- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 446,341
- Reaction score
- 44
You must be registered for see images attach
Ronnie O’Sullivan is poised to make his 33rd consecutive Crucible appearance but has not played professionally since January - PA/Richard Sellers
Ronnie O’Sullivan last played professionally on January 9 when, following a 3-2 defeat by Robert Milkins, he had already snapped his cue into multiple pieces by the time he reached the players’ room at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
There had been clear signs of distress during the match – largely taken out on his cue and the table – but literal breaking point would come after O’Sullivan had left public view and was walking up some stairs. He initially disposed of the broken cue in a nearby toilet.
“The venue manager came out and was, ‘What’s going on?’ Ronnie said, ‘I’m really sorry’ and went and picked the pieces up and then threw it in the bin,” says David Hendon, who had been commentating on the match.
O’Sullivan’s friend Robbie Huxley did promptly retrieve the broken cue from the wheelie bin in the forlorn hope of repairing an item of snooker history that had helped him win several world titles. Shards of wood were later found in the toilet even after the attempted clear up.
Hendon, who probably watches more frames of snooker than anyone on the planet for his work with TNT Sports, recalls an overriding feeling of concern that day. “He wasn’t in a nasty mood; he was vulnerable and that’s why I did feel for him,” he says.
“He is under pressure that no other player is under. He is always expected to play well – and you can’t always provide genius. He has glimpsed a level that no one else has and, because of that, he feels that’s how you play. That’s got to take a big toll.
“It’s like if you saw a great pianist and you came away saying, ‘That was amazing’ but actually they might think, ‘I was off tonight’. They know their trade. But he’s very resolute. Ronnie’s a great survivor.”
O’Sullivan himself simply says that he “lost the plot” that day and, after subsequently withdrawing from the Masters, the Welsh Open, the German Masters and the World Grand Prix, he has now missed nine events this season.
He confirmed only on Thursday that he will take centre stage at the Crucible at 2.30pm on Tuesday for his first-round match against Ali Carter and a tilt at an unprecedented eighth world title. Their most recent televised encounter ended with O’Sullivan calling Carter a “f------ nightmare”. They also exchanged a shoulder barge during a previous Crucible match. An air of antipathy, then, will be among the multitude of storylines.
This latest drama might all sound in keeping with O’Sullivan’s rollercoaster career and, while the plot does usually end with him producing something utterly magical on a snooker table, it does all feel potentially different this time.
O’Sullivan will turn 50 this year. He is down at 31st on the one-year world rankings and, by his own exacting assessment, has not played consistently well since his last World Championship triumph in 2022. There has also been upheaval off the table. O’Sullivan took up Hong Kong residency last year and has been spending more time in Saudi Arabia where he has a snooker academy. He has reportedly split from his long-term partner Laila Rouass and their house is up for sale.
You must be registered for see images attach
O’Sullivan won his seventh world title in 2022 to equal Stephen Hendry’s record of Crucible wins - Getty Images/Visual China Group
O’Sullivan has talked of suffering “stage fright” in recent months and appears genuinely unsure whether the slide is permanent. And yet he remains fascinated by snooker and still chooses to immerse himself in a world that has brought such extreme torment and joy.
“The pressure Ronnie is under is like some sort of horrific torture; some of it is imagined and some of it is real,” says O’Sullivan’s artist friend Damien Hirst.
Those who know O’Sullivan highlight the critical paradox that he now faces. His life in snooker has been defined by a search for excellence that has touched peaks beyond any other player but, as the inevitable ageing process unfolds, could an inability to accept mistakes turn from his great strength to his biggest weakness?
Alan McManus was the first person that O’Sullivan ever played at the Crucible, beating the 17-year-old prodigy 10-7 in the 1993 first round before they eventually became colleagues on the Eurosport and now TNT Sports punditry team, where they will again be working together at this year’s World Championship. He regards O’Sullivan as utterly unique among any sportsperson he has ever witnessed.
“I wonder what percentage of him actually enjoys it,” says McManus. “For everyone else in the game, bar none, it is all about the result. He doesn’t think like that. For him, performance is more important than the result. I guess he thinks completely differently because his level can be so much higher than everybody else.
“One day, he is going to get out of bed one morning and not be the player he used to be. That’s just the way life is. Whether he has reached that point yet we don’t know. Would he be able to handle not being able to do what he has been able to do? To play like the world No 4 is maybe not good enough for him.
“I think for Ronnie it’s more important for him to be content off the table, away from the match, but also to be content when the other guy is at the table. When he is like that he can be unplayable.”
You must be registered for see images attach
O’Sullivan has often spoken of how playing well is more important to him than results - PA/Adam Davy
Ray Reardon, the late six-time world champion and a mentor to O’Sullivan, once said that, for all his outbursts to the contrary, he is infatuated with snooker. “When he says that he hasn’t been playing, he’s been playing,” Reardon said. “He loves talking about the nicky-nacky-noos of the game.”
O’Sullivan’s father, Ronnie Snr, put it like this in a rare interview for the The Edge of Everything documentary: “It’s so natural, so intricate, so much style and finesse… perfection? That’s what he was looking for. He’s still trying to master it. Addicted isn’t he? He just can’t master that game.”
McManus says that O’Sullivan will sometimes suddenly start practising on the TNT Sports table behind the punditry set. “I’ve never seen anyone practice in terms of quality like he does – it’s really, really different,” says McManus. “I feel like sometimes walking over and saying: ‘That’s awesome.’ He always keeps on top of the difficult things. It’s the repetition of things that are difficult so your arm, eyes, body and mind remembers when a particular shot comes up. Yes, there’s that talent, but there’s a huge work ethic.”
When once co-commentating with O’Sullivan at the Crucible, Hendon was struck by his genuine enthusiasm. “He came in and the first thing he said to me was: ‘Wow, what an amazing arena.’ He’d only ever seen it from the seat. He was very generous. He’s the best known player in the game and he’s the most unknowable at the same time. Everyone you speak to will say: ‘I don’t really know him as a person.’ But maybe that is part of his aura. That’s in his armoury. He’s that kind of untouchable. If you are in a room with the 32 players of the World Championship, everyone’s eyes will go to Ronnie. How’s he looking? What’s he going to say? What’s he going to do? That’s kind of power. That’s something he can use maybe.
“It’s going to be his biggest challenge ever to win it. But it’s the sort of thing Ronnie would do – not be present all season, all these other narratives play out, Trump v Wilson, and then, like a king across the water, he takes the crown at the end of it.”
O’Sullivan did famously win the World Championship in 2013 after taking a year off but he is now 12 years older and, in defending champion Kyren Wilson and the Chinese sensation Zhao Xintong, there are new forces among familiar but still formidable foes such as Mark Selby, Judd Trump, John Higgins and Mark Williams. There is also the question of arriving at the most intense and claustrophobic venue with a new cue.
You must be registered for see images attach
O’Sullivan (left) shares an emotional embrace with Judd Trump after beating him in the World Championship final in 2022 - AFP/Oli Scarff
“It’s like going and sitting on that sofa in Friends – you’re like, ‘I know this place and yet it feels so different than anything you can imagine’,” McManus says of the Crucible.
“In practice, he could use a walking stick. It’s when things go a bit awry, do you have confidence in the equipment you are using? Would Rory McIlroy go out on Sunday and use a different set of irons?”
That O’Sullivan will not compromise in his attacking approach feels certain. He has always said that he would rather go down playing what he calls “winning snooker” – an outlook he learnt from losing two Crucible classics against Stephen Hendry – than falling over the line. He still has the quickest shot clock on the tour even this season and reports from his practice in Saudi Arabia last week include a maximum 147 break in under seven minutes.
A willingness always to go in search of any improvement, whether technical, mental or physical, remains a feature of staying among the absolute elite of the sport for a dizzying 32 years.
“To be good at anything you have got to have that obsessive nature,” O’Sullivan told me during an interview in 2023. “I’m happiest in a club, switching my phone off, and fiddling about with the game. I’m probably a bit like an engineer, not just a sportsman… I’m always learning, looking for that switch.”
And his eyes then visibly lit up as he explained how it actually feels to flick that elusive switch. “It’s like night and day,” he said. “Once that switch is flicked, the belief changes. You know it’s there… you think: ‘F--- I’m dangerous.’ The other guy doesn’t know until it’s too late sometimes. It’s like hosting your own party and you have the crowd in your hands.
“I could go and get a job doing podcasts. I can go and do other bits… but I’m never going to get that feeling which is, you’re on your own, under the most extreme pressure, back against the wall.
“When you perform really well, you know there is a certain electricity in the air. There’s no drug on the planet that makes me feel like that. Only the highest level of performance can give you that. Why wouldn’t you want that? How do you say goodbye to that?” Snooker’s ultimate stage again awaits.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Continue reading...
