Ronnie O’Sullivan is to snooker what Bolt is to athletics or Jordan to basketball. But he likes to compare himself to Bruce Lee. Of course, with a somewhat more fractious personality. At 46, the Englishman continues to ride the wave at the World Cup, the big event, at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield. Ronnie is in quarters and He faces the Scottish Stephen Maguire from this Tuesday (11:00, Eurosport). In the round of 16 he swept Allen (13-4), a win that was his 71st in the World Cup. The absolute record.
One more record for the Rocketwell known for its speed of play. The greatest exponent of its speed is one of its stops, 5 minutes and 8 seconds in making a perfect round, a 147. He is also the player with the most frames won (1,134) in World Cups, the one who has made the most hundreds (rounds of more than 100 without interruption) (189). But he has a great challenge left, to reach the seven titles of Stephen Hendry. The Rocket has six crowns.
“Most of the statistics mean nothing to me. What I’m proud of is the majors (World, Masters and English Open) and that’s it,” O’Sullivan said, tongue-in-cheek and direct, as when he said that he could beat a lot of tour players with just one arm. It is also normal to see him disconnect from the matches, but in the big tournaments it is always there. Fast and smart on the table.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, in the match against Mark Allen.
OLI SCARFF (AFP)
Ronnie talks about his flair for snooker: “It all comes down to many years of practice and dedication and trying to be the best version of yourself. It’s like Bruce Lee, he trained for many hours, not only mentally but also physically. We are experts in different fields, but I try to approach my sport in a way that is no different. “She has been at the foot of the canyon a lot.
His first World Cup was in 2001, then came those of 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013 and the last one was in 2020. He is now in the quarters again, and if he advances he could meet his ‘kryptonite’ John Higgins, who is seen with Lisowski (he beat Robertson) in the semifinals. He is one of the rivals that O’Sullivan respects the most, who will first have to break Maguire. The Scotsman, a very temperamental player, said that he has vision problems after beating Zhao. Bad company to get in front of the rocket.
Celebrity and friend of Gascoigne
O’Sullivan has celebrity status in the UK. He has been nominated for athlete of the year several times, but it is also true that sometimes his apathy and scandals they have made him a kind of ‘enfant terrible’. He shares a good friendship with Paul Gascoigne and has received criticism from some players like the Iranian Vafaei, who hinted that Ronnie should retire if he really doesn’t enjoy snooker as he has once said.
O’Sullivan, who often plays with a Casio watch to time plays, is a different character, one who breaks records. Without Selby, the current world champion, on stage, in the Crucible all the lights point to Ronnie. A superstar, but with a special halo, with lights and shadows: the Rocket.
The 7 records of the Rocket in the Crucible
| More wins | 71 |
| Most games played | 94 |
| Most quarterfinals played | twenty |
| Most frames gained | 1,134 |
| more hundreds | 189 |
| 147 faster | 5:08 |
| more money earned | + 3,000,000 pounds |
The quarter-final matches will be played in three sessions (two this Tuesday and one, if necessary, on Wednesday) and are:
Yang Bingtao (Chn)-Mark Williams (Gal)
Stuart Bingham (Eng)-Judd Trump (Eng)
Jack Lisowski (Eng)-John Higgins (Esc)
Stephen Maguire (Esc)-Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng)