Ronnie O’Sullivan was gracious in defeat and cracked a joke to “part-time” snooker player Mark Williams after losing in the Tour Championship final. The Rocket led 5-3 going into the evening session, but lost each remaining frame to the Welsh Potting Machine in an unprecedented comeback.
O’Sullivan, who has been close with Williams since the pair broke onto the professional tour together with John Higgins as the Class of ’92, gave his opponent his well-earned flowers after struggling to get close to him in Manchester.
Williams was described as “probably the most talented snooker player I’ve ever seen” by O’Sullivan in glowing praise shortly after the Rocket was defeated, having been unplayable in both the final and semi-final against Mark Allen.
“Listen I think he’s been the best player, the most consistent player for the last five years,” O’Sullivan told ITV. “The way he’s been hitting the ball, very rarely does he play a poor match. The way he’s played this week and the way he played tonight, yeah he’s just an amazing player. So talented. I think he’s better now than he’s ever been to be honest.
“He’s so compact and has got Lee Walker who he works very hard with. He just seems so strong. I tried. I gave it everything this afternoon to stay in the match. He’s just so consistent and so strong. You might get the better of him in one session but if you don’t keep playing top-level snooker, he’ll just eat you alive. I think I did well to get five frames to be honest with you!”
O’Sullivan even cracked a joke that after Williams spent the previous month in China playing pool rather than snooker, he was impressed that the three-time world champion could return to the sport at such a high level.
Williams himself joked that he was only a “part-time player” at this stage of his career, but O’Sullivan could not have been kinder in his assessment of the final. “I knew I had to do something so I just put everything into it,” he added.
“To keep trying to do that is not easy. The game has to come pretty comfortable and pretty easy. Like I said, for the last five years, Mark has been better at doing that than anybody If he was to dedicate his whole life to it, he’d probably be No.1 in the world. But he doesn’t, he likes to play golf and chill out and enjoy his life.
“But he still don’t do bad for someone who just plays about with the sport. He’s a deserving winner, a fantastic player and probably the most talented snooker player I’ve ever seen. He deserves this victory.”
