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:
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?
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.
Dave,love him or loathe him,Ronnie is the only show in town,and he knows it.
i dont like ronnie, but i agreew ith all you put dave, except the ridiculous (imo) tag, genius.
Someone who can't read and understand a basic contract labeled a genius. Ludicrous.
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.
More of an idiot savant.
Genius at playing snooker. Calm down, people. There are different types of geniuses.
isnt stephen hendry the king.now its ronnies mantle
snooker without ros is just noke
King? Genius? Come on Dave. Get a grip will you!
ive seen the players contract and i reckon my 14 year old cousin would fully understand it.
come on SIMON
perhaps barry got the crayons out and drew wee pictures to help him understand
Hendry was King of the Crucible.
Ronnie still is King of Snooker.
Hendry is snookers king
Davis is the ruler
Ronnies a foul mouthed prince
as i said earlier
come on simon
:)
3-4
Today the King had no clothes on...
(wikipedia if you are too young)
take another 6, i mean 4 months off ronnie.
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.
808 he had some on
his pants were pulled down
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.
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.
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.
People who don't love Ronnie aren't true snooker fans. It really is that simple.
"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.
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.
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"!
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