Ronnie: I’ve been groomed all my life for greatness like him ..but I’d rather run and avoid the spotlight like HIM
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN reckons he is like Prince William – but would rather 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.
The five-time world 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, in a record 28th consecutive appearance in Sheffield, afterwards sympathised with the Duke of Cambridge, second in line 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 Canada and now Los Angeles for a quieter life.
He said: “I’ve 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 Prince William 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 had it since he was a child and it becomes natural. For me, that is the same in snooker.
“I learned to deal with pressure playing at junior, amateur then as a professional. It doesn’t knock me, 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.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s fastest Crucible match: 1hr 47min in the 10-1 first-round win over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh yesterday.
147 break: Five min, eight seconds (adjusted down from original 5:20) v Mick Price, World Championship 1997
the fastest player in the world this season – average shot time after yesterday’s match over whole season of 16.68 seconds per shot.
zYAN BINGTAO broke his Crucible duck – after smashing a glass in the arena.
The 20-year-old (left) beat debutant Elliot Slessor 10-7
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.
“Whatever I say is a headline. Even when other players are interviewed, they ask about me! I can’t win – maybe I should just have a complete personality overhaul.
“I know it sounds weird, but I prefer it with no crowd, I don’t have to deal with the pressure and expectation in there.
“It feels like I am on holiday, I have that holiday buzz. I even stayed in a hotel near The Crucible this year for the first time, normally it is hard to get peace and quiet.”
The entire match took less time than snooker’s infamous longest frame – two hours and three minutes in a Crucible qualifier won by Fergal O’Brien against David Gilbert in 2017.
It was a performance that would normally have had the fans on their feet. Leading 8-1 overnight, O’Sullivan completed the win in 26 minutes. He now faces China’s No.1 Ding Junhui for a place in the quarter-finals. for a first victory in Sheffield to set up a last-16 clash with world No.1 Judd Trump.
Leading 9-4 world No.16 Yan knocked a glass to the floor and Slessor helped pick up the bits. In the same frame Yan potted a match-ball green – only to knock in the black.
Geordie Slessor won five in a row from 9-2 to give the score-line respectability.