Ali Carter explains why he can't have a friendship with old snooker rival Ronnie O'Sullivan - 'Funny guy, but an odd character'
Updated 30/11/2025 at 17:07 GMT
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Ali Carter has offered an updated assessment of his epic rivalry with Ronnie O'Sullivan, explaining why he can't have a friendship beyond the table with his fellow Essex player. Carter feels O'Sullivan's unpredictability stretches well beyond his approach to playing snooker, citing the aftermath of their infamous meeting in the 2018 World Championship as the demise of any personal association.
Relive ‘ugly’ 2018 shoulder barge incident between O’Sullivan and Carter at Crucible
Video credit: TNT Sports
Ali Carter finds it impossible to have a friendship with Ronnie O'Sullivan because he feels his fellow Essex professional "gets out of bed differently every day" in his latest frank assessment of their feisty 24-year rivalry.
Carter has lost in two world finals to O'Sullivan, 18-8 in 2008 and 18-11 in 2012, amid a strained series of contests that saw them infamously barge into each other during the 2018 Word Championship, a second-round match won 13-9 by Carter at the Crucible.
It remains his solitary victory over O'Sullivan in 21 career meetings since 2001, with their natural enmity on public display during the 2024 Masters final at Alexandra Palace when the pair exchanged barbs during the post-match media conference.
After O'Sullivan completed a 10-7 win from 6-3 down, Carter slammed his opponent for "snotting all over the floor", prompting a furious response from the eight-time Masters winner, who said Carter needed to needed "to sort his f****** life out."
While O'Sullivan described Carter as a "good lad" on TNT Sports after defeating him 10-4 in their latest meeting in the opening round in Sheffield in April, Carter is not expecting a Christmas card from his old rival.
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O'Sullivan and Carter share warm handshake after Rocket win
Video credit: TNT Sports
"I don’t really have a relationship with Ronnie," said Carter, speaking to Bradford's Telegraph and Argus during an exhibition in Shipley.
"Listen, he gets out of bed differently every day, so how can you have that relationship?
"When he’s alright, he’s fine, but when he’s not, he’s not, and a friendship can’t really work on terms like that."
Carter said he gave up on trying to heal any rift with O'Sullivan when he denied apologising to him for his conduct at the Crucible seven years ago.
"I didn't apologise to Ali and I didn't apologise to Mark Allen either," said O'Sullivan after also accusing Mark Allen of gamesmanship during a bad-natured quarter-final meeting at the Champion of Champions in 2020.
"I just said, 'let's move on'. Let's not hold any grudges, it is what it is.
"I still feel I was in the right on both occasions and so that apology they say that I said was definitely not an apology."
Citing comments from former Masters winner and TNT Sports pundit Alan McManus before the duo were due to meet in the Northern Ireland Open semi-finals five years ago, the world No. 19 has said he has given up trying to work out perceived erratic behaviour.
"I basically stopped talking to him because he apologised to me for the shoulder barge, then tried to say he hadn’t," explained Carter.
"I remember the apology vividly because we were at a Novotel [hotel], and he said sorry for what had happened at Sheffield.
"I told him it was no issue, because it was just heat of the moment stuff.
"But I was playing him in the Northern Ireland Open during the Covid lockdown and Alan McManus talked about it being a needle match between Ronnie and I.
"I told Alan that wasn’t the case at all, it was water under the bridge and we’d moved on.
"But then before the match, Ronnie came up to me and said I was making it up that he’d apologised to me.
"After that, I just thought: 'What’s the point of talking to someone if they’re going to be like that?'"
Carter, who practised with O'Sullivan in his formative years, has described his old foe as the greatest of all time, but prefers to leave any meetings to the snooker table.
"I’ve got the ultimate respect for Ronnie as a snooker player," he said. "He’s quite a funny guy actually, but he’s an odd character."
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Carter saw his hopes of qualifying for the UK Championship ended by a 6-4 defeat to Latvian teenager Artemijs Zizins in Wigan that means he is also out of the running to make the Masters in London in January.
Stephen Magurie's 6-4 defeat to world No. 1 Judd Trump in York on Saturday has also ended his prospects of reaching the Alexandra Palace showpiece with Elliot Slessor, David Gilbert, Zhang Anda, Pang Junxu, Lei Peifan and Zhou Yuelong all needing to win the UK title to muscle in on the Masters starting grid.
Zhou takes on O'Sullivan in his tournament opener at the Barbican on Tuesday, live on TNT Sports discovery+.
Meanwhile, Carter, 46, admits travelling to snooker tournaments in Asia is not an enjoyable experience despite his success in reaching the Shanghai Masters final, losing 11-9 to Kyren Wilson, earlier in the season.
"Being that far away from home with a totally different culture is no fun, I can tell you," he said.
"It sounds glamorous, but it’s tough on the body, and the older you get, the harder it gets."
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Carter is due to end his year with a trip to the Snooker Shoot Out in Blackpool to take on David Lilley before meeting Zak Surety in his opener at the Scottish Open in Edinburgh. Both events will be live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
"I need to do my job to earn money, maintain my lifestyle and support my family, the same as everyone else," Carter said.
"I don’t think I’d be doing it if there was no money involved.
"The name of the game is to get as much out of it as I can, while I can, so I can make my life easier when I stop playing."
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Watch and stream the 2025/26 snooker season, including the 49th UK Championship, live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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