FIVE-TIME WORLD snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has joked he could be the “new JK Rowling” after turning his hand to novel writing.
O’Sullivan has penned the fittingly titled crime story Framed, which takes inspiration from his own life story.
The ‘Rocket’ has previously released two autobiographies and seems to have caught the writing bug.
Put to him by BBC Radio Five Live that he could have a great literary career ahead of him, O’Sullivan boldly compared himself to the author of the Harry Potter series, replying: “That’d be great, wouldn’t it? [The] new JK Rowling!”
“Obviously I’d done a couple of autobiographies and there are certain things that you do that you enjoy, and I really enjoyed being involved in the whole process of doing my autobiographies.
I think they [the publishers] sensed that and they approached me and said would you be interested in doing a novel?”
Despite his success, O’Sullivan has long had a love-hate relationship with snooker and says his new-found love of writing will help him cope when he eventually walks away from the game for good.
I’ve started to look for things that I enjoy and I’ve found two or three things now that I really enjoy,” he said. ”I know now that if I never played snooker I’d be fine.
“I’m now playing snooker because I want to, not because I have to.
Everybody needs a purpose in their life and snooker has been that purpose, but at some point I’d like to find another purpose.”
He did not rule out a sixth World Championship triumph, adding: “Anything is possible with me. I’ve stopped trying to predict what I’m capable of or not capable of.”
