Ronnie O’Sullivan unleashes fresh rant on English Open venue

Ronnie O’Sullivan has launched a fresh tirade against the Crawley venue used to stage the English Open.

The world number two made headlines 12 months ago when he described the K2 Centre as a “hellhole” that “smells of urine” and has reiterated his criticism upon his return to Crawley.

O’Sullivan survived a scare in his First Round match against Jamie O’Neill on Monday, edging out the world number 105 in a last-frame decider, and ‘The Rocket’ made his feelings clear about the venue once again.

“Every day in Crawley is a day lost in my life,” said O’Sullivan. “It’s not changed as far as I’m concerned.

“You would have to change a lot in this place – a complete refurbishment probably. I’m not surprised, it’s what I expect it to be.

“I’ve just gone from a match table, to a squash court to a toilet, where the players’ office is, from the toilet to walk around the outside of the building through the heavy rain to come here and talk to [the media].

“I’ll probably end up with a bit of pneumonia on top of the cold I’ve already got.”

O’Sullivan is making his first competitive appearance on British soil since his shock First Round exit to James Cahill in the World Championship six months ago, having retained his Shanghai Masters title last month.

The five-time World Champion produced breaks of 90, 102, 54 and 81 as he came from 2-0 down to spare a shock early exit against O’Neill and set up a meeting with 19-year-old Yuan Sijun on Wednesday.

He added: “When you’re playing people who are just happy to be there, it’s their big occasion and they just go out and smash the balls all over the place, there’s no point trying to play the right shot.

“Every time you do, they just play the wrong shot. Whatever game plan you’ve got, they just totally throw it out of the window with one shot.

“It’s like following a driver who doesn’t really know what they’re doing. You’re just trying to second-guess it and you end up having a crash yourself.”