Only the demons in his head will be able to prevent 1-10 favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan from defending his UK Championship title in Telford. The only pressure Ronnie feels is from within. When his head is right, however, there is no finer snooker player in the world past or present.
Faced with the pressure of the deciding frame of last year’s semi-final against Mark Selby with £70,000 at stake, the magician slapped a 147 on the table. What pressure?
Ronnie should cruise to victory once more providing that he doesn’t suffer another one of his funny turns which have seen him walk out mid-match in major tournaments in the past. He has battled depression and weight problems, but has recovered in the main with a change of lifestyle. The Rocket is now a devoted runner and pins his physical and much of his mental recovery to his new pastime.
One pretender to Ronnie’s thrown comes in the form of young upstart Neil Robertson, the lefty with a bumchin so big it is rumoured that he uses it to steady his cue in practise when his right arm gets tired. Robertson has a reputation as the ‘best long potter in the game’ but he will need to be perfect in all departments to diffuse the Rocket.
Ronnie says he is looking forward to the ‘fantastic’ atmosphere in Telford. Ah yes, those Telford snooker fans are renowned nutters. Rival firms in and around Telford have been known to clash violently in the past when the emotion of a re-spotted black gets too much and it goes off big time. Telford residents stay indoors from the quarter-final stage on for fear of encountering the threat of an OAP in a three piece suit wielding a snooker ball in a sock, livid after seeing Graeme Dott crash out of the tournament.
Thousands of policemen in full riot gear will travel to Telford tomorrow for the beginning of the tournament on Saturday, preying that everything goes smoothly. Unless a major incident occurs on the table, Ronnie O’Sullivan should be UK champion once again.