Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated Si Jiahui 4-2 at the English Open in Brentwood on Thursday. Following the win, O’Sullivan spoke to Eurosport and was asked if he would consider helping other players. The Rocket cited Ray Reardon as an example and said he would only help if he could have the same impact on the Welshman’s career.
Ronnie O’Sullivan believes that rising snooker stars need to improve their matchcraft and that he would only aid another player if he could have the same impact on him that Ray Reardon had on him.
O’Sullivan is largely considered as the best player of all time, although there was concern in the late 1990s that he might fail to deliver on his promise.
A partnership with Reardon in the early 2000s altered O’Sullivan’s game, adding gritty match play to his shot-making prowess.
The link-up with six-time world champion Reardon paid off as O’Sullivan went on to dominate the sport, and he now has seven Crucible crowns to his name – as well as a host of other titles and records.
He is still going strong at the age of 47, and beat rising star Si Jiahui at the English Open on Thursday despite being below his best.
After the win, O’Sullivan told Eurosport that the key is to know how to win when not playing well – and cited himself,
John Higgins, Mark Williams and Mark Selby as examples to follow.
“It is hard, you are playing against Higgins, myself, Williams,” O’Sullivan said. “We grew up playing in pro-ams.
“We learnt how to win when not playing well, we’ve learnt how to adapt, we are quite foxy sorts of players.
“We can have so many different approaches in one game, switch it up a bit. Selby does that as well.
“That is what you need to have to be able to win, as you are not always going to be able to play well.”
