Ronnie O’Sullivan’s behaviour following a ultimate defeat has been recalled by one among his best rivals.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s class in defeat has been praised by one among his rivals (Picture: Getty)
Ronnie O’Sullivan confirmed his class to Neil Robertson and his household with a sporting response to a ultimate defeat. The snooker greats have met quite a few occasions on the desk over the past twenty years, with mutual respect between the pair excessive.
Their final massive match got here in August when the Australian edged the Rocket in an exhilarating Saudi Arabia Masters ultimate. In 2010, Robertson was additionally victorious within the ultimate of the World Open in Glasgow, shortly after successful what stays his solely World Championship. The Thunder from Down Underneath has fond reminiscences of the match, not only for his triumph however for the magnanimous manner by which O’Sullivan accepted defeat. He had stated: “He is world champion and world primary, and he dispatched me like world champions and quantity ones do.”
Given runner-up speeches aren’t straightforward, the Rocket’s class in defeat meant a terrific deal to Robertson and his household. He informed the Metro: “Runner-up speeches are fairly powerful, however I beat him within the ultimate and he was so complimentary afterwards and I hadn’t really misplaced a ultimate but, however I at all times remembered that truly made me really feel actually good.
“You’ve got seen runner-up speeches prior to now they usually’ve simply achieved all the pieces attainable to be sure that the winner feels horrible once they’re lifting the trophy. We will consider fairly a number of!
“And I do not suppose that’s proper as a result of whoever’s gained the match, you possibly can respect all of the onerous work and all the pieces they’ve put in.
“The household’s watching as effectively, it’s essential to issue that in. So when Ronnie had that speech, my mum, my dad and [wife] Mille have been like, ‘Oh wow, Ronnie was so good!’ It was good.”
There may be loads of mutual respect between O’Sullivan and Robertson (Picture: Getty)
After pulling out of the Masters for medical causes on the eve of the match, O’Sullivan is because of play his first aggressive snooker of 2026 on the German Masters on Tuesday. The Rocket performs world quantity 54 Lengthy Zehuang on the Tempodrom venue in Berlin at 2pm UK time.
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Robertson begins his marketing campaign within the second spherical towards Pang Junxu on Wednesday after receiving a first-round bye following the withdrawal of Chang Bingyu for visa causes. The German Masters is likely one of the few tournaments the 43-year-old continues to be but to win.
He stated: “I feel if you get all the way down to that semi-final stage, the match turns into superb. It’s a great venue. Now we have a number of now which can be slightly bit completely different and that is one the gamers are determined to get to.”
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