Ronnie O'Sullivan

O'Sullivan at the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic.
Born	(1975-12-05) 5 December 1975 (age 36) Wordsley, West Midlands
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Rocket[1] The Essex Exocet[2]
Professional	1992–
Highest ranking	1
Current ranking	9
Career winnings	UK£6,989,447
Highest break	147 (11 times)
Century breaks	678 (as of 4 May 2012)[3]
Tournament wins
Ranking	24
Minor-ranking	2
Non-ranking	23
World Champion	2001, 2004, 2008, 2012
www.ronnieosullivan.tv

Ronald Antonio "Ronnie" O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975^[4]) is an English professional snooker player known for his rapid playing style, and is nicknamed "The Rocket".^[5] He has been World Champion on four occasions (2001, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and, with career earnings of over £6 million is second after Stephen Hendry on snooker's all-time prize-money list.^[6] O'Sullivan has been the world's no. 1 player on five occasions, and has won a total of 24 ranking titles. He is second, again behind Hendry, on the list of players making the most competitive century breaks, with a total of 678.^[3] O'Sullivan has compiled 11 maximum breaks in professional competition, a record which he shares with Hendry.^[7] He also holds the record for the fastest maximum break, at 5 minutes 20 seconds.^[8]

O'Sullivan is considered by many fans, critics and professionals, including fellow multiple-World Championship winners Hendry and Steve Davis, as the most naturally talented player in the history of the game.^[9] He has, however, been involved in a number of controversial incidents during his career.^[9]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

O'Sullivan was born in Wordsley, West Midlands,^[4] and grew up, and still lives, in the exclusive Manor Road area in Chigwell, Essex.^[10] He attended Wanstead High School.^[11] He began his snooker career at an early age, first achieving a century break at the age of 10 (making 117). He scored a maximum break at 15, and turned professional at 16. He won his first 38 ranking matches as a professional – a record that still stands^[12][8] – on his way to the 1993 World Championship, where he is the third youngest player to have qualified. He lost in the first round 7–10 to Alan McManus,^[13] and in the following season was ranked 57.^[14] He became the youngest winner of a ranking tournament when, aged 17, he won the 1993 UK Championship,^[8] beating Stephen Hendry in the final.^[15] In 1995, he won his first Masters title, by defeating John Higgins 9–3.^[16]

In the 1996 World Championship, snooker's governing body found O'Sullivan guilty of assaulting Mike Ganley, a media official.^[17] He was given a two-year suspended sentence and a £20,000 fine, and advised to donate £10,000 to charity.^[4] On 21 April 1997, in the first round of the World Championship against Mick Price, he made the fastest maximum break, completed in 5 minutes and 20 seconds – an average of one shot every 8.8 seconds.^[8] In November 1997, he won his second UK title, beating Hendry 10–6 in the final.^[15]

After winning the 1998 Irish Masters 9–3 against Ken Doherty, he was stripped of his title and disqualified after a drug test found cannabis in his system. The title then went to Doherty.^[18] O'Sullivan made it to the semi–finals of the 1999 World Championship, but lost 13–17 to Stephen Hendry. During the match, they made four successive centuries: two from Hendry and two from O'Sullivan.^[19] Following his solid performance during the previous year, O'Sullivan had a promising campaign in the 1999/2000 season, and won two ranking tournaments. He won the 1999 China Open by defeating Stephen Lee 9–2,^[20] and the 2000 Scottish Open by defeating Mark Williams 9–1.^[21] At the World Championship, O'Sullivan was eliminated in the first round by David Gray, losing the match 9–10.^[22] In that match, O'Sullivan became the first snooker player to compile five centuries in a best of 19 frames match.^[23]

During the 2000/2001 season, he won six tournaments, and reached the final of one further event. He won the Champions Cup by defeating Mark Williams 7–5,^[24] and reached the final of the Grand Prix, but lost 5–9 against Williams.^[25] O'Sullivan defended his China Open title, by defeating Williams 9–3 in the final.^[26] In 2001, he won the Irish Masters, by defeating Stephen Hendry 9–8, and claimed his first World Championship title, with an 18–14 victory over Higgins.^[27][28] O'Sullivan dedicated this win to his father.^[29] O'Sullivan ended the season by winning the Premier League. After finishing second in the league stage, he defeated John Higgins 6–3 in the semi-finals, and Stephen Hendry 9–7 in the final.^[30]

After the first world title[link]

In the 2001/2002 season, O'Sullivan won his third UK title, with a 10–1 victory over Doherty.^[15] At the World Championship, Hendry and O'Sullivan were set to meet in the semi–finals, O'Sullivan having edged out Stephen Lee in his quarter-final match, 13–10, and Hendry having won his quarter-final match against Doherty. At a pre-match interview, O'Sullivan said, referring to a previous match against Hendry in 1999, "I know if I do get beat and he comes up and does a moonie in front of me and goes 'Ne ne ne', I'll just look at him and say 'well done' and say 'go back to your sad little life'."^{[31] [32]}In the match, O'Sullivan had the better of the first day's play, opening up an 8–5 lead; but on the second day, Hendry rallied to reach 12–12 before going into the final session. Hendry subsequently outplayed O'Sullivan, and won by 17 frames to 13. After the match, O'Sullivan accused Hendry of poor sportsmanship, referring to his conduct over a "miss" shot at an unnamed prior tournament.^[33] Hendry did not comment on his opponent's outburst, although O'Sullivan did receive some criticism for his remarks from Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor and Clive Everton. O'Sullivan later apologised to Hendry for his comments.^[34] O'Sullivan ended the season by defending his Premier League title. Having finished first after the league stage,^[35] O'Sullivan defeated Jimmy White 6–2 in the semi-final, and John Higgins 9–4 in the final.^[36] O'Sullivan began the 2002/2003 season ranked number 1.^[14]

Another successful season followed in 2002/2003, with O'Sullivan reaching the last 16 in seven ranking tournaments. He began the season by winning the invitational Scottish Masters, defeating John Higgins 9–4 in the final.^[37] He reached the quarter-finals of the LG Cup, losing against eventual champion Chris Small,^[38] the last 16 of the British Open, losing against Paul Hunter,^[39] the quarter-finals of the UK Championship, losing against Drew Henry.^[40] and the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, losing to Marco Fu.^[41] After this, O'Sullivan won back-to-back ranking titles, by defeating Hendry in the European Open, and Higgins in the Irish Masters.^[42][43] He then reached the last 16 of the Scottish Open, losing against Ken Doherty.^[44] O'Sullivan's only first round loss at a ranking event in the season came at the World Championship, when he lost 6–10 in the first round against the unseeded Marco Fu,^[45] despite making a maximum break in the match.^[46] This defeat saw him drop to number 3 in the rankings.^[14] O'Sullivan participated at the Premier League, but despite topping the table after the league stage, he lost 4–6 in the semi-final against Marco Fu.^[47]

In the 2003/2004 season, O'Sullivan reached the three ranking-event finals. He reached the final of the British Open, losing 6–9 against Stephen Hendry,^[48] and won the Welsh Open, defeating Steve Davis 9–8.^[49] O'Sullivan also reached the final of the Masters, but lost 9–10 against Paul Hunter, despite having led 6–1 and then 9–7, before losing the final three frames to lose the match.^[50][51] In 2004, O'Sullivan's father telephoned 1970s six-time World Champion Ray Reardon, and asked if he could give O'Sullivan some advice.^[52] With Reardon's backing, O'Sullivan recovered his form and claimed the World Championship, beating Graeme Dott very convincingly in the final, by 18 frames to 8. He had lost the first five frames of the match, however, which he attributed to his opponent's (and O'Sullivan's former) coach's mind games – entering O'Sullivan's dressing room minutes before the match.^[53] He also beat Hendry 17–4 in the semi–final – the most one-sided defeat ever in a World Championship semi–final.^[54] O'Sullivan was ranked number one for the next two seasons.^[14]