Ronnie O’Sullivan eyeing the World Championships after more records tumble at the Tour Championship
Ronnie O’Sullivan is not driven by records. But regardless of his motivation they keep coming.
Snooker’s box office player is in a good place right now and Sunday’s victory over Neil Robertson in the Tour Championship final saw him overtake Mark Selby to become world No1 for the first time since May 2010 – and the oldest since Ray Reardon 36 years ago.
The win also meant the 43-year-old drew level with Stephen Hendry’s record of 36 ranking titles – a marker to add to his outright bests of 19 Triple Crown titles and 1,000 centuries, which he brought up earlier this month when claiming the Players Championship.
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“I don’t buy into that sort of stuff and I’m glad that I don’t as you take the beauty out of the game and it all becomes about statistics,” O’Sullivan said last week.
“For me, I’d trade every ranking point I’ve made and every bit of prize money just for the experiences, the love and the highs that I’ve had from playing this game since I was a kid. You can’t buy that.”
Away from the table O’Sullivan’s bizarre recent adoption of an Australian accent in interviews, frequent scathing sarcasm towards the pursuit of ranking points, and criticism of venues and playing conditions suggests a distracted mind.
But at the table he is enjoying a rare purple patch which appears to have him plotting a perfect course for what he really desires: the World Championship.
Ronnie O'Sullivan will skip the China Open before aiming for a sixth world title in Sheffield next month (Source: Getty)
O’Sullivan’s selective approach to tournaments – “playing half the events some other guys do,” in his own words – means he has competed in just eight ranking events this season.
Having won the last two tournaments that he has entered O’Sullivan will now skip the China Open, which starts next week, and recharge the batteries before heading to Sheffield’s famous Crucible Theatre for the event on 20 April.
There he will be heavy favourite to add to his five world titles and edge closer towards Hendry’s outlier of seven. The man himself is understandably in a confident mood and sees it as between himself, Robertson and Judd Trump.
“Him [Robertson] and Judd Trump have been the two best this season along with myself,” he said on Sunday. “If one of us doesn’t win the World Championship I’ll be surprised.”
If it is “The Rocket” who triumphs it will have been a long time coming. O’Sullivan hasn’t won snooker’s ultimate prize since 2013 and he has been knocked out in the second round twice in the last four years, with Selby winning three of the past five tournaments.
Of course, second-guessing O’Sullivan is a fruitless task. But now older, wiser and once again at the top of his game, the sport’s most naturally talented player has the rest of the circuit cursing his form.
He may have followed his latest triumph by joking about grey hairs and joining the seniors tour, but if he remains on his current path it would take a brave person to bet against O’Sullivan moving a step closer to claiming just about the only record he doesn’t yet hold next month.