other head on, thinking that I want to be competing and doing the best at snooker, so… I don’t know.”
O’Sullivan plans to keep playing competitively until that desire “goes, really” and says he’ll head to York for the UK Championship – which, at 13 days, is snooker’s second-longest event – and “give it my best”.
Providing he eats and plays well, there’s an excellent chance O’Sullivan’s best will be good enough to win yet another ranking title.
For what it’s worth, my preview of the event is here[vc_btn title=”Click here to see Snooker Books available on Amazon” style=”3d” color=”success” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Famzn.to%2F2AsuCCG||target:%20_blank|rel:nofollow”]
