Ronnie O'Sullivan insisted he is treated unfairly by referees after arguing with the official during his World Snooker Championship defeat.
O'Sullivan has crashed out of the Crucible, losing 13-10 to Stuart Bingham but the game was marred by two incidents that saw 'Rocket' argue with the referee.
The first came when the former world champion had been 6-5 up against Bingham and had just potted the black as he chased down his opponent by making the score 43-29 in the 12th frame.
But as referee Desislava Bozhilova tried to put the black back on the table, the spot had been marked and the ball would not stay in the right position.
It led to some remonstrations from O'Sullivan, who complained that the ball was not in the right place before hitting a safety shot in what was described as 'one of the greatest bits of sportsmanship ever' as Bingham took the frame.
Another bizarre moment came in the evening session when O'Sullivan stopped playing as fans poured in at the Crucible, causing the Wordsley-born star to lose his cool.
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He sat down while complaining to the referee, who was ushering people back to their seats from her position next to the table.
After the door was closed and fans stopped coming in, O'Sullivan was clearly unhappy as the referee spoke to him, to which he replied by gesturing his hand telling her to 'chill'.
Bozhilova dealt with the situation well and replied: "I am chill."
Before the evening session got underway, O'Sullivan was interviewed about the first incident regarding the black ball and insisted that the referees are treating him unfairly.
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"Some of the referees, I think they’ve got it in for me, so I wanted to prove to her she’s got it wrong," the seven-time world champion told Eurosport.
"Then I didn’t feel good about having to pot the ball after that. I just wanted to make the point and the point was made.
"I’m not that hungry to win in that way. I’m more of a principles person, so once the principle’s been made, I can sleep at night."
While O'Sullivan was praised for his sportsmanship, he also met criticism from fans on social media for his public berating of the referee during the match.
Bozhilova had to deal with a tricky situation placing the black ball on the spot, which had clearly been affected over the course of the game.
The referee even told O'Sullivan she was happy to re-spot the ball after a request was made by the 48-year-old.
Speaking on commentary at the time of the incident, 2010 world champion Neil Robertson said: "He played safe even though he could pot the red. It's unbelievable.
"This is probably one of the greatest bits of sportsmanship I have ever seen in any sport. That's incredible.
"I've never seen anything like that before."