Ronnie O’Sullivan jealous of younger rival despite winning Shanghai Masters

Ronnie O’Sullivan wishes he was in his twenties again. The Rocket has admitted he is jealous of Luca Brecel after defeating the Belgian in the final of the Shanghai Masters at the weekend.

O’Sullivan won in Shanghai for the fourth time in a row and fifth in total. He beat Brecel in a thrilling contest on Sunday which he edged out 11-9.

It was Brecel who came out on top when the pair met at the Crucible earlier this year. The 28-year-old beat O’Sullivan 13-10 in the quarters before going on to beat Mark Selby in the final to clinch his first World Championship title.

O’Sullivan has always made it known that he is a fan of Brecel and did so again after his latest win. The 47-year-old said Brecel is a worthy World Champion and even said he wished he was his opponent’s age again.

Read more… Ronnie O’Sullivan beats Luca Brecel to win £210k Shanghai Masters final

O’Sullivan told Eurosport: “I’m not surprised Luca has done as well as he has. He’s not a surprise world champion. He’s got an amazing gift to play this game.

“The performance he put on in Sheffield was unbelievable. He has improved a lot as a player and he loves the game.

“He has his girlfriend here with him and they seem to be having a great time. I wish I was at his stage of his career.

“He is a young man with a lot of years ahead of him. Snooker is getting bigger in China so it is a good time to be a professional snooker player.”

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O’Sullivan may want to be at Brecel’s career stage again but he won’t be keeping his trophy following Sunday’s triumph. He revealed that he will be giving it away, as he always does with his silverware and memorabilia, jokingly declaring he is “preparing for death”.

He added: “I’ll be giving the trophy to my friend who is opening up a club here. It will be staying in China.

“I always give them away. My mate Paul’s got one, I gave one to a kid in the crowd.

“I’m not really bothered about trophies. I’ve sold quite a few of them – I don’t want any memorabilia left by the time I’m 70 or 80. I’m preparing for death – part of that is I don’t want no snooker stuff – waistcoats, cues, it’s all going to go.”

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