Ronnie O’Sullivan: The £10 Million Man

Seven World Championships mark the career of Ronald Antonio O’Sullivan (Chigwell, England, 1975), the best snooker player of all time who lifted his last world trophy on Monday night in the particular theater of dreams in this billiards modality, the Sheffield Crucible.

Brilliant, wayward, arrogant, extraordinary…these may be the adjectives that define O’Sullivan’s career, who has been on the professional circuit for three decades. In fact he is the only player to have won the World Championship in three different decades. His title against his compatriot Judd Trump makes him tie with another phenomenon of this sport, mostly British, the Scotsman Stephen Hendry.

Like rugby, football or cricket, the beginnings of snooker are linked to the colonial invasions of the British Empire in the 19th century. In fact, snooker was a name used to mock the garrison cadets who were in the Raj in India, and was later exported to the British Isles.

The main feature of this type of billiards is the length of the table, three and a half meters long by almost 1.80 meters wide. The goal is to reach the highest number of points by pocketing the balls, 15 red ones that are worth one point and six colored ones that have a different score. The mechanics of the game is that you have to put a red ball and then any color. When the colored ball enters, the referee removes it and places it on the corresponding spot on the mat. The yellow ball is worth 2 points, the green 3, the brown 4, the blue 5, the pink 6 and the black 7 points. Players try to combine whenever they can with the black ball because it is the most valuable. As soon as there are no red balls left, the order to put the balls is from smallest to largest.

Let’s go back to O’Sullivan, the player who is most acclaimed and applauded wherever he plays. Ronnie is known as ‘The Rocket’ because of how fast he plays. As soon as he sees the play clearly, he is a machine for putting balls faster than anyone else. In fact, he has had some scuffle with several referees because, according to him, they take a long time to get the colored balls out of the pocket. Remember that the balls that are not red, are taken out and put in the right spot.

O’Sullivan is the player with the best resume on tour. long. This is evidenced by his 39 ranking tournaments. He became the youngest player to win the UK Championship at the age of 17 and won his first 38 professional matches; brand that is still valid. Come on, a snooker myth.

Many thought that his best moments were in the past and that his mind was set on business or being the commentator on the professional circuit. However, ‘El Cohete’ has left locals and strangers speechless and the World Championship has shown that ‘he who had retained’. And that ‘old rockers never die’. O’Sullivan defeated Trump, 14 years his junior, by 18 tables to 13, but the other two semi-finalists were players of the Chigwell wizard’s age. Namely, the Scotsman John Higgins (46 years old), defeated by Ronnie, and the Welshman Mark Williams (47). These three players (O’Sullivan, Higgins and Williams) are said to be Class of ’92, meaning they debuted on tour in 1992 at just 18 years of age.

Snooker is chess on the table. The ability to hit ball after ball with unusual precision is combined with intelligence when it comes to playing. Professionals usually have the next three or four moves in mind and what distinguishes the best in the ranking is their ability to place the cue ball after impact with others. Where to place that ball (in slang it is called placing) is the key to linking plays. The highest number of points that can be achieved is 147, which is combining all the red balls always with the black one before the final compulsory exercise with the yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black balls. Of course, O’Sullivan is the one who has the most 147 and also the one who got it in the shortest time. The British player, who has edited a couple of books and has a documentary as the protagonist, reaches 9,700,000 pounds in earnings.