Steve Davis worries …

December 2, 2015December 2, 2015 Monique Media Media

Steve Davis is delighted at Ronnie’s comeback

Steve Davis fears Ronnie O’Sullivan will follow through on threats and retire from snooker

STEVE DAVIS has revealed his fears that Ronnie O’Sullivan was finally going to follow through on regular quit threats and retire from snooker.

By HECTOR NUNNS

PUBLISHED: 00:02, Wed, Dec 2, 2015

GETTY

Ronnie O’Sullivan has not played a competitive match since April

The Rocket has not played a competitive match since April, when he lost to Stuart Bingham at the World Championship.

But the five-time world champion has announced he will return to action at January’s Masters at Alexandra Palace, and try to qualify for Berlin’s German Masters.

O’Sullivan, 40 on Saturday and a Eurosport TV pundit for the Betway UK Championship, once took almost a whole season off before roaring back to win his fifth Crucible crown.

GETTY

Steve Davis fears that O’Sullivan will retire from professional snooker

And in 24 years on tour he has taken other breaks, skipped events in the Far East and issued many retirement threats.

Six-time world champion Davis, 58, had heard it all before, however this time was genuinely worried it could have been the end of O’Sullivan’s glittering career.

“I am delighted he is back because I had started to fear that Ronnie had lost his competitive mojo,” said Davis. “I wondered if he had the stomach for it any more, basically not liking the fact that he was getting beaten more. So there was a real concern that maybe the writing was on the wall.

GETTY

O’Sullivan has announced he will return in January at the Masters

“Perhaps that is the case still, he won’t have it all his own way. But what is great is that he is coming back to the fray. It would have been sad if such a talented player had retired just because he was getting beaten in a few matches.

“I can completely understand why watching the UK this week has made him want to play. It’s like the public heading out to play when a major event is on. It can inspire a professional too.”

O’Sullivan said: “I’ve been watching the snooker this week and realised that I have been missing it. And this year I have enjoyed most playing in clubs.

“I grew up in those places. It feels like you are in a huge band and going back to play in some tiny venue where you started off, the Cavern Club or something like that – going back in time.”

World No4 Shaun Murphy eased into the last 16 with an attacking display to beat Ben Woollaston 6-2 yesterday at York’s Barbican Centre.

York Chronicles – day 4

December 2, 2015October 9, 2019 Monique Professional snooker tournament Professional snooker

Second and final day of the last 32. If Monday was eventful, what can we say about yesterday?

Ronnie, Jimmy and Colin started with a preview on the day’s action.

After the afternoon session, they analyse the Murphy-Woollaston match and Neil Foulds, at the Barbican, does flash interviews with Tom Ford and Shaun Murphy.
They also reflect on Martin Gould and Mark Allen games and abilities.
They take a look at the draw as last 16 round takes shape and a short preview of the evening matches.

The evening preview featured interviews with Mark Allen and Martin Gould. The three also made some predictions regarding the matches outcomes. Ronnie reckons that Neil Robertson and Marco Fu should win but that Liang Wenbo could well cause un upset and beat Judd Trump.

Mark Allen had no complaints after his defeat, here is what he tweeted:
No complaints. Lost to the better player on the day. Didn’t compete with his safety at all. Can’t win the big events without a safety game!

During the midsession Colin, Ronnie and Jimmy went though an assessment of the Trump-Liang match. At that point Trump had been dominating the match and the show and the pundits comment on some of his most spectacular shots.

As the evening unfolded, so did the drama. Thepchaya Un Nooh missed the last black for a maximum and £44000. You can watch it here:

2015 UK Champs: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 147 attempt – Neil Robertson

And his reaction afterwards:

Later Neil Robertson piled more misery on poor Theppy as he scored a 145, nicking the tournament HB as well as winning the match.

On the other television table, Judd Trump had been 3-0 up and 279 points to nil, he had been 4-1 up … and lost 6-4 to Liang Wenbo. Just as Ronnie had predicted: if there is an upset tonight, it would be Wenbo beating Judd. He did.

In my opinion, Judd fell apart, not for the first time. He is vulnerable under pressure, especially when he’s a huge favourite in a match and his opponent takes the game to him.

When the pundits called it a day, one match was still in progress: Mark Joyce had been 5-0 up on Dechawat Poomjaeng, but “Poomy” was on the comeback trail. He went on to win 6-5 from 5-0 down…

So today, we can expect Ronnie Wood and his dog in the studio … We can’t miss that can we?

Watch day 4 full punditry again here:

MissingClip 2015 UK Champs: Day4 tv preview+MSI+review (Eurosport)

All the detailed results are available on cuetracker.net

Ronnie HAS entered the Masters and the German Masters 2016

December 1, 2015 Monique Professional snooker tournament Professional snooker

This has just been confirmed by Worldsnooker

Tuesday 1 Dec 2015 12:17PM

Ronnie O’Sullivan will return to competitive snooker at the Masters in London in January, and he has also entered February’s German Masters in Berlin.

The Rocket has not played on the World Snooker Tour so far this season, but has now confirmed he will be bidding for a sixth Masters crown at Alexandra Palace. The event, featuring the elite top 16, runs from January 10 to 17. Subject to results this week at the Betway UK Championship, we plan to do the draw live on BBC on Sunday, with the format to follow.

Tickets for the Masters are still available – for details click here.

O’Sullivan will also play in the German Masters at the Tempodrom, which runs from February 3 to 7, a title which he won in 2012. For ticket details click here.

As Ronnie is about to turn 40, Clive Everton speaks about the man and his career

December 1, 2015 Monique Media Media

Enjoy! 🙂

And maybe listen to the other very interesting podcasts by the Snooker Scene team.

York Chronicles – day 3

December 1, 2015October 9, 2019 Monique Professional snooker tournament Professional snooker

First day of the last 32 round, and it was an eventful one.

In their daily preview, Colin, Ronnie and Jimmy focused on the Higgins v Carter match. They also go through the draw, picking their favourites to come out of each quarter.

John Higgins duly beat Ali Carter, by 6-2. The match though was far from being as one sided as the score suggests; indeed at the MSI, Ali had better the stats in every department except the one that matters, the score. Higgins played very well but Ali did have his chances; mistakes on crucial balls cost him dear. After the match Ali revealed that his Crohn disease was affecting him at the moment.

Stuart Bingham miserable season continued, as he was beaten by Peter Ebdon. Peter of course pointed at his vegan diet as the source of his current form. How many bananas he brought in the arena wasn’t disclosed.

The evening matches preview focused on the Holt v Swail match.

The evening session saw wins for Joe Swail, Luca Brecel, David Grace and Mark Selby. Selby did it the hard way – and the late way – and once again lived to his “Master of Brinkmanship” tag.

Ronnie, Jimmy and Colin analysed the Swail-Holt match and why Joe Swail is back to form. They are clearly delighted for him. Neil Foulds interviewed both Joe Swail and Luca Brecel. About Luca, Ronnie stressed how talented he is – “like Judd but with better cue ball control” – but also suggested that his attitude needs improving if he is to fulfil his potential.

MissingClip 2015 UK Champs: Day3 tv preview+MSI+review (Eurosport).

Here is the full day 3 in York punditry:

At the end of the show, the “three geezers”, as someone called them, answered a few fans questions. Asked if he was to play at the Masters, Ronnie answered “dunno”. Only to tweet this about half an hour later.