Ronnie O'Sullivan: 'Ridiculously gifted' Rocket finding magic less often as 'time waits for no man' - Alan McManus
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Updated 24/11/2023 at 23:22 GMT
Alan McManus spoke to Eurosport ahead of the 2023 UK Championship, which kicks off in York on November 25. Ronnie O'Sullivan - despite a difficult season so far - goes into the event as world No. 1, and McManus believes the Rocket's inconsistent form shows that "time waits for no man". The Scot expects Judd Trump to be a contender but told world champion Luca Brecel to "forget the Ferraris".
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Ronnie O’Sullivan is “ridiculously gifted” but a greater frequency of off-days shows that “time waits for no man,” says Alan McManus, as The Rocket prepares for another tilt at the UK Championship.
The world No. 1 has had a difficult start to the 2023/24 season and withdrew from the Champion of Champions this month saying he felt “mentally drained and stressed.”
Eurosport pundit McManus believes the Rocket is still the world’s best on his day, but that he has been as guilty as Scottish veteran John Higgins at taking his eye off the ball too often.
“Ronnie usually produces good stuff, but he doesn’t produce the magic as often as he used to,” McManus said.
“He has a few more off days than he did maybe eight or 10 years ago. Even thinking back to the UK Champs last year, he lost 6-0 to Ding [Junhui] in the quarter-final. Ding’s obviously very capable, but Ronnie just didn’t turn up. He played awful, for him.
“Then you think back to the World Championship [quarter-final], when he went into the last session against Luca [Brecel] 10-6 in front and he played awful, he lost the session 7-0. You’re just never sure what Ronnie’s going to do.
“It’s a bit like John Higgins. John plays amazing at times, but there’s no middle ground with him these days it seems – he either plays brilliant or falls to pieces.
“That’s strange because they’ve not been like that. You get the odd dodgy match down the years where they don’t play that well. But going to pieces is really uncommon with them. And the pair of them, it’s become a bit of a habit, obviously a bad one.
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“With John, he’s playing beautifully in a tournament, gets to a certain stage and his game falls apart. It’s just strange.
“Ronnie is a wee bit the same. It’s not that often, but it’s now and again, he’s difficult to predict. His best game is still probably the best there is, it’s whether he can sustain it. He’s 48 in a couple of weeks."
O’Sullivan will bid to win his eighth UK Championship title in York, where first round action starts on November 25.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Rocket’s maiden triumph when he was just 17 years old.
He last won the event in 2018, while Higgins is without a Triple Crown title since claiming the UK Championship and World Championship in 2010/11.
“Talent wise, it’s ridiculous how gifted [O’Sullivan] is. But time waits for no man,” McManus added.
“It’s a case of whether him and someone like John can sustain the level. You would never say that their days of winning the so called Triple Crown events are over, you could never say that – certainly not yet.
“But there’s no guarantee that they’ll continue to win those things. John hasn’t won one for 12 years, which is incredible.
“Ronnie won the World Championship [in 2022], but that was his last ranking win. There are no guarantees, but it will be good fun finding out.
“The other thing I think will help O’Sullivan is the fact that he comes in at the last 32 instead of the last 128, which it has been for years.
“If he wins his first match, he’s all of a sudden in the last 16 and you’re deep into a tournament even though you’ve only played one match.
“That will probably help him. The venue is fantastic, the crowds are brilliant and York is a terrific place to play.”
Trump in 'prime of his career'
One of the players who will likely stand in O’Sullivan’s way is Judd Trump, who has started the season in flying form.
The Englishman won three ranking titles in a row in October at the English, Wuhan and Northern Ireland Opens, before reaching the final at the Champion of Champions and losing out to Mark Allen.
Ahead of the UK Championship, McManus' counsel for Trump is to put the memory of his masterful 2019 World Championship win behind him once and for all.
“I still don’t think that Judd is at the 2019 form when he won at the Crucible, but how can he be? I think that’s almost unattainable. It was that good,” McManus said.
“The best thing that all of us and Judd himself can do is forget about that performance [an 18-9 win over Higgins].
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“That was probably the best performance in the history of the game.
“We shouldn’t really judge him on that, but as humans and sports fans that’s what we do, unfortunately for him. But he’s never going to reach those levels again. That’s just not going to happen, because it was that good.
“But his game is developing all the time and he’s getting towards the levels of Mark Selby when it comes to battling and fighting qualities and that’s saying something, because Selby is unbelievable.
“It might not be a terrible thing that he lost the Champion of Champions final, it’s a kick up the backside that sometimes you need just to bring you back down to earth with a bump.
“Judd’s committed to the game, that’s what I like about him. He plays in pretty much all the tournaments and that’s what you’ve got to do. He’s in the prime of his career.”
Brecel must 'forget the Ferraris'
One player McManus has been less impressed by is world champion Luca Brecel, who hasn’t got further than the third round at a ranking event this season since his stunning victory at the Crucible.
McManus urged the 28-year-old to refocus on the sport and cut out the distractions ahead of the first Triple Crown event of 2023/24.
“Luca is very young considering he’s world champion, but he’s got to show something as well,” he said.
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“He’s not had a brilliant season; he looks like he’s not as fully committed to the cause as let’s say Judd Trump.
“You can’t rest on your laurels. You can’t just say I’m world champion, I’m going to enjoy it for 10 months, you can’t do that. Are you a snooker player, or are you not?
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Luca Brecel
Image credit: Getty Images
“Take a leaf out of the old [Stephen] Hendry book. When he wins, he forgets about it the next day. That’s what I think Luca needs to do.
“Forget Ferraris and all that because it’s a piece of metal. Yes, you can enjoy it, but forget all that. Be a snooker player. Be what you’re good at. Forget all the fancy cars, that’s all window-dressing nonsense.
“He’s in the prime of his career, he’s world champion. Just get back on the practice table, basically. I think by his own admission he’s been neglecting it a wee bit. That’s not good. Just get back on the practice table.”
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