Ronnie O'Sullivan

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Ronnie O'Sullivan
Born	December 5, 1975 (age 31) Wordsley, West Midlands
Nationality	English
Nickname(s)	The Rocket The Essex Exocet The Magician
Professional	1992–
Highest ranking	1 (3 years)
2006/07 ranking	3
Career prize money	UK£4,873,060[1]
Highest break	147 (6 times)
Tournament wins
Ranking events	18
Non-ranking events	11
World Champion	2001, 2004

Ronnie Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975 in Wordsley, West Midlands^[2][3]) is an English professional snooker player nicknamed "The Rocket" due to his rapid playing style, with unofficial monikers including "The Essex Exocet" and "The Magician".

He is considered by many to be one of the most naturally-talented players in the history of the sport.^[4][5] When in top form, he has produced displays that lead many to hail him has the greatest player of all time, for example in the 2007 Masters final. However, the dominance displayed by Steve Davis in the 1980s and Stephen Hendry in the 1990s eludes him. A temperamental streak and lack of concentration sometimes lead to a seeming lack of confidence or interest,^[6] and many question whether he has the temperament to go with the talent, to enable him to win another four or five world titles, putting him on a par with Hendry and Davis.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 2004/2005 1.3 2005/2006 1.4 2006/2007 1.5 Other 2 Tournament wins 3 Performance timeline 4 Personal life 5 References 6 Notes 7 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

O'Sullivan started his career at an early age. He first achieved a century at the age of 10, scored a 147 maximum break when just 15, and turned professional at 16.

He was the youngest ever winner of a ranking tournament when he won the 1993 UK Championship aged 17.

O'Sullivan is unique amongst the current ranks of top snooker professionals in that he can play at professional skill level with the cue both right- and left-handed — frequently alternating between the two within the same frame. Whilst he lacks power in his left arm, the ambidextrous angle to his game has allowed him to more naturally take on shots which would otherwise require awkward cueing with rest or spider. When he first displayed this ability in the 1996 World Championships against Alain Robidoux, the Canadian accused him of disrespect. O'Sullivan responded that he played better with his left hand than Robidoux could with his right.^[7] O'Sullivan was summoned to a disciplinary hearing in response to Robidoux's formal complaint where he had to prove that he could play to a professional standard with his left hand. He played three frames of snooker against former world championship runner-up Rex Williams, winning all three of them. The charge of bringing the game into disrepute was subsequently dropped.^[8] He has commented that switching to his left hand helps him retain his focus and allows him to play fewer shots with the rest.^[9]

Later in the tournament he was found guilty of assaulting an official by snooker's governing body, and was handed a two-year suspended sentence, a £20,000 fine and advised to donate £10,000 to charity.^[6]

On 21 April 1997, in the first round of the World Snooker Championship against Mick Price, he made the fastest recorded maximum break; he completed the clearance in 5 minutes and 20 seconds — an average of one shot every 9 seconds. His six maximum breaks include the five fastest on record.^[5]

After winning the 1998 Benson & Hedges Irish Masters against Ken Doherty, he was stripped of his title after a drugs test found marijuana in his system.^[10]

In 2002, O'Sullivan accused Stephen Hendry of bad sportsmanship in a previous match, adding: "I know if I do get beat and he comes up and does a moonie in front of me and goes 'Ne ne ne', I'll just look at him and say 'well done' and say 'go back to your sad little life'."^[6]

[edit] 2004/2005

In 2004, O'Sullivan's father called 1970s master player and six times world champion Ray Reardon, and asked that he'd give O'Sullivan some advice.^[11] With Reardon's backing, O'Sullivan came into top form and claimed the 2004 World Snooker Championship, beating Stephen Hendry 17-4 in the heaviest defeat in a World Championship semi-final.^[12]

After failing to defend his 2004 World Championship title, losing in his quarter-final, after being 8-2 up, to an exceptionally determined and dogged performance by Peter Ebdon, with many observers accusing Ebdon of deliberate slow play to disrupt O'Sullivan's fast game,^[13] he indicated to the press that he was unlikely to compete in the following season, and perhaps even retire from the sport altogether.^[14] However, in September 2005 he announced that he would play a truncated 2005/6 season, and spend some time playing eight-ball in the United States after being chosen to compete on the elite International Pool Tour.^[15]

It transpired, however, that the IPT pool tournament in which O'Sullivan was to make his debut clashed with the defence of his Premier League Snooker title. Plans were changed accordingly, with the Essex man going on to beat Stephen Hendry 6-0 with four century breaks. He went on to compete in the Grand Prix, losing 9-2 to an in-form John Higgins in the final, and all other ranking tournaments besides the Malta Cup. After the Grand Prix, he did not win a ranking match until the World Championship.

In the 2005 UK Championship match with Mark King, O'Sullivan sat with a wet towel draped over his head for most of the contest.^[16]

[edit] 2005/2006

He competed in the 2006 Masters Tournament, advancing to the final, where he lost 10-9 to (again) John Higgins. However, he did compile the highest break of the tournament with 139.

The 2006 World Snooker Championship saw O'Sullivan's personal sponsor, 888.com, also become the event sponsor for the following 5 years. Following a 10-4 defeat of Dave Harold, the Englishman struggled through a surprising second round match against Welshman Ryan Day.

A similar quarter-final match ensued against Mark Williams. O'Sullivan lead 10-6 going into the final session. A fightback from Williams saw him take the next 5 frames, but O'Sullivan held his nerve to take the match 13-11 and face Graeme Dott in the semi-finals. In his post-match interview, the Essex man showed lack of confidence, and this would show in his next and final match of the tournament.

Dott took an early lead before O'Sullivan drew level, going 8-8 at the end of the second session. Cue-tip problems which had dogged the Englishman throughout the event recurred, including a controversial incident in which television footage appeared to show O'Sullivan deliberately removing the tip of his cue, securing a 15 minute break to re-tip, making a 124 break on his return. Tournament Director Mike Ganley accepted the player's assurance that the tip had simply fallen off, and no censure was made.^[17] The incident drew criticism from his opponent,^[18] and from Steve Davis and John Parrott.^[19] Dott then took all 8 frames of the third session, leaving him one frame away from his second final in three years. The final session saw O'Sullivan stage a fightback, taking three frames in a row before a mistake let Dott back in for an eventual clearance on the black.

O'Sullivan seemed gracious in defeat and handed his cue and case to a boy in the crowd.^[20] BBC claimed he had used as 21 different tips during the fortnight,^[17] O'Sullivan later stating he had used 7 before arriving in Sheffield and a further 8 during the week,^[20] and promising to return next season with a new cue from cuemaker John Parris.

[edit] 2006/2007

In December 2006, in his quarter final match of the 2006 UK Championship against Stephen Hendry, O'Sullivan conceded in dramatic fashion part way into the sixth frame of the best of 17 match.^[21] He went 4-0 down after a superb start from Hendry, before taking a frame back to make the scoreline 4-1. At the start of the sixth frame O'Sullivan opened with a break of 24, before producing a poor positional shot from black to red which ultimately caused him to miss his next red. After this miss, O'Sullivan calmly shook the hand of both Hendry (saying to whom that he "had enough of it, mate") and the match referee Jan Verhaas, and walked out of the arena, stunning the audience and officials, not to mention Hendry. It also caused a disruption to the other quarter-final match between Graeme Dott and Steve Davis, when Davis was forced to sit down during the middle of playing due to the audience moving to the other side of the arena to view their match. Dott later added that he initially thought that O'Sullivan and Hendry were having a fight when he heard an audience member shout "Get a grip, Ronnie".

It was later confirmed that O'Sullivan had indeed forfeited the match, which was awarded 9-1 to Stephen Hendry, who proceeded into the semi-finals. The World Snooker Association announced that the fans who had travelled to watch the match would get next-day tickets for free by way of compensation.^[22] O’Sullivan issued a statement later that day apologising and saying that he would be 'back on [his] feet fighting stronger and harder than ever very soon'.^[23]

O'Sullivan returned to action at the 2007 Saga Insurance Masters, to a positive and apparently forgiving response from the audience in attendance. He won his first round match on 16 January against Ali Carter 6-1, making two centuries in the process. However, he then created more controversy by failing to attend a post-match press conference.^[24] He did record a short interview with Steve Davis for the BBC, stating that he was much happier than at the UK Championship, and he felt he was playing well once again. Sir Rodney Walker later issued a statement that said Ronnie had been excused from dealing with the media because of the exceptional circumstances affecting him.^[25] This decision has been criticised by Shaun Murphy^[26] and Ken Doherty.^[27] O'Sullivan went on to win the tournament against Ding Junhui on 21 January. In the match he was noted for his good sportsmanship by Steve Davis for comforting Ding Junhui after the 12th frame, who had been the victim of an overly partisan member of the crowd who was later ejected. O'Sullivan was winning 9-3 at the time, and went on to win 10-3.

In a contrasting display to his stunning form in the Masters O'Sullivan bowed out of the Malta Cup with a 5-3 loss to Michael Holt in the first round. Later, during the Welsh Open, the Rocket announced that he was going in for some major changes in his technique, and was not happy with his performance in the past few months. He lost a thriller to Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals by 5-4.

In his quarter-final match against Joe Swail at the Irish Masters Ronnie knocked in a 147, before winning 5-4. This did not count as his seventh competitive 147, however, as the tournament was not staged on WPBSA-approved tables and therefore is not an "official" 147.^{[citation needed]} The organisers had offered a car to any player who completed a 147, however problems securing insurance against such an event resulted in the offer not being honoured. He defeated John Higgins 6-5 later that evening, then trounced Barry Hawkins 9-1 in the final. He became the first winner of the new Paul Hunter Trophy, which was awarded to him by Paul's widow Lyndsay.^[clarify]

[edit] Other

O'Sullivan has compiled over 400 competitive centuries during his career.

He won his first 38 matches as a professional, a record.^[clarify]

[edit] Tournament wins

Ranking tournaments

• World Championship – 2001, 2004
• UK Championship – 1993, 1997, 2001
• British Open – 1994
• German Open – 1996
• Scottish Open – 1998, 2000
• China Open – 1996, 1999, 2000
• European Open – 2003
• Irish Masters – 2003, 2005.
• Welsh Open – 2004, 2005
• Grand Prix (snooker) – 2004

Other tournaments

• Masters – 1995, 2005, 2007
• Scottish Masters – 1998, 2000, 2002
• Irish Masters – 2001, 2007
• Premier League Snooker – 2004, 2005, 2006

[edit] Performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded.

Ranking tournaments	1992/93	1993/94	1994/95	1995/96	1996/97	1997/98	1998/99	1999/00	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
Grand Prix/LG Cup	?	?	QF	1R	2R	3R	3R	QF	F	QF	QF	2R	W	F	2R
UK Championship	?	W	QF	QF	1R	W	1R	QF	SF	W	QF	SF	2R	2R	QF (forfeited match)
European Open/Malta Cup	?	?	SF	1R	1R	-	-	-	-	QF	W	QF	2R	A	1R
Welsh Open	?	?	QF	2R	2R	4R	SF	3R	2R	2R	QF	W	W	2R	QF
Non ranking tournaments
The Masters	W	?	W	F	F	QF	QF	QF	2R	QF	QF	F	W	F	W
World Championship
World Snooker Championship	1R	2R	QF	SF	2R	SF	SF	1R	W	SF	1R	W	QF	SF	-

A = did not participate in the tournament.

[edit] Personal life

Considered a perfectionist, O'Sullivan is publicly highly self-critical — even in victory.

He has suffered from depression and various addictions.^[28]

O'Sullivan became a father in March 2006 for the second time, to daughter Lily. He and his partner Jo are expecting another baby which is due to be born in June 2007.

His home club is the Grove Snooker Centre, situated in Romford, East London.

His father, Ronald John O'Sullivan, a Soho sex shop owner is serving a life sentence for murder,^[29] having been convicted in 1992 of murdering the black bodyguard of Charlie Kray, brother of the Kray twins, the previous year. The trial judge gave a recommendation that he serve 18 years due to a claimed racial element to the killing, something he denied. The elder O'Sullivan had been in a Chelsea nightclub, and according to police embarked on an unprovoked attack during which he stabbed Kray's bodyguard and his brother. In recent years his family has claimed he acted in self defence, but at his trial he had claimed not to have been there at all. A 2003 sentence review accepted that Ronald is, and was, not racist, but found that the murder was a particularly vicious one and kept the 18 year term unchanged. Ronald stabbed the victim, and his injured brother, a considerable number of times with a knife the prosecution stated he had brought along with him to the club. Ronnie claimed in his autobiography that his father picked up the knife, from the side of the bar, in the club during the course of a row over a drinks bill so as to defend himself.

[edit] References

• O'Sullivan, Ronnie; and Simon Hattenstone (2004). Ronnie: The Autobiography of Ronnie O'Sullivan, rev. ed., London: Orion. ISBN 0-7528-5880-7. 

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• O'Sullivan facts and statistics at WWW Snooker
• Profile at WorldSnooker.com
• Watch O'Sullivan's 1997 World Championship Record video
• International Pool Tour
• www.ronnieosullivan.biz - Official site
• www.ronnie-osullivan.info - Unofficial site
• Footage of his fastest 147 break 5.20min, 1997 world championship
• Footage of another 147 break, 2003 World championship

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