At the end of a great week, Ding Junhui had nothing to blame himself for. The 36-year-old billiards player from China made it into the final of the UK Championship in York, which is one of the “Triple Crown”, i.e. the three most important tournaments in the snooker calendar, with four almost flawless games. Even then, he played on Sunday without any real phase of weakness. Nevertheless, perhaps the most precise player in the world elite of the Main Tour failed to take the lead by a frame or a game in either the afternoon or evening session. He was able to equalize four times and his opponent pulled away from him again four times. Like at the end, when a 7:7 quickly became a 7:10 and the match was decided.
It can be frustrating sharing the gaming table with Ronnie O’Sullivan. In his 32nd year as a professional, the seven-time world champion from the English county of Essex understands the art of stealing frames that have almost been lost like no other. He knows how to compensate for small mistakes with brilliant actions and, on his best days, finds the ideal rhythm between control and risk.
“No need to prove anything anymore”
In addition, it is not that important to him whether he wins the next frame or the entire game, as he later emphasized in the panel of experts on the broadcasting station. As if he, who turns 48 this Tuesday, had now reached a higher level of consciousness.
“I don’t have to prove anything anymore,” stated “The Rocket,” as he likes to be called, confidently. “If I lose, it’s okay.” With this attitude, he enjoys “every tournament” because “I love competition.” Incidentally, he is not only a good friend, but also “a big fan” of the player he had previously distanced himself from so coldly: “When you play snooker, you want to play like Ding.”
How much of it is understatement or a special kind of flirtatiousness is something you never really know with the charismatic man with the changing faces. The fact is that 1,500 enthusiastic spectators at the Barbican in York witnessed a historic circular argument. O’Sullivan was still 17 when he won the UK Championship for the first time in November 1993.
His cheeky victory over Scot Stephen Hendry (10-6), then the benchmark in snooker, was interpreted as a sensation at the raging Guild Hall in Preston – and made the chubby teenager the youngest player to win the tournament. By the way, the British Prime Minister at the time was John Major, and Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love” was blaring at the top of the singles charts.
“Watch a little Netflix”
Now the triumph over Ding has made the veteran, who has matured over thirty years, the oldest player to ever win the prestigious tournament. In addition, it makes O’Sullivan stand out even more from the ranks of all winners: his eight successes are the only record in the history of the championship, which began in 1977 as an invitation tournament in Blackpool.
New brands are almost inevitable when a player with this talent simply doesn’t want to leave the table. Of course, the long-running favorite also holds the records for triumphs at “Triple Crown” competitions (22) and world championships (7, together with Hendry).
However, his own excitement is no longer the same, as he admitted on Sunday. “It’s still a nice feeling and a job well done,” the freshly applauded winner told the panel of experts in York.
“But it tingles more when I go jogging in the morning or have breakfast with friends.” So he didn’t feel the importance of the final under his skin in all phases – and sometimes actually thought between the breaks, “I might as well get up now Sit on my bed and watch a bit of Netflix”.
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Would you rather watch a series on TV than create your own, personal series for eternity? The inner life of the sensitive Englishman remains at least as difficult to fathom as his game. But when in doubt, such self-confessions contribute to the fascination Ronnie O’Sullivan continues to emanate from the supposedly best snooker player in history.
And the bottom line was that on that memorable Sunday he was a little bit more successful than Ding Junhui. That’s why the long-time friend and competitor, who brushed off O’Sullivan a year ago in York with a so-called “whitewash” (6-0) in the quarter-finals, managed, despite all his frustration, to give a kind compliment: “He played better today .”
