Ronnie O’Sullivan has ruled himself out of the running to win an eighth snooker world title, claiming that he is ‘awful’ following his exit from the English Open.

The Rocket suffered a surprise 4-2 defeat to He Guoqiang in Brentwood. O’Sullivan decided to play large portions of the match with his weaker left hand and quickly paid the price, with He racing into a three-frame lead.

The 48-year-old then threatened to stage an impressive comeback by winning the next two frames but a poor safety provided He with the chance to land the spoils, and he made no mistake to book his spot in the final 32.

Speaking to The Sun about his performance and how he can get back to winning form, O’Sullivan said: “I’m absolutely useless, that’s why.

“Forget about the Worlds. I’m not even bothered to be honest with you, if I’m going to play rubbish I might as well play left-handed.

“Play left-handed and enjoy it, but be useless, or play right-handed, be useless and not enjoy it. I haven’t got long, I’m not going to deny it, I’m not playing well enough, there’s no point in even worrying about it – I’ve just accepted it now which is quite a nice place to be really.”

O’Sullivan then went on to explain that his undoing had been on the cards for a matter of years, despite heading to Essex in good form and being one of the overall favourites to win the English Open.

He continued: “I’m awful, it’s embarrassing. I miss so many balls. I’ve been missing balls for the last four or five years and every now and then I’ll miss a few less, maybe, and get a couple of results.