Ronnie O'Sullivan says he was bizarrely 'turned on' in his triumph over Ali Carter in the Masters final.
O'Sullivan fought back to defeat Carter to claim a record-extending eighth Masters title and became the tournament's oldest winner.
He trailed 3-5 to Carter after the first session but turned things around in the evening session - winning seven of the fight eight frames to secure a 10-7 victory.
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Despite coming from behind to win yet another competition in his legendary career, 'The Rocket' admitted he's not a 'confident snooker player' at the moment.
He told Eurosport via The Metro: "I feel relaxed, my cueing is just not great. I'm not confident, that’s the bottom line, I’m not a confident snooker player at the moment. I’m just someone who’s having to battle it out and I don’t like not playing with confidence. I know I can battle it out, but it’s tough sometimes."
The 48-year-old upped his game and beat 'The Captain' in the final, claiming he wanted to see if his opponent could beat him.
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He then revealed the only thing that turned him on was to see if Carter had the 'bottle' to win the tournament.
"The balls went in and I got the result. I just had to keep Ali honest, I thought let’s see if he had the bottle to get over the line," he added.
"That was the only thing that turned me on tonight. Let’s just get him to that point. I want to see if he twitches. I love seeing it when their bottle goes. I love it.
"You can play terrible and still get them in that position and it’s like, let’s see if you can do it? That’s what was driving me on tonight, get him to that point to go, come on, let’s see if you’ve got it?"
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O'Sullivan continued: "Not many people have. It’s a good place to find out, when you’re out there. Most of them do [feel it] there’s very few that don’t. That’s my main asset really now, I just get them to that point and go, okay it’s about potting big balls and holding yourself together. There’s a few on the tour that can do it but not many, so I always like to get them in that situation and see if they can produce.
"You know when someone’s bottling it, I’m not saying Ali did, but he let me off the hook tonight, he gave me some breathing space and that gave me a little bit of confidence."
O'Sullivan's triumph at the Masters comes 29 years after his first tournament win in 1995, aged just 19.
Topics: Ronnie O’Sullivan, Snooker
Nasir Jabbar