6.9.12

THE RETURN OF THE KING

The third Players Tour Championship event of the season at Gloucester this week heralds the return to action of Ronnie O’Sullivan.

His match against Simon Bedford on Saturday will be O’Sullivan’s first since he beat Ali Carter to win his fourth world title last May.

He said then that he wanted a break and he has taken one, although this has in part been because, in his own words, he found the World Snooker players’ contract “too onerous.”

So what has changed? Well, O’Sullivan wants to play again.

On the eve of the entry date for the latest batch of tournaments he contacted World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn and they had a face-to-face meeting. Despite the summer of wrangling over the contract, O’Sullivan and Hearn go way back and like each other.

Hearn told Snooker Scene: “We went through the contract in detail. I explained a few things Ronnie hadn’t understood before. I made no concessions. Ronnie signed the same contract all the other players have signed. It was all very amicable.”

It is unlikely O’Sullivan would have had much appetite for the Wuxi Classic, Australian Open and early PTCs. John Higgins skipped these as well.

But the prospect of not playing in the UK Championship appeared to be a step too far for a player who clearly still has much to offer.

O’Sullivan has many fans and many detractors but nobody can deny the interest he has generated for snooker, not just in terms of bums on seats but in the wider media.

It may be expected that O’Sullivan will be rusty coming back several months after everyone else has been playing but I suspect it won’t take long for him to get back into the swing of things.

He will want to improve his world ranking, which currently stands at 16th, although he will be seeded first or second in all ranking events as world champion even if he drops out of the top 16.

A few months from turning 37, O’Sullivan remains among the group of favourites for any tournament he enters. It would take a dramatic decline for this to change in the near future.

Like Higgins, he won’t play in everything but it was clear at the Crucible that the buzz of competition on the big stage still excites him.

Ultimately Ronnie is Ronnie: a genius who captivates and maddens in almost equal measure. He has, as the song goes, done it his way and that seems unlikely to change as he prepares to start his 21st season as a professional.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

What you are saying here is that Ronnie either didn't understand fully the players contract or that he wanted a 3 months break but wouldn't go quietly without attempting to drag the game down in the process.
What would be his MO in doing this?

Anonymous said...

Welcome back ronnie snooker has missed you. I fancy him to have another great season I feel his head is in the right place now and he seems content with what he wants to do I heard him say in this interview a few days ago he wants to carry on playing for another 5-10 years and why not when you are a genius like him. I definetly think he has 2 more world titles in him at least. The greatest player in my opinion to have ever picked up a cue and is a true great.

Anonymous said...

Dave,love him or loathe him,Ronnie is the only show in town,and he knows it.

Anonymous said...

i dont like ronnie, but i agreew ith all you put dave, except the ridiculous (imo) tag, genius.

Anonymous said...

Someone who can't read and understand a basic contract labeled a genius. Ludicrous.

Snooker ELO said...

It sounds as though Ronnie has been putting in a good few hours practice in the last couple of weeks so I would not be suprised at all if we went deep this weekend.

We would all be lying if we said that levels of interest this weekend were not materially higher because Ronnie is playing.

Anonymous said...

More of an idiot savant.

Urindragon said...

Genius at playing snooker. Calm down, people. There are different types of geniuses.

Anonymous said...

isnt stephen hendry the king.now its ronnies mantle

Anonymous said...

snooker without ros is just noke

Anonymous said...

King? Genius? Come on Dave. Get a grip will you!

Anonymous said...

ive seen the players contract and i reckon my 14 year old cousin would fully understand it.

Anonymous said...

come on SIMON

Anonymous said...

perhaps barry got the crayons out and drew wee pictures to help him understand

Anonymous said...

Hendry was King of the Crucible.

Ronnie still is King of Snooker.

Anonymous said...

Hendry is snookers king
Davis is the ruler
Ronnies a foul mouthed prince

Anonymous said...

as i said earlier

come on simon

:)

Anonymous said...

3-4

Today the King had no clothes on...

(wikipedia if you are too young)

Anonymous said...

take another 6, i mean 4 months off ronnie.

Anonymous said...

He treated Bedford with disdain. He is so unprofessional thinking he could stroll back and start winning again. Yes, he is a superb player but it goes to show that even this idiot has to practice. I didn't miss him one bit.

Anonymous said...

808 he had some on

his pants were pulled down

Anonymous said...

Big shock: player who has not played for 4 months loses in decider. I suppose if O'Sullivan thought he could just stroll back and start winning again he would probably have just started off with a major event; the fact that he kicked off his season with a ptc actually suggests he thinks otherwise.

Anonymous said...

The PTCs are boring if Ronnie doesn't figure in the finals. Look at this one and the 2 finalists?
I bet O'Sullivan was signing autographs for hours after he lost and the man who defeated him slipped away into the night.
This is why he questioned the contract, it's too arduous for Ronnie.

Anonymous said...

1259 obviously didnt watch it

hes been practising hard - from his management

he went for almost any ball he could see, not playing any safety or containing shot of note.

total disrespect!

even his fans on his official website were disgusted. and thats saying something.

Anonymous said...

People who don't love Ronnie aren't true snooker fans. It really is that simple.

Roland said...

"I bet O'Sullivan was signing autographs for hours after he lost and the man who defeated him slipped away into the night." - actually he cleared off pretty quickly to escape the swarms of autograph hunters. And Simon Bedford won his next match.

"People who don't love Ronnie aren't true snooker fans. It really is that simple."

People who only love Ronnie and go home or switch off when he loses are not in any way fans of the game of snooker.

Ronnie was entertaining in spells but he was literally going for everything which is why he came unstuck, nothing to do with lack of match practice.

Much as this sort of behaviour is fascinating and entertaining to watch, "you never which Ronnie is going to turn up", I think maybe Ronnie would've thought differently if he'd seen how let down Paul Mount felt that he didn't try.

Anonymous said...

9:37 - completely agree with you. He IS a genius on the snooker table, and is by far the biggest draw in the game. Not a huge surprise he played this way on his comeback, since he played like that in other PTCs and won them. Whether he has a good season in regular tournaments is all down to Ronnie and his frame of mind - like many others I hope he plays well, but as long as he is in a good place mentally and not self-destructing than we should be happy for him as a person.

Anonymous said...

i see the ronnie trolls ae out in foce...

nice of him to just arse about...given that people have paid good money to watch him and hes oot on his bum at the first hurdle.

"fantastic"!