HIS ROYAL SHYNESS
Quick-fire Ronnie feels like Prince William
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN says he is like Prince William – but wants to be Prince Harry.
The ‘Rocket’ smashed the record for the fastest match ever played at the Crucible in beating Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-1 at the Betfred World Championship yesterday.
The five-time champion revelled in the empty arena with all pressure and expectation lifted from his shoulders.
He completed victory in 108 minutes – beating the previous record held by Shaun Murphy in a 10-0 win against Luo Honghao last year by 41 minutes.
O’Sullivan, 44, making a record 28th consecutive appearance in Sheffield, later empathised with the Duke of Cambridge, above, and heir to the throne living his life in a fierce spotlight. And he admitted he would rather be like the Duke of Sussex and head off to North America for a quieter life.
O’Sullivan said: “Look, for me, I have had that pressure and expectation level since I was 10 or 11, that I was going to be a champion one day. Maybe, for me, in many ways it has been like PrinceWilliam being groomed to be king. If you said to me, ‘Do you want his role?’, I wouldn’t know where to begin.
“But he has kind of had it since he was a child and it becomes natural and the norm. For me, that is the same in snooker.
“I have learned to deal with pressure playing at junior, amateur then as a professional. It is just there and you handle it.
Prince Harry… he did a runner from it! He didn’t want the spotlight and I have been trying to do that all my life as well as I can.
“That’s why you see me as little as possible at the venue and I try and live as private a life as I can.
“So it sounds weird but I prefer it with no crowd – I don’t have to deal in there with the pressure and expectation. It feels like I am on holiday, I have a holiday buzz.”
YAN BINGTAO broke his Crucible duck – after smashing a glass in the arena.
Yan, 20, beat debutant Elliot Slessor 10-7 to set up a last-16 clash with world No1 Judd Trump.
The world No16 knocked a glass onto the floor when leading 9-4. He said: “It was quite a tight space, I was trying to get out of Elliot’s way and I knocked the glass with my leg.”