Ronnie O’Sullivan fears he’ll be forced to RETIRE over ongoing injury that leaves him unable to pick up a cup of tea

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN fears his career could be finished by an ongoing tennis elbow injury that requires constant monitoring and management.

The Rocket arrived at Heathrow airport from Hong Kong at 6.45am on Monday morning and then beat Andrew Pagett 4-0 at lunchtime at the English Open in Brentwood.

There were times when he was seen grimacing as he performed a power shot on the table in his home county of Essex.

O'Sullivan, 47, tore a muscle in his right arm lifting weights in the gym two years ago.

The historic issued flared up again in March – it was so bad he was forced to pull out of the WST Classic in Leicester – and he says it was exacerbated by a spell of mountain bike riding.

The seven-time world snooker champion says he has to take medication to curb the pain and he knows that surgery is one possible option down the line.

Asked specifically how bad it was, given he hits thousands of snooker balls each week, O’Sullivan said: “Potentially, it could be career-threatening as far as playing on the top-level circuit.

“I mean if it stays like this, yeah, I wouldn’t be able to play.

“I might be able to compete in the odd matches here or there. But trying to win tournaments, not being able to play power shots, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

“I have to be careful this time. If I get it fixed, to keep fixed, not to take any risks or be stupid Like going mountain biking and all that rubbish. Hopefully it gets sorted.

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“It will have to be painkillers for this week and then after that, just get rehab.

“Long-term, I don’t want to keep taking painkillers. I might have to have another cortisone injection, which would be my third one.

“And that is something I don’t really want to do. It just weakens the muscles apparently.

“I went into the gym once and lifted too many heavy weights.

“From that moment onwards, it has been very weak. The injections sort it out but if you then aggravate it, it goes back to being not so good.

“Can I get it sorted? I don’t know, I don’t know.

“You know what it is like, if you have a sore arm and try to hit the ball, your confidence goes and you don’t quite commit to the shot.

“Maybe I’ll try some acupuncture or get some good physio, see if I can commit to a programme for 2-3 months to see if it improves.

“Sometimes I cannot pick up a frying pan or a cup of tea. And the power shots are a bit of a struggle.”

O’Sullivan will play Welshman Jackson Page in the first round on Wednesday afternoon as he appears in his first UK event since losing to Luca Brecel in the World Championship quarter-finals in April.