Last Sunday evening at The Crucible Theatre (“The Crucible” as it is commonly referred to) in Sheffield, England, the World Snooker Championships were concluded. The Crucible, which was hosting the event for the 44th consecutive year, is that rare blend of modern development and old world charm, and the idyllic setting for Ronnie O’Sullivan, snooker’s troubled genius’, sixth lien on the trophy.
At the age of 44, O’Sullivan became the oldest competitor to capture the title since 1978, when Ray Reardon, his former coach, won the event at the age of 45. The victory now places him in a tie with the legendary Steve Davis, his boyhood hero, and Reardon, and one behind, the great Stephen Hendry. It was his twentieth Triple Crown title, an unprecedented total, adding to his unmatched records of seven UK Championships and seven Masters Titles. It was also his 37th ranking event win, surpassing Hendry’s total.
The seventeen-day event, for which physical endurance is very crucial, was as apt summary of O’Sullivan’s career, where brilliant displays on the snooker table were often followed by stretches where the simplest of putts presented major difficulty. “The Rocket” to his many admirers, for his rapid fire way of attacking the game, O’Sullivan began the tournament by destroying, Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, by ten frames to one, in the record time of 108 minutes.
The Championships, which had been pushed back from the customary April/May time slot to July/August, because of the corona pandemic, brought out the best in O’Sullivan as he dispatched two former three-time winners and career triple crown holders, Mark Williams and Mark Selby. In an epic performance in the semi-finals, O’Sullivan battled back from 14 – 16 down, to reel off three straight frames of clinical snooker, much to Selby’s horror, to book his place in the weekend final.
Standing between O’Sullivan and a sixth title, was first-time finalist, Kyren Wilson, who, earlier, had also eliminated his semifinal opponent by the odd frame in thirty-five. Heading into Sunday, O’Sullivan held a 10 – 8 advantage, after having enjoyed an 8 – 2 lead, which had his fans wondering which O’Sullivan would show up on the final day, the genius or the lacklustre version. The Rocket’s followers needed not have worried, as he arrived at 9.00am to commence practicing and wasted no time in the afternoon session extending his lead to 17 – 8, as Wilson botched shots and squandered several opportunities to get back in the match.
The 300 fans lucky enough to score tickets to Sunday evening’s final session of play saw only twenty minutes of snooker action, as the Rocket raced to a break of 96, only to clunk the black ball on what should have a century break and a fitting end to his sixth title. The 18 – 8 score line, was the largest winning margin in a final, since O’Sullivan’s triumph over Ali Carter in 2008, and O’Sullivan’s third in a final.
The Rocket’s sixth World Championship title is all the more remarkable when the odds he has faced, since winning his first world title as a seventeen year old back in 1993, are considered. In a career spanning three decades, the Rocket has not shied away from discussing his mental health issues. The pressures of dealing with elite level sport, which he refers to as ‘snooker depression,’ has led to him to having regretted taking up the game in the first place.
In a 2019 interview with the BBC’s Don’t Tell Me the Score podcast, Sullivan explained, “Playing, competing and enjoying wasn’t enough. I had to win. If I didn’t play snooker, I would never have to take any [prescribed antidepressant] medication ever.”
‘I had these episodes where I’d just disappear, I’d run off and people would think he’s having a tantrum, it’s just I can’t cope sometimes, it’s not that I can’t cope with snooker, I just can’t cope with normal life sometimes, “ O’Sullivan added.
In his book, Running, O’Sullivan explains the complexity of the relationship between his state of mind and his chosen profession as a professional snooker player. As his mind wonders from lapses in concentration to an over active state, addiction battles have entered the equation. His erratic play and irrational behaviour have often been interpreted as someone seeking to pursue a rock and roll lifestyle, rather than someone battling one of life’s curveballs.
Running has played such a crucial role in the Rocket’s pursuit to conquer the demons associated with his mental challenges that he rates his achievements in that area ahead those on the snooker table.
“I came 180th in the Southern England Cross Country nine miles over Parliament Hill, 34 minutes in a 10km race in France, so they’re all my proudest achievements, because not many people know about that.”
“Everything in moderation” is one of the mottos that O’Sullivan has adopted in his approach to daily life, and hence he is expected to play in a reduced number of tournaments as he runs off into the sunset of his career.
When the debate of who is the greatest ever snooker player comes up, Davis, Hendry and O’Sullivan will be among the first names out of the hat. While Davis dominated the 80s and Hendry the next decade, O’Sullivan, who has played at the elite level for an extended period of time, can settle the argument once and for all with another world title.
