Neil Robertson believes Ronnie O’Sullivan is enjoying recent snooker success despite playing ‘pretty awful’ for spells of the season. O’Sullivan has racked up the UK Championship, Masters and World Grand Prix titles over the past few weeks, before deciding to sit out the German Masters in Berlin.
At 48 years old, the Rocket is putting together one of the finest seasons of his career. Wins over Ding Junhui and Ali Carter in the UK Championship and Masters finals have landed him with two of the campaign’s coveted triple crown titles, and he will have a chance to complete the hat-trick at the World Snooker Championship later this year.
Despite the impressive silverware haul, O’Sullivan has made it clear that he’s not been entirely convinced by the overall standard of his cueing. Robertson agrees, calling some of his rival’s performances ‘pretty awful’.
“You can get very comfortable and complacent when you’re just cruising into the last 16, quarter-finals,” the Australian told WST.
“We’ve probably seen that with Ronnie recently, let’s have it right he’s played pretty awful, but he’s been able to keep winning because people are missing blacks off the spot, pinks off the spot.
“He’s gained that reputation of being unbeatable this season even though he’s played awful. He’s even talked about it himself, he’s almost laughing about it, people just can’t put him away.”
“I just have struggles with the game. I can’t accept bad cueing, I can’t accept it. I’d rather cue well and lose than cue awful and win tournaments. I get no satisfaction out of it, I really don’t.”
O’Sullivan chose to sit out the German Masters and focus on his ‘well-being’ after a busy run of tournaments, and he will likely be back in action at the Players Championship in February, where his 15-match winning streak will be on the line.
