Neil Robertson told the Talking Snooker Podcast that he hopes to learn from Ronnie O’Sullivan's seventh World Championship victory last year as he bids to become a multiple world champion himself in the coming weeks.
Robertson was named World Snooker Tour’s Player of the Year for the 2021/2022 season, having won four major titles, but things haven't gone to plan this time around and the Australian is keen to learn from the best ahead of snooker's Blue Riband which begins proper on Saturday.
After defeat in the last 16 in Sheffield ended what was an otherwise glittering last campaign, Robertson admitted to having watched O’Sullivan closely as he marched to a seventh Crucible crown – picking up pointers for the 2023 World Championship.
Robertson told Talking Snooker in a special podcast produced in association with Sporting Life: "I watched Ronnie closely in the World Championship. I noticed how easily he was winning sessions and matches, even though he wasn’t playing that well.
"I actually don’t think he played that well, but he controlled the matches, he was more composed, and he created chances easily.
"I found that interesting, and I’m hoping to take some of the things I learned from watching him at the World Championship into my own game, and especially when it comes to Sheffield."
Robertson on the cold list after quiet campaign
In the early part of this season, it appeared to be business as usual for Robertson who linked up with Mink Nutcharut to win the World Mixed Doubles in September.
Robertson then reached three semi-finals before Christmas, looking in fine touch and promising that a return to winning ways was just around the corner.
However, he was beaten in the first round at the UK Championship and at the same stage of the Masters, before enduring an unusually quiet spell that meant he failed to qualify for both the Players Championship and Tour Championship, tournaments he won only a year earlier.
Despite winning the World Championship in 2010, Robertson's more recent Crucible record has had many questioning whether he will ever again reign supreme in Sheffield, but the Australian is more concerned with keeping things simple, continuing to work hard and trusting that his efforts on the practice table will pay off.
'Time doesn't wait for anybody'
Robertson added: "I just try to improve. At the end of every season I think 'what could I have done better, or what did players maybe try to exploit?' because players are trying to work me out more than I'm trying to work them out.
"Players are trying to stop me from playing – which is a good thing because that's what you want, you want your opponents to have to think about how they're going to stop you from playing.
"I need to find ways where they can't find any chinks in my armour and in terms of goals, just make my opponents work harder for their chances and try and win as much as I can.
"Try to improve, because this sport is about improving. I want to win more tournaments, of course, but however many more tournaments I win until I retire isn't really going to change much in how I'm regarded as a player.
"While I'm at an age where I can keep improving, keep improving, because there will become a time where I will start getting worse at the game – history tells you that. Time doesn't wait for anybody."
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