Ronnie O'Sullivan admits his era of winning snooker's top titles could be "finished" as he senses an "inevitable decline" in his game.
The seven-time world champion, who has won more Triple Crowns (23) and ranking titles (41) than anyone in snooker history, was unhappy with his performances at the lucrative Saudi Arabia Masters before eventually crashing out to Si Jiahui in the quarter-finals.
Despite winning two of those Crucible crowns in the last four years and landing his eighth UK Championship and eighth Masters during the previous campaign, the Rocket fears that age could finally have caught up to him.
The 48-year-old said: "I just have to accept it’s finished for me really. I’ve been on a steady decline for five years and it’s just getting worse and worse.
“I’ve got to try and hang on and slow the inevitable decline that happens to all sports people.
"It’s OK against certain players at a certain level, but at the level I’m used to playing at and kind of having a bit of a stranglehold on the game, it’s just not good enough. I have to accept that.
“I’m happy that it’s happening at this age and not at 31, that’s the only positive.
"It’s not easy to accept because you still want to play, you still want to compete.
“I don’t want to do what [Stephen] Hendry done, or [Steve] Davis done or what Jimmy [White]’s done which is probably played on well past where they were capable of doing any damage in the game.”
Judd Trump will play Mark Williams in the final, which awards £500,000 to the champion - the same as what Kyren Wilson picked up at the Crucible back in May.
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