ROCKET FAN!
LEGEND HENDRY RECKONS IN-FORM O’SULLIVAN COULD BE ‘VIRTUALLY UNBEATABLE’ AT CHAMPIONS SHOWDOWN IN COVENTRY NEXT WEEK
SNOOKER legend Stephen Hendry is tipping Ronnie O’Sullivan to go all the way at the Ricoh next week as the Champion of Champions event sees 16 winners go head to head.
The prestigious tournament, which has a prize fund of £370,000, takes place from next Monday until Sunday, with a daily winner from Monday to Thursday advancing through to semi-finals on Friday and Saturday and the grand final on Sunday, November 12.
O’Sullivan has scooped the English Open recently and, although he was bundled out of China’s International Championship by teen prodigy Yan Bingtao 6-1 on Monday, Hendry believes the Rocket on form is the man to watch.
“If you look at recent form O’Sullivan has got to be right up there. I think he enjoys playing events with the other top players in the world. He’s the man to beat,” Hendry said. “He won the English Open a couple of weeks ago and just played sublime. “He didn’t look like he was going to lose and won the final 9-2 with something like a 98 per cent pot success rate, which is just ridiculous. “That’s one of the reasons I would make him the one to beat, because when he plays his best snooker he’s virtually unbeatable.” Hendry believes Ronnie can go on to follow up his English Open victory with wins in the upcoming Scottish, Irish and Welsh Opens, which would trigger a £1 million bonus. Hendry said: “He has won the first one (English Open) so he’s the only one who can do it now! If you’re a really competitive animal like he is, that is the sort of thing that would really appeal. “A £1m bonus for winning all four is something that nobody has ever done before, it’s the sort of thing that would get me going and I’m sure it will for him.”
On O’Sullivan’s recent headlinegrabbing antics, including borrowing trainers from a spectator and allowing a fan to take a shot at a black, Hendry said: “These things seem to happen more to Ronnie than to anyone else.
“I think if it was a player ranked number 52 in the world (wearing trainers), nothing would have been said about it, but because it’s Ronnie it just gets blown up.
“I think it was a bit of a risk (to let the fan take a pot) as she could have miscued it!”
Hendry, who took the world crown seven times in an illustrious career, is BBC pundit and ambassador for online betting company BetStars.
He believes O’Sullivan’s main challenges will come from Mark Selby and John Higgins when the action begins on Monday.
“John Higgins does very well in these short player events,” Hendry offers. “He loves to play with all the other best players in the world, to prove himself.”
For Hendry personally, he wishes he had had the opportunity to compete in the Champion of Champions, saying: “When I was playing, the top two tournaments were the World Championships and then the Masters, which was the top 16 players in the world.
“The reason for that was because being the number one you were playing against the other best players in the world, and you just wanted to prove why you were the best. So yes this kind of tournament would have really appealed to me.”
Ronnie won the English Open and just played sublime. He won the final 9-2 with a 98 per cent pot rate Stephen Hendry, pictured below