Ronnie O'Sullivan booked his place in the second round of the Irish Masters in Dublin last night and then declared: "I don't want to be here."
The unpredictable star beat Nottingham's Michael Holt 5-2 in a match dominated by safety.
But even though O'Sullivan applied himself throughout, he admitted afterwards that he was feeling fed up, echoing comments made on Saturday by Stephen Hendry, who said he was finding snooker a "chore".
"I totally understand what Stephen was saying and I've been playing five years less than him," O'Sullivan said.
"My goal is to play well at the Crucible. To be honest, I don't really want to be here. The last thing I feel I want to be doing is playing snooker.
"It's going to be tough if I keep winning matches. I was really struggling out there and it's disappointing because I usually love playing in Ireland.
"I've changed over the last year. I'm a true professional - I apply myself instead of bashing balls about so I suppose it's not all bad.
"But I'm fed up at being at tournaments at the moment. I enjoy life so much when I'm at home that when I come away I wonder if this is really what I want to do."
Paul Hunter suffered a surprise exit in the first last-16 match when he was beaten 5-2 by world No 13 Graeme Dott.
Hunter, the Wembley Masters champion, struggled all night and could manage a highest break of only 34 as Dott reached his first quarter-final for more than two years.