Ronnie O'Sullivan makes 'extraordinary' decision in middle of World Championship semi

Ronnie O’Sullivan has made the surprising call to make alterations to his cue midway through his semi-final at the . is level at 4-4 with his Chinese opponent after the first session at the Crucible, yet is unhappy with his equipment.

The Rocket in Sheffield, despite coming into the tournament having not played in a tournament since January. Earlier in the year, he was battling with his cue and ended up – and the gripes with it have continued, even while he’s been dispatching opponents at the World Championship.

After defeating Si Jiahui 13-9 to continue his bid to , O’Sullivan and was simply trying to “grind it out”.

And he is clearly still unhappy with his cue, with presenter Hazel Irvine passing on some information about his ferrule – the metal sleeve behind the tip – after his first session against Zhao concluded.

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“We knew that Ronnie O’Sullivan was playing with a new tip in that session,” Irvine told viewers. “Immediately afterwards, we are hearing, he actually went to a shop in Sheffield and changed not only the tip but the ferrule of his cue. A rather extraordinary thing to do in the middle of a semi-final.”

Snooker legend Steve Davis responded: "Yeah, not great. If you’ve got problems with your equipment and you change mid-stream, how hard is that? How tough is the situation and how bad must it be to change?

“You’re playing to small margins, but the fact he was trying out a different material for the metal ferrule that has different characteristics, has in this tournament caused him all sorts of problems, but he’s still got over the line, that’s how clever he is. But he’s not happy with his cue so he’s changed it and now he’s into unknown territory."

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Speaking after the quarter-final, O’Sullivan explained his thoughts. “I’m grinding it out,” he said. “I had work done on my cue. The cue feels awful. I am playing awful. I need a new ferrule. I miss the buzz of playing well.

“I’m trying all sorts, to hold the cue in a different place, try anything. Si played poorly in the whole match. He let me off. He gave me chances. I’m looking forward to each match. I will keep plugging away.”

He added: “Well, I don’t think I can get any worse but we will see. I have butchered more shots in this tournament than I have in years.

"I’m like a swan on the top but flapping legs at the bottom. I am playing with zero confidence. I have to grind it out.”