Super-fit O’Sullivan ‘lucky’ to escape
Ronnie O’Sullivan believes his lifestyle is so good he could live to the age of 200 but he apologised yesterday to Crucible fans for the ‘embarrassing’ start to his bid for a sixth world title. O’Sullivan won seven out of eight frames to beat Stephen Maguire 10-7 in the first round in Sheffield having trailed the Scotsman 6-3 after a complete horror show on Saturday. ‘It was so embarrassing and I felt like I wanted to give them all their money back. I was gutted,’ O’Sullivan said. ‘Thank God Stephen potted a few balls. I was missing balls all over the gaff. I was lucky to get through.’ O’Sullivan, 42, hopes to live a remarkably long life after dedicating himself to healthy living. Teaming up with nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert has given him a new outlook. ‘I think I’m going to live until about 200, I feel so good,’ he said. ‘The biggest thing for me this year has been how I’ve tackled how I eat. I’m amazed at how good I feel and how healthy I am. ‘Compared to the average Briton I’ll always look well. ‘You look at the state of some of the humans in our country and they’re massively obese, a bit like America really. ‘I’m eating so much celery I’m going to look like a celery stick at the end of this tournament.’ Maguire predicted O’Sullivan would now be an even greater threat to the rest of the field after he avoided following defending champion Mark Selby out of the tournament. ‘He’ll probably be thinking that he really got out of jail there so he’ll probably be more dangerous than he usually is in this tournament,’ he said.