Neil Robertson reveals he has 'talked to Ronnie O'Sullivan' about World Snooker Championship issues
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Updated 23/11/2022 at 11:40 GMT
Australian snooker star Neil Robertson has opened up about how he has been attempting to address his poor form at the Crucible in recent years. Despite his abundance of talent and successes on the World Snooker Tour, Robertson has just one title at the World Championship back in 2010. Ronnie O'Sullivan has shown him the way after his seventh crown at the Crucible.
Watch as classy Robertson calls a foul on himself during UK Championship match
Neil Robertson has said he has spoken with Ronnie O'Sullivan about his World Championship struggles and how he can overcome them at the Crucible.
The 40-year-old has been unable to follow up his world title in 2010 with another on the biggest stage the sport has to offer, despite being one of the most talented players in the game.
O'Sullivan has frequently said that he believes Robertson should have many more World Championship titles to his name given his ability and standing around the top of the sport.
Robertson, who was chatting with snooker legend Stephen Hendry, said he "really watched Ronnie a lot" to see how he managed his matches at the Crucible with the Rocket having triumphed a record-equalling seven times.
"I do actually know what it is," Robertson told Hendry on his Cue Tips YouTube channel, referencing his 13-12 defeat to Jack Lisowski in the World Championship second round in April.
"But it’s something that I have to execute properly. It’s nothing to do with mental or anything like that.
"Look at my match with Jack Lisowski last season, it was a great match, Jack played out of his skin, and he was so disciplined as well which was really surprising.
"Then against [John] Higgins he made more mistakes in the first session than he did in our whole match.
"I was like, that was the Jack I was expecting, the mad shots. But he had [Peter] Ebdon in his corner, he was so disciplined, turning down shots.
"There were a couple of sessions in that match, I was too aggressive in certain moments where I should have kept it tighter, not negative but make it as hard as possible for him. At the Crucible, everyone tries till the end, no matter what, it’s a lot harder to dominate."
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'He lacks that killer instinct' - O'Sullivan on 'nice' Robertson
For Robertson, studying O'Sullivan made him realise that it was his safety play that proved so essential at the Crucible - not an aspect of the star's game that is often noticed or appreciated.
"I really watched Ronnie a lot in these World Championships, the amount of easy chances he was creating for himself because his safety was so good, so disciplined, not giving anything away.
"That’s a big area I’m focusing on this season, I like to play the aggressive shot, but I just need to be smarter with the way I go about it, don’t give frames away.
"Going into that last session with Jack I was 9-7 down, I was thinking I’d make it a lot harder for him now, not go for the 7/10 long ones, miss and leave him in.
"Play a shot to nothing, just make it harder and it turned the match around and I got to 12-11 up. It’s the safety element.
"I’ve talked to some players, I’ve talked to Ronnie about it and I’ve been given a couple of tools now which I think will be helpful. I can’t hide away from it, people always go back to me not [able to get] to the one-table [format]."
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