SNOOKER WORLD CHAMPION Ronnie O’Sullivan believes psychiatrist Steve Peters can help controversial Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
Suarez, 26, was banned for 10 games after the Uruguay forward bit Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
O’Sullivan, whose own mood swings have interrupted his career, said working with Peters had improved his concentration and enabled him to win a fourth world title last year.
‘The Rocket’ said Suarez’s attack was comparable to his own much criticised decision to walk out of a match with Stephen Hendry in the sixth frame of a best of 17 UK Championship quarter-final in 2006.
“I understand what Suarez did – I totally get it,” O’Sullivan, currently just one frame away from a place in this year’s world championship semi-finals, told the BBC.
“It’s a moment of madness and you think, ‘Wow, what have I done?’ It’s like me walking out against Hendry. You regret it afterwards, but at that moment you are over-run by these emotions.”
Peters is already working with Liverpool and O’Sullivan reckons the Anfield club could win the Premier League if he stays there for several seasons.
“Dr Steve Peters has been great to me,” said O’Sullivan. “I’ve really worked hard with Steve and tried to take on board everything he’s shown me and spoken to me about and I’m benefiting from it massively.
“Ever since I first saw him, before the 2011 World Championship, for the whole year leading up to winning the World Championship last year, I worked really hard on trying to get hold of my emotions and my brain.
“Not once have you been able to see me lose the plot. Sometimes inside I feel it’s tough and it’s challenging, but I’m able to overcome that.”
He added there was no chance of him repeating his Hendry ‘walk-out’.
“None of those meltdowns will happen, no matter how frustrated I may be with myself out there. I’m able to put that on hold until the game’s finished.
“It’s not a quick fix with Steve, but if Liverpool stick with him and (manager) Brendan Rodgers they’ll win the title. If Liverpool can have Steve there for four or five years, then they’ll win the Premier League.”
