Ronnie's sweetest title

 

Sunday's 18-8 victory over Kyren Wilson crowned Ronnie O'Sullivan as World Champion, for the sixth time. It was definitely not the best tournament he's ever won performance-wise, but for the man himself and his loyal fans it'll be the most enjoyable one.

Now a - record - 20 times triple crown event winner and a - record - 37 ranking titles winner, O'Sullivan is still living the peak of his career, which started at that German Masters in 2012 when many thought he wouldn't win anything ever again. Since then, he's won a triple crown event for NINE seasons in a row. That's even more impressive when you consider that he missed four triple crown events in that period. He played 21, made 12 finals and won 9 of them (World Championship in 2012, 2013 and 2020; UK Championship in 2014, 2017 and 2018; and The Masters in 2014; 2016 and 2017).

But apart from all of that, what does this win means in special for Ronnie when compared to the others?

Well, since losing to Mark Selby in 2014 on his third consecutive World Final, Ronnie was unable to play well at the Crucible again despite keeping his top performances during the seasons. Ronnie's failures at the Crucible were many and so disappointing that at some point everyone - even himself - doubted if he had enough to win there again. Some were sure he'd never feature in the one table set-up again.

Of course Ronnie doesn't need to prove anything to anyone and it's been like that for a while now. But despite all of the records he's got, he never wanted to end his career with any regrets. And to have lost in 2014, the year he played his best snooker at the Crucible and outside of it, after leading Selby 10-5 in the final and then missing that famous easy pink when the match was level at 11-11, would be something he'd look back and think he had not taken the opportunity to be in the World Final as good as he should've taken and it happened to be his last.

He had said in a recent interview to Stephen Hendry on Instagram that if he could've played another match again he'd play that 2014 final and he would've played it in a different way, in his way and not Selby's. Well, now he's had not just the opportunity to play in the one table set-up again but destiny had Selby on his way in the semifinals and a three-days best of 33 against Selby was his chance to replay that 2014 match somehow.

At the start, he tried to play tight and inevitably fell behind. Then he started being aggressive and when in trouble it was a display of hit-and-hope shots by O'Sullivan. Selby surged 16-14 ahead but Ronnie remained positive and it was his turn to hit Selby with a remarkable comeback. Ronnie had done what he did through the whole tournament since round two and what he would eventually do in the final - hang in there somehow in the early stages, and switch it on when the winning line was in sight.

After that semifinal, Selby complained and called Ronnie "disrespectful" for his hit and hope shots, mentioning that "you don't see other top players doing that". Well, in my view it was an unfortunate statement by Mark who is usually a class act and because of that I'm putting this down to his momentaneous frustration. You see, when Selby is scoring and potting balls he can be unstoppable, but when he's struggling he'll push balls tight to cushions and scrap through frames, as well as playing shots deliberately slowly (it happened in this match actually, when Ronnie was struggling and Selby took over two minutes to take the miss and put Ronnie back in what was a fairly easy decision from the start). That's definitely more negative than playing hit-and-hope shots in my view. 

Of course Ronnie has complained about Selby before, so Mark only returns the favour there, but while Selby had for many years been in Ronnie O'Sullivan's head, it's good that for a change Ronnie's turned that around.

Everyone just keeps saying he'll never win another one, but that's what everyone seems to say everytime he wins something big these days. You just have to respect Ronnie O'Sullivan for this achievement and let him and his fans enjoy. 

As a fan myself, to me what means more about this title is that he gave himself another chance and he took it as good as he should've taken it. Even if he'd lost he had the right attitude and this is what it's all about. No regrets looking back. And I don't care if he never ever wins another match at the Crucible or anywhere else again. He's won it all and proved people wrong time and time again, criticism and unfairly high expectations over him will never cease because he's the greatest of all time, and slowly but surely his numbers start to put an end to that G.O.A.T. debate.