O’Sullivan was still the favourite to reach another World Snooker Championship semi-final when Wednesday night’s final session resumed with the score at 8-8. But Bingham produced a superb display to put the Rocket under the cosh and keep him there, eventually coming out a convincing 13-10 winner.
After missing an opportunity to keep the match alive in a dramatic 23rd frame, O’Sullivan said in his post-match press conference that he would not be taking the defeat to heart, and as far as he is concerned it is ‘pretty much gone’.
The 48-year-old, who is one away from an unprecedented eighth world title, also claimed that he wasn’t even intending to play at the tournament until he had his ‘arm twisted’ by a new sponsor.
He said: “I wasn’t actually going to be playing in this one until a new sponsor came along. I went, ‘alright cool’. I wasn’t going to be playing [the Tour Championship in] Manchester or this because of how I was feeling about playing, but they twisted my arm.”
O’Sullivan continued by pointing out that he is contractually obliged to play events in China and Saudi Arabia, while hinting that UK-based fans may not see much of him next season unless organisers are prepared to ‘pay the tax’.
“It’s first come first served,” he explained. “I’m already signed up for eight or nine events [next season]. If I do really badly in them I suppose I might have to dip my toe in and play in a couple of tournaments over here, but otherwise probably not because I just want to be at home.
“There’s only so many days I allow myself to be away from home. You can’t do it all, really. I don’t just turn up wily nily to events. There’s a tax to be paid.
“If people are prepared to pay it then I’ll get me cue out me case, if they’re not I’m quite content to never ever play again and move on and do other stuff.”
The World Snooker championship continues with an intriguing line-up of semi-finals today (Thursday), as David Gilbert takes on the red-hot Kyren Wilson, and qualifier Jak Jones faces Bingham, who will surely fancy his chances of making the final after knocking out O’Sullivan.
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