Ronald Antonio O’Sullivan OBE (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player, and current world number one.[2] Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a modern-era record he holds jointly with Stephen Hendry. He has also won a record eight Masters titles and eight UK Championship titles for a total of 23 Triple Crown titles, the most achieved by any player. He holds the record for the most ranking titles, with 41, and has held the top ranking position multiple times. O’Sullivan is known for his ambidexterity; he is right-handed but can play to a high standard with his left hand when required.
After winning amateur titles including the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship, O’Sullivan turned professional in 1992, aged 16. He, John Higgins, and Mark Williams all turned professional in the same season, and have since become known as the “Class of ’92” for their collective dominance of snooker. O’Sullivan won his first ranking event at the 1993 UK Championship aged 17 years and 358 days, becoming the youngest player to win a ranking title, a record he still holds. He is also the youngest player to win the Masters, having claimed his first title in 1995, aged 19 years and 69 days. Noted for his longevity, he is the oldest winner of all three Triple Crown events, having won his seventh world title in 2022, aged 46 years and 148 days; his eighth UK Championship title in 2023, aged 47 years and 363 days; and his eighth Masters title in 2024, aged 48 years and 40 days. As of 2023, he has made a record 31 appearances in the final stages of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible, surpassing the previous record of 30 appearances set by Steve Davis.
O’Sullivan made his first competitive century break at age 10 and his first competitive maximum break at age 15. He is the only player to have achieved 1,000 century breaks in professional competition, a milestone he reached in 2019, and which he has since extended to over 1,200 centuries. He has made the highest number of officially recognised maximum breaks in professional competition, with 15, and holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest competitive maximum break, compiled in a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds at the 1997 World Championship.
During his career, O’Sullivan has experienced depression, mood swings, and drug and alcohol abuse. Known as a controversial and outspoken figure on the professional tour, he has been disciplined on several occasions by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for his behaviour and comments. Outside his playing career, he works as a pundit for Eurosport’s snooker coverage and has written crime novels, autobiographies, and a health and fitness book. He features in the 2017 miniseries Ronnie O’Sullivan’s American Hustle, which shows him competing against pool hustlers in the United States, and in the 2023 documentary film Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything. He was awarded an OBE in 2016.
O’Sullivan began playing snooker at age 7 and soon became a noted amateur competitor, winning his first club tournament at age 9, making his first competitive century break at age 10,[3] and winning the British Under-16 Championship at age 13.[4] At the 1991 English Amateur Championship, aged 15 years and 98 days, he made his first competitive maximum break, then the youngest player ever to do so in a recognised tournament.[5] In the same year, he won the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship and Junior Pot Black.[6][7]
After turning professional in 1992, aged 16, he won 74 of his first 76 qualifying matches,[8] including a record 38 consecutive professional victories.[5] He qualified for the televised stages of the 1993 World Championship, losing 7–10 to Alan McManus on his Crucible debut. He claimed his first ranking title later that year, beating Hendry 10–6 in the final of the 1993 UK Championship seven days before his 18th birthday to become the youngest ever winner of a ranking event, a record he still holds.[9] In the following season, he won the 1995 Masters aged 19 years and 69 days to become the youngest Masters champion.[10]
Between 1996 and 1999, O’Sullivan reached three World semi-finals in four years. At the 1997 World Championship, he achieved his first maximum break in professional competition. Compiled in a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds, it remains the fastest competitive maximum break in snooker history, which is listed as a Guinness World Record.[11][12] He won his second UK title later that year at the 1997 UK Championship.[13] Despite these successes, his career also became marred by controversy in the late 1990s. During the 1996 World Championship, he assaulted an assistant press officer, for which he received a suspended two-year ban and a £20,000 fine.[14] After winning the 1998 Irish Masters, he was stripped of his title and prize money when a post-match drug test found evidence of cannabis in his system.[15] O’Sullivan subsequently acknowledged frequent abuse of drugs and alcohol in the early years of his career, which resulted in spells in the Priory Hospital for rehabilitation.[16]
He reached his first World final in 2001, where he defeated John Higgins 18–14 to claim his first World title and reached number two in the world rankings.[13] He won his third UK Championship later that year,[17] which helped him attain the world number one ranking for the first time in the 2002–03 season.[18] With veteran six-time World Champion Ray Reardon acting as his coach and mentor, he won his second World title in 2004, defeating Graeme Dott 18–8 in the final,[19] after which he held the number one ranking for the next two seasons.[18] He added his second Masters title in 2005, ten years after his first.[20] His behaviour became notably erratic in the mid-2000s as he battled clinical depression. During the 2005 World Championship, he shaved his head mid-tournament and exhibited what The Independent called a “public emotional disintegration” while losing 11 of the last 14 frames in his quarter-final defeat against Peter Ebdon.[21] At the 2005 UK Championship, he sat with a wet towel draped over his head during his match against Mark King.[22] Trailing Hendry 1–4 in their best-of-17-frames quarter-final at the 2006 UK Championship, he abruptly conceded the match during the sixth frame and left the arena. Hendry was awarded the match 9–1 and O’Sullivan was fined £20,800 over the incident.[14]
In 2007, O’Sullivan won his third Masters title and his fourth UK Championship, which was his first ranking title in almost three years.[17] He won his third World title in 2008, defeating Ali Carter 18–8 in the final,[23] after which he held the world number one ranking for the next two seasons.[18] He added his fourth Masters title in 2009.[17] After two poor seasons that saw him fall out of the top ten in the world rankings for the first time,[18] he began working with psychiatrist Steve Peters in 2011.[24] A resurgent O’Sullivan captured his fourth World title in 2012, defeating Carter again by 18–11 in the final, after which he paid tribute to Peters’ work with him.[25] In the following season, he took an extended break from the professional tour.[24] Despite having played only one competitive match all season, he returned to the Crucible for the 2013 World Championship and successfully defended his World title, defeating Barry Hawkins 18–12 in the final.[26] In his 2014 Masters quarter-final against Ricky Walden, he set a new record for the most points scored without reply in professional competition, with 556,[27] and went on to beat the defending champion Mark Selby 10–4 in the final to claim his fifth Masters title.[28] At the 2014 World Championship, he reached a third consecutive world final, where he again faced Selby. Despite taking a 10–5 lead, O’Sullivan lost 14–18, his first World final defeat.[29] Later in 2014, he won his fifth UK Championship, beating Judd Trump 10–9 in the final. However, he declined to defend his title the following year and pulled out of the 2015 UK Championship, citing debilitating insomnia.[30] At the 2015 Masters, he made his 776th century break in professional competition, surpassing Hendry’s record for the most career centuries.[31]
O’Sullivan won two consecutive Masters in 2016 and 2017 for a record seven Masters titles. He also won two consecutive UK Championships in 2017 and 2018 for a record seven UK titles, attaining a total of 19 Triple Crown titles to surpass Hendry’s total of 18. During the 2017–18 season, he won five ranking events.[32] He defeated Neil Robertson 10–4 in the final to win the 2019 Players Championship. In the last frame of the match, he made his 1,000th century break in professional competition, becoming the first player to reach that milestone.[33] He won his 36th ranking title at the 2019 Tour Championship, equalling Hendry’s record and attaining the world number one ranking for the first time since May 2010.[34]
At the 2020 World Championship, O’Sullivan came from 14–16 behind in the semi-final against Selby to win 17–16. He then defeated Kyren Wilson 18–8 in the final to win his sixth World title. The tournament also marked his 28th consecutive Crucible appearance, surpassing Hendry’s record of 27.[9] He reached his 58th ranking final at the 2021 Tour Championship, breaking Hendry’s record of 57 ranking final appearances,[35] but was defeated 4–10 by Neil Robertson. During the tournament, he made his 1,100th century break in professional competition.[36] He lost five consecutive ranking finals in the 2020–21 season, but ended a 16-month title drought by winning his 38th ranking title at the 2021 World Grand Prix.[37]
O’Sullivan defeated Trump 18–13 in the 2022 World Championship final to win his seventh world title, equalling Hendry for the most World titles in the modern era.[38][39] Aged 46 years and 148 days, he became the oldest World Champion in snooker history, surpassing Reardon, who won his last title in 1978 aged 45 years and 203 days.[40] O’Sullivan also surpassed Hendry’s record of 70 Crucible wins, setting a new record of 74.[41]
O’Sullivan defeated Marco Fu 6–4 to win the 2022 Hong Kong Masters. The final was played before an estimated 9,000 spectators, the largest audience ever to attend a snooker match.[42] At the 2023 World Snooker Championship, O’Sullivan made a record 31st Crucible appearance, surpassing the previous record of 30 by Steve Davis.[43] He made his 200th Crucible century break and his 1,200th century in professional competition during his second-round match against Hossein Vafaei.[44] His reached the quarter-final, which was his 100th match at the Crucible, making him the first player to reach that milestone,[45] but was defeated 10–13 by eventual winner Luca Brecel.
At the invitational 2023 Shanghai Masters, O’Sullivan defeated Brecel 11–9 in the final to claim his fourth consecutive, and fifth total, Shanghai Masters title, extending his winning streak at the tournament to 18 matches since 2017.[46] He won record-extending eighth titles at both the 2023 UK Championship and the 2024 Masters, respectively defeating Ding Junhui and Ali Carter 10–7 in the finals. This extended his record number of ranking titles to 40 and Triple Crown titles to 23. Aged 47 years and 363 days when he won the UK Championship, and 48 years and 40 days when he won the Masters, he became the oldest winner of all three Triple Crown events.[47] He also became simultaneously the youngest and oldest winner of both the UK Championship and the Masters.[48][49]
O’Sullivan’s other career highlights include three World Grand Prix titles, two Players Championship titles, four Welsh Open titles, two Scottish Open titles, two German Masters titles, four Irish Masters titles, two China Open titles, two Champions Cup titles, ten Premier League titles, four Champion of Champions titles, three Scottish Masters titles, and five Shanghai Masters titles.[17]
Known for his fast and attacking style of play, O’Sullivan gained the nickname “The Rocket” after winning a best-of-nine frame match in a record 43 minutes during his debut season as a professional.[50] A prolific break builder and solid tactical player, he has stated his disdain for long, drawn-out games, saying that they harm the game of snooker.[51] O’Sullivan is ambidextrous, as he is right-handed but can play to a high standard with his left hand and routinely alternates when needed, enabling him to attempt shots with his left hand that would otherwise require a rest or spider.[52] When he first displayed this left-handed ability in the 1996 World Championship against Alain Robidoux, the Canadian accused him of disrespect and refused to shake hands after the match.[14][53]
Status
O’Sullivan is highly regarded in snooker, with several of his peers regarding him as the greatest player ever,[54][55][56][57][58] and some labelling him a “genius”.[59][60] After losing 6–17 to O’Sullivan in the 2008 World Championship semi-final, Hendry described him as “the best player in the world by a country mile”.[61] In 2024, Hendry agreed that there was no longer any question as to whether O’Sullivan was the greatest snooker player of all time, also calling him an “artist”.[62] However, O’Sullivan himself has dismissed the suggestion that he is the greatest player and has identified Hendry as the greatest due to his domination of snooker.[63]
One of the most popular players on the circuit,[64] he is noted for being a “showman”,[65] and is credited with helping improve the image of snooker with the general public.[59][66] He has often been compared with Alex Higgins and Jimmy White for his natural talent and popularity.[52] In December 2020, O’Sullivan was nominated for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Award, becoming the first snooker player to receive a nomination since Hendry in 1990.[67][68] He was nominated for a second time in December 2022.[68]
However, O’Sullivan sometimes lacks confidence or interest,[69] and has performed inconsistently throughout his career,[70] with observers noting the “two Ronnies” aspect of his character.[71]
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