Category: Jimmy White

Ronnie O’Sullivan has seven World Championship titles to his name, but he has looked back on the time he visited the Crucible to watch the final at the age of 14.

O’Sullivan was making waves on the snooker circuit as a teenager, having taken up the sport at the age of seven.

At the age of 14, he travelled to Sheffield to take in the 1989 final between Steve Davis and John Parrott.

Davis ran out a dominant 18-3 winner, with O’Sullivan at the Crucible to watch him win the World Championship for a sixth and final time.

“[I watched the] final session, yeah,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “13-3, he won the first five frames. I remember Davis potted the brown off the black. It was on the spot and he hit the brown half ball onto the black and potted it.

“[My dad] dropped me off there and I sat with my friend in the crowd. It was good.”

While O’Sullivan has enjoyed major success at the Crucible, Jimmy White suffered a series of agonising defeats on the biggest stage.

White lost in the 1994 final to Stephen Hendry 18-17, having been 14-8 to the good.

“My worst nightmare was being 14-8 up and collapsing with Hendry,” White said. “Just ran out of steam. Everything went and he got stronger. Another bad one was twitching on the black at 17-each. I potted a really difficult red against him at 12-each to win 13-12. The first time I ever did sports psychology and I went 8-1 up.

“He’d won everything that year and I had to qualify. That was my best session.“

White also lost to eventual winner Alex Higgins in the 1982 semi-finals, where he led by 59 points in the 30th frame only to see his opponent make one of the greatest breaks in Crucible history to level the match before going on to win the final frame.

“Every time I go and play shows, they show me that break on video as if I haven’t seen it 100 times,” White said. “It’s amazing. The few balls he potted. The amazing blue he potted, he didn’t come on the red, had to pot it in the green pocket.

“I was never comfortable in the match. I never really got going. He was struggling. I was 7-3 up as well. I’ll never forget it. He played a brown into the yellow pocket. He missed it so far it hit four cushions and went into the green pocket and he was bang on the blue. So that was to go 7-4, ended up 7-6 so I’d have been too far in front.

“A few times in that break, I thought any moment he’s going to miss one. No, it was amazing. It was something from the gods. I believe in that, the snooker gods.

“I’m glad he did it. I might have lost to [Ray] Reardon, I might have won it. The way I was going… I was going a little bit crazy in life.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s ability to “put his foot on the gas” at the business end of matches makes him the favourite to win an eighth World Championship, according to Jimmy White.

O’Sullivan has history staring him in the face, as victory at the Crucible would see him break out of a tie with Stephen Hendry for the most world titles in the modern era.

Should he lift the title he would also join the elite company of Hendry, Steve Davis and Mark Williams in winning all three Triple Crown events in the same season after his victories at the UK Championship and Masters.

Against such a stacked field, O’Sullivan is not a certainty for world glory – but six-time Crucible finalist White believes he is the man to beat.

Speaking in the Eurosport studio, White said: “Judd Trump has won five tournaments this year, Mark Allen has won big tournaments, but O’Sullivan for me.

“O’Sullivan for me, his form. Against [Ali] Carter in the Masters, 7-7, then all of a sudden he puts his foot on the gas and is unplayable for three frames and wins.

“In the UK Championship playing Ding [Junhui], Ding is playing really well from 7-5 down to 7-7 and once again Ronnie puts his foot on the gas and wins three frames on the spin.”

As well as having an extra gear, White feels O’Sullivan’s all-round game keeps him above the chasing pack.

“We talk about Steve Davis, that great tactical player and one of the best,” White said. “Stephen Hendry one of the best potters and with amazing self belief. O’Sullvan now has got this positional game where he plays all the right shots and makes it look easy.

“He has an all-round game. We know how brilliant he is, but he has got that winning mindset now and he has got them three or four frames when it is needed to win.

“For me he has got to be the favourite for the World Championship.”

O’Sullivan was well placed to win the worlds last year only to come unstuck against eventual champion Luca Brecel, and Alan McManus added: “12 months ago his game went to pieces against Luca from 10-6 in front.

“A few weeks ago in Manchester against Mark Williams in the [Tour Championship] final his game went to pieces.

“He can be bullied and he can be beaten, but you have got to step up and make it happen.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan has told Eurosport that he can see the argument for style and substance, and loves watching Lionel Messi.

Messi is arguably the greatest footballer of all time, and went a long way to silencing his detractors when adding the World Cup to his glittering trophy cabinet with Argentina in 2022.

Roger Federer was another great from the sporting world who was easy on O’Sullivan’s eye, and he said – like Messi in football – the Swiss master made tennis look so easy.

When asked about how important titles are in terms of legacy, O’Sullivan replied: “I think you’re always going to have two camps. Those who are obsessed with numbers and figures and then you’re going to have the other camp that just love to watch someone play a sport brilliantly well and love watching them.

“People like Federer and Messi. If you can please both camps, you’ve shut them up and you’ve kept them happy. If you haven’t got the titles, but you play great… I get both camps.

“I think it’s about the legacy you leave. The way you play. Watching Messi play football. I’m not bothered about seeing him lift [trophies], I just want to watch what he does and how he goes about it. For me that’s the entertainment. It makes me happy watching him play football.

“He’s [Federer] way behind [Novak] Djokovic. But who would you say is the greatest tennis player? I love Djokovic. For me I love to watch Federer all day long but he hasn’t got the titles now.”

Jimmy White endorsed O’Sullivan’s view on Federer.

“Talking about tennis. [John] McEnroe, he was different how he played,” White said. “He didn’t win as much as [Pete] Sampras and people like that.

“Federer, you watch Federer play and the difference between him and Djokovic, he was always positioned. It looked easy for Federer. It was a walk in the park. Poetry.”

The Rocket has won the world title on seven occasions, a tally which has him level with fellow legend Stephen Hendry for the most all-time victories at the Crucible.