Fan Zhengyi registered a massive upset in the final of the BetVictor European Masters as he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-9 to win his first pro title.
China’s Fan had never previously been beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event and was even in danger of tour relegation before this week. But incredibly he beat the likes of Kyren Wilson, Yan Bingtao, David Gilbert and Graeme Dott to reach the final in Milton Keynes before edging out O’Sullivan thanks to a superb break of 92 in the deciding frame.
The 21-year-old collected the trophy and a first prize of £80,000, by far his biggest career pay day which boosts him 49 places up the world ranking list to 31st.
His victory bears similarities to Jordan Brown’s triumph over O’Sullivan at last season’s BetVictor Welsh Open as both started the event a 750-1 outsider and both made an excellent break to beat the sport’s greatest ever player in a deciding frame. Brown was 81st in the rankings while Fan was 80th, and neither had even played in a ranking event semi-final before. Both results must be considered among snooker’s all-time biggest final shocks.
Fan becomes the fourth player this season to win his a maiden ranking title, joining David Gilbert, Zhao Xintong and Hossein Vafaei. Originally from Harbin in northern China, he now lives in Sheffield and practises with the likes of Zhao and Yan Bingtao. Their recent success has undoubtedly inspired Fan and he has proved himself the latest player on a conveyor belt of Chinese talent with vast potential.
Former World Under-21 champion Fan becomes the fifth player from mainland China to win a ranking title, joining Yan, Zhao, Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo.
O’Sullivan, playing in his 60th ranking final having won his first in 1993, missed out on a 39th ranking title which would have extended his record over Stephen Hendry, who has 36. He earns £35,000, when the top prize would have given him a significant lead at the top of the BetVictor Series Rankings. The world number two struggled with his game throughout the day and was never ahead after the opening frame. The 46-year-old from Chigwell made just one century and one other break over 50 in the 19 frames.
Fan won just two knockout matches in ranking events in the whole of last season, but has improved dramatically in recent weeks
Tied at 4-4 after the first session, Fan made a tremendous start tonight with breaks of 135 and 110 to go 6-4 ahead. O’Sullivan pulled one back, then in frame 12 he trailed 34-15 but a long red set up a break of 47 which proved enough to recover to 6-6 at the interval.
Fan had a chance to clear from 46-0 down in the 13th but missed the black, trying to get position on the yellow. O’Sullivan took yellow and green but then missed the brown with the rest to a baulk corner. Fan slotted in excellent pots on brown, blue and pink to regain the lead. And he dominated the next to extend his advantage to 8-6.
O’Sullivan found some fluency with a break of 107, his tenth century of the tournament. In the next he missed the final green when two pots short of clinching the frame, but later slotted the green into a centre pocket which squared the tie at 8-8.
Early in frame 17, O’Sullivan split the reds wide open, but then over-cut a tricky pink to a centre pocket and Fan took advantage with a break of 82. In the 18th, Fan had one clear scoring chance but made just 19 before running out of position. O’Sullivan knocked in a long red to set up a run of 44 which proved enough for 9-9.
A safety exchange early in the decider ended when O’Sullivan attempted a difficult long red to a top corner and rattled it in the jaws. Fan was left with the balls nicely spread, and was barely out of position as he built his match-winning break.
Fan said: “Just playing Ronnie in the final was a dream come true. He is every Chinese player’s idol, even Zhao and Yan because he is so generous to us. I was so happy just to learn something from him.
“Beating Kyren Wilson earlier in the week was vital because that gave me the confidence that I can beat the better players. Then I knocked out Yan Bingtao and after that I just took every match frame by frame. I was happy just to get one frame today!
“I have to thank Zhao and Yan because every day we play together and learn from each other. That’s the best thing about being together. We are like brothers.”
Six-time World Champion O’Sullivan said: “It was fantastic to play against a great new talent. They are taking the game to the next level. It’s frightening – I can’t pot like these guys. They are pushing each other on and working hard. It’s great for China and great for snooker. (Manager) Victoria (Shi) is brilliant, she is like a mother for them. In a few years snooker could be like table tennis, with the Chinese players dominating and batting us off the park.”
Ronnie did indeed struggle all day but battled with all he had. Fan played well and kept a cool head, which is not easy to do when you are only 21, competing in your first final against a legend of your sport.
Unsurprisingly social media were full of “shocks” posts yesterday evening. Maybe it’s because I’m a native French speaker and, maybe, the words choc and shock don’t have the exact same meaning, but there was no “choc” to me. A “choc” is supposed to be surprising, unexpected and sudden. It looked certainly unlikely for Fan to win the event BEFORE the start of the tournament, but as the tournament progressed he knocked out a string of top players. Therefore, when he reached the final, it was clear that he had both the ability and the temperament to be a winner. Of course he didn’t have the experience and Ronnie had played well to get to the final, except in his match against Zhang Anda. Ronnie had to be the favourite. It was not dissimilar to the Welsh Open scenario last season. Jordan Brown however had shown clear signs of improvement before the event, and he was not a shy 21 years old either. But the way he had beaten Mark Selby, at his own game, was a strong clue about his form that week. This week, the clues were multple as Fan had beaten a host of top players – Kyren Wilson, Yan Bingtao, David Gilbert and Graeme Dott – on his way to the final. And, yes, I include Dotty. Even when not at his best he can be very hard to beat, he’s tenacious, experienced and shrewd.
32 thoughts on “Fan Zhengyi is the 2022 European Masters Champion”
Hi Monique
Because Ronnie is a genius, and because there have been times when he’s imploded spectacularly – I don’t think people appreciate what a fighter he is. Apart from Mark Selby and probably Ali Carter (and, in a different way, Mark Williams), I honestly can’t think of another top-32 player who has as much guts as Ronnie.
It’s not easy being Ronnie. Under public scrutiny since you were a teenager. Endless weight of expectation, usually from strangers who don’t really know you (or the opposition) and expect you to turn up and win. Ageing as a sportsman. Difficult family life. And now a break-up from Laila, who seemed so good for Ronnie when I saw them together a few years ago.
Out of all the current professionals, John Higgins is another Fred Davis. Perfect cue action, phlegmatic temperament, orthodox and cunning matchplay. If he stays motivated and healthy, he could go on into his mid-60s, without taking too much out of himself. Ronnie isn’t like that at all. He has to improvise his cue action, and his temperament is that of an artist or musician, a dreamer. In a way, these are advantages: because he’s always improvising, and adjusting to situations (his form, the conditions, his opponent, the audience) more than any other player, he’s uniquely brilliant and adaptable. But it’s easy to see how he looks up to John Higgins for having the strengths he doesn’t have. Equally, with the exception of Alex Higgins, no player has had the strengths Ronnie has (and Alex had basic weaknesses that didn’t allow him to use those strengths in the same way).
Last night reminded me of the 1990 British Open final. Fan may have been unknown, but he played extremely well, and had nothing to lose. Ronnie showed tremendous guts and skill just to last to the final, and to hang on in there.
He’ll win again, God willing. But I think we need to appreciate him for who he is, and how much he gives to his craft.
100% agreed.
This is also my sight, we all should be glad that he is playing, that he is playing a lot auf tournements and he is playing very well, but he is a human being – not a machine, he has very good and worse days!! And he will never be John Higgins – but this is why his fans love him!! I am also dissappointed that he couldn’t win, but to reach a final is a long and hard way, we shouldn’t forget this and be glad to see him in a lot of matches and I hope there will come a successful final!!!
There’s one thing I think we can be sure of, which is that Ronnie doesn’t care about winning events like the European Masters. To the extent that he cares about winning at this point, he really only cares about the Triple Crown events, and especially the World Championship.
By far the biggest remaining question in his career is whether he will finish behind Hendry or not in world championship victories. Nothing else really matters much…
I don’t think he didn’t care. He tried too hard for that . If it’s over, it’s over, but I don’t like the idea that his defeats just pave the way to one great victory. Many would like to think so, I don’t think it’s true.
I don’t think that either Csilla.
There’s a subtle difference between trying to win, and caring about winning. He tries to win in the sense that he tries to pot balls and such, but he doesn’t care whether he wins in the sense that winning or losing the European Masters has no real impact on his life. If anything, from what he said after beating Liang, he might have felt even worse if he had won than he feels now having lost…
Equisde, I hear you!! Yes, maybe a this is it. Yes, I usually expected Ronnie to be successful in a multisession match. But it’s not happening. It has not happened to Higgins either. Well it’s few and far between. The fact that Ronnie won a title this year makes the season better than the previous one. But I fear, until he retires, it will be like this. In a way once I don’t root for Ronnie, it will be fun not to care , unless it’s Trump, LOL but I won’t beatch that. And I don’t know how much credence do give to these I don’t care utterances. If he really doesn’t, I feel ridiculous to care myself. If he does, I feel bad for him.
He “tries” not to care too much because it hurts. If he didn’t care, the way he fought yesterday despite struggling badly would make no sense. He said it himself: “I’m no more the player I was”. As fans, we have a choice. We can accept it, continue to support him and rejoyce in the good performances whilst he is still playing, or we can walk away … What we can’t do is change the passage of time.
It seems that these 7-round tournaments are perhaps a bit too long for Ronnie these days. His last 4 ranking event wins have been in tournaments that lasted either 4 or 5 rounds, and he hasn’t won a 7-rounder since the 2018 UK Championship.
One bright side of him losing yesterday is that, if he had won, he would have been tentatively scheduled to face John Higgins in the first round of the Tour Championship. After losing yesterday, he’s tentatively scheduled to face Mark Allen.
That being said, the draw for the TC is currently quite imbalanced, with Neil Robertson, Ronnie, Higgins, and Allen on one side, and Zhao Xintong, Luca Brecel, Mark Williams, and Ricky Walden on the other…
You may well be right to an extend about the tournament’s length but the 2020 World was “only” 5 rounds but very long matches. I think that in this particular instance, Ronnie’s fragile state of mind played a role. He played an excellent semi-final but was far from positive in his post-match and was clearly not looking forward to the final for some reason.
It’s weird – he seemed unusually happy and carefree in the early rounds, and then seemed to flip over to the dark side toward the end. I suppose that’s what life is like for people who are bipolar…
Yes Mark, that’s how it is. It’s a very difficult condition to live with and it’s difficult for those around them too TBH. When you are constantly in the public eye, like Ronnie is, it’s probably even worse. There is no hiding place and people who know very little judge you without mercy or compassion.
I know the young Chinese players have suffered thru two years of pandemic under testing circumstances, but perhaps it has strengthened them mentally. A strong mind to back up their technical capabilities is a powerful weapon. I wish them all the best for the future.
Yes there’s definitely something in that. Of course things are good when results are good. It’s when results aren’t good that support from family etc. is needed. Zhou Yuelong gave a rather depressing interview, for example. All of the overseas players had to endure some pretty severe quarantines in 2020, some players got relegated from the tour, and several are in danger of relegation next year.
Well, it certainly was a shock: surprising, unexpected and sudden. Indeed Fan did produce a string of good results this week, but winning a major final over 19 frames against such a giant opponent is a different matter. There was a precedent (Jordan Brown), but as you say he was a more mature characher, and that match wasn’t played in front of a crowd, who would naturally favour Ronnie.
One of the reasons why I was following Fan quite closely this season was because I thought it would be his last chance. He spent 3 years winning a handful of first-round matches. His best result had been a final frame respotted black against Chris Wakelin in the L64 of the English Open in 2018 (actually the first time I spoke to him). I knew he had a remarkable talent, but even I could not believe how well he played, in all departments. Nevertheless, he did make mistakes, but Ronnie wasn’t able to create any momentum, which he needed. It’s almost as if Fan just broke through all the frustrations he had suffered, which had led to psychological issues.
Yes, there is a lot of negativity (and worse) on social media: people questioning Ronnie’s motives, ‘the Chinese players’, etc. Paradoxically, this remarkable win for Fan actually should give hope to some young British players, that it is possible to rise almost overnight, by doing the right things.
This is sad. I abandoned this match after frame 13 as I could not suffer the self-sabotage anymore: the miss of the brown was the icing on the poisoned cake, and to do something more fruitful with my Sunday evening. And glad I did: apparently Ronnie fought with all he had only to falter in the decider again: some place where he could still be trusted no long ago. I understand that he is 46 and what we can expect is the occasional great performance which he produced all week, but not translating it into a title hurts and takes the fun out of it. But I’m sure many are very happy about the new generation, change of the guard and the victory of another young one, so I guess I’m happy for them while I watch the first round scores of the Welsh that signal of the defeat for Jordan Brown. Not because he lost this time, but because he won a year ago.
Sorry, I said: insert expltives before “I watch the first round scores of the Welsh that signal of the defeat for Jordan Brown. Not because he lost this time, but because he won a year ago.”
There was no self-sabbotage Csilla, there was a bad struggle from start to finish that’s all. It’s unfortunate but the signs were there in the aftermath of the semi-finals.
Self-sabotage is probably not the right word I agree, because it suggests intentionality,
unforced errors or sth like this I should say, you know what I mean, maybe he doesn’t have it anymore and like I said it is sad.
I was lucky enough to be there live yesterday. It was a strange match. Ronnie struggled for most of the day and looked really out of sorts, surprising considering how well he had played up until the final. Some of the bets snooker he’s played all season. His long game was not there at all and he really struggled to construct any breaks whatsoever, often running out of position and having to play safe. He also didn’t’ get any luck when trying to split into packs and develop reds. He seemed very nervous and edgy to me unlike previous rounds I’d seen where he just looked relaxed and in the zone. Not sure if the pressure of being favourite got to him a little. He was distracted by 1 of the cameraman in the 1st session in the last frame and at the start of the 2nd session requested both photographers to be removed before they had even started the session. Usually when he is more aware of the room, is when he is feeling the pressure a bit more. He battled well but Fan was the better player and more fluent in the balls. He deserved to win. With that said, in the decider he did got for a long red which rattled several times in the jaw. We all thought in the arena it was in and I think so did he. Had it dropped, he may have had the chance to clear and I think he would have done as he appeared to have the bit between his teeth a little when he levelled for 9-9. Fine margins!
well I thought we’d hit rock bottom with Jordan Brown but apparently there’s always a new low
also why don’t any of these punks speak a word in English? I’m 20 just like him and I’m fluent, having never lived in England
His English is not bad, but it is extremely difficult to speak in front of a live audience. I expect that Victoria’s presence was requested by the broadcasters.
But I do agree that broadcasters need to try harder. Very rarely do they attempt to interview the Chinese players, who likewise need the practice. It’s only when Zhao Xintong won the UK that they suddenly found that he was pretty good.
This is NOT a new low. Everyone has bad days, and when players get older, they get more of them. Accept it or find yourself someone else to “support”. Was it a new low for Hendry when HE beat Hendry at 17? And those players are NOT punks, Yan, Zhao, Ding and all those a bit older DO speak English. I’m sure Fan is learning it. He’s a shy person, he probably didn’t feel confident enough in front of the cameras. BTW … do you speak Chinese? Lilely not. So shut up because it’s a language with a totally different structure to the European ones. It’s harder for them to learn than it is for Europeans. An with that good bye.
it’s not just a bad day, it’s a pattern. no other top player collapses continously in finals.
Ronnie should stop lying and shut up about the “I don’t care” attitude because clearly he’s the only one on tour who craps his pants whenever he’s in a final
It’s only last December he won one…
just to mention these defeats 😦
2019 WCH: Cahill 8-10
2020 European Masters: 4-5 Hill
2020 UK: 5-6 Ursenbacher
2021 Welsh Open: 8-9 Brown
2021 WCH: 12-13 McGill
2022 European masters: 9-10 Fan
Needs to overturn these type of matches.
It’s bowadays tipycal that Ronnie’s performance during the event is good, but in the final he plays a different game. There is no floating snooker…
Sure, but every other snooker player who lived (apart from Joe Davis perhaps), has had defeats like that occasionally. The same is true is any competitive sport. Success should be measured by wins, not losses.
The only real “big shock” there was the 2020 European Masters. Aaron Hill did next to nothing after that. At the 2019 World, Ronnie was extremely unwell. All the others played exceptionally well to beat him.
China’s Fan had never previously been beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event and was even in danger of tour relegation before this week. But incredibly he beat the likes of Kyren Wilson, Yan Bingtao, David Gilbert and Graeme Dott to reach the final in Milton Keynes before edging out O’Sullivan thanks to a superb break of 92 in the deciding frame.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Hi Monique
Because Ronnie is a genius, and because there have been times when he’s imploded spectacularly – I don’t think people appreciate what a fighter he is. Apart from Mark Selby and probably Ali Carter (and, in a different way, Mark Williams), I honestly can’t think of another top-32 player who has as much guts as Ronnie.
It’s not easy being Ronnie. Under public scrutiny since you were a teenager. Endless weight of expectation, usually from strangers who don’t really know you (or the opposition) and expect you to turn up and win. Ageing as a sportsman. Difficult family life. And now a break-up from Laila, who seemed so good for Ronnie when I saw them together a few years ago.
Out of all the current professionals, John Higgins is another Fred Davis. Perfect cue action, phlegmatic temperament, orthodox and cunning matchplay. If he stays motivated and healthy, he could go on into his mid-60s, without taking too much out of himself. Ronnie isn’t like that at all. He has to improvise his cue action, and his temperament is that of an artist or musician, a dreamer. In a way, these are advantages: because he’s always improvising, and adjusting to situations (his form, the conditions, his opponent, the audience) more than any other player, he’s uniquely brilliant and adaptable. But it’s easy to see how he looks up to John Higgins for having the strengths he doesn’t have. Equally, with the exception of Alex Higgins, no player has had the strengths Ronnie has (and Alex had basic weaknesses that didn’t allow him to use those strengths in the same way).
Last night reminded me of the 1990 British Open final. Fan may have been unknown, but he played extremely well, and had nothing to lose. Ronnie showed tremendous guts and skill just to last to the final, and to hang on in there.
He’ll win again, God willing. But I think we need to appreciate him for who he is, and how much he gives to his craft.
100% agreed.
This is also my sight, we all should be glad that he is playing, that he is playing a lot auf tournements and he is playing very well, but he is a human being – not a machine, he has very good and worse days!! And he will never be John Higgins – but this is why his fans love him!! I am also dissappointed that he couldn’t win, but to reach a final is a long and hard way, we shouldn’t forget this and be glad to see him in a lot of matches and I hope there will come a successful final!!!
There’s one thing I think we can be sure of, which is that Ronnie doesn’t care about winning events like the European Masters. To the extent that he cares about winning at this point, he really only cares about the Triple Crown events, and especially the World Championship.
By far the biggest remaining question in his career is whether he will finish behind Hendry or not in world championship victories. Nothing else really matters much…
I don’t think he didn’t care. He tried too hard for that . If it’s over, it’s over, but I don’t like the idea that his defeats just pave the way to one great victory. Many would like to think so, I don’t think it’s true.
I don’t think that either Csilla.
There’s a subtle difference between trying to win, and caring about winning. He tries to win in the sense that he tries to pot balls and such, but he doesn’t care whether he wins in the sense that winning or losing the European Masters has no real impact on his life. If anything, from what he said after beating Liang, he might have felt even worse if he had won than he feels now having lost…
Equisde, I hear you!! Yes, maybe a this is it. Yes, I usually expected Ronnie to be successful in a multisession match. But it’s not happening. It has not happened to Higgins either. Well it’s few and far between. The fact that Ronnie won a title this year makes the season better than the previous one. But I fear, until he retires, it will be like this. In a way once I don’t root for Ronnie, it will be fun not to care , unless it’s Trump, LOL but I won’t beatch that. And I don’t know how much credence do give to these I don’t care utterances. If he really doesn’t, I feel ridiculous to care myself. If he does, I feel bad for him.
He “tries” not to care too much because it hurts. If he didn’t care, the way he fought yesterday despite struggling badly would make no sense. He said it himself: “I’m no more the player I was”. As fans, we have a choice. We can accept it, continue to support him and rejoyce in the good performances whilst he is still playing, or we can walk away … What we can’t do is change the passage of time.
It seems that these 7-round tournaments are perhaps a bit too long for Ronnie these days. His last 4 ranking event wins have been in tournaments that lasted either 4 or 5 rounds, and he hasn’t won a 7-rounder since the 2018 UK Championship.
One bright side of him losing yesterday is that, if he had won, he would have been tentatively scheduled to face John Higgins in the first round of the Tour Championship. After losing yesterday, he’s tentatively scheduled to face Mark Allen.
That being said, the draw for the TC is currently quite imbalanced, with Neil Robertson, Ronnie, Higgins, and Allen on one side, and Zhao Xintong, Luca Brecel, Mark Williams, and Ricky Walden on the other…
You may well be right to an extend about the tournament’s length but the 2020 World was “only” 5 rounds but very long matches. I think that in this particular instance, Ronnie’s fragile state of mind played a role. He played an excellent semi-final but was far from positive in his post-match and was clearly not looking forward to the final for some reason.
It’s weird – he seemed unusually happy and carefree in the early rounds, and then seemed to flip over to the dark side toward the end. I suppose that’s what life is like for people who are bipolar…
Yes Mark, that’s how it is. It’s a very difficult condition to live with and it’s difficult for those around them too TBH. When you are constantly in the public eye, like Ronnie is, it’s probably even worse. There is no hiding place and people who know very little judge you without mercy or compassion.
I know the young Chinese players have suffered thru two years of pandemic under testing circumstances, but perhaps it has strengthened them mentally. A strong mind to back up their technical capabilities is a powerful weapon. I wish them all the best for the future.
Yes there’s definitely something in that. Of course things are good when results are good. It’s when results aren’t good that support from family etc. is needed. Zhou Yuelong gave a rather depressing interview, for example. All of the overseas players had to endure some pretty severe quarantines in 2020, some players got relegated from the tour, and several are in danger of relegation next year.
Well, it certainly was a shock: surprising, unexpected and sudden. Indeed Fan did produce a string of good results this week, but winning a major final over 19 frames against such a giant opponent is a different matter. There was a precedent (Jordan Brown), but as you say he was a more mature characher, and that match wasn’t played in front of a crowd, who would naturally favour Ronnie.
One of the reasons why I was following Fan quite closely this season was because I thought it would be his last chance. He spent 3 years winning a handful of first-round matches. His best result had been a final frame respotted black against Chris Wakelin in the L64 of the English Open in 2018 (actually the first time I spoke to him). I knew he had a remarkable talent, but even I could not believe how well he played, in all departments. Nevertheless, he did make mistakes, but Ronnie wasn’t able to create any momentum, which he needed. It’s almost as if Fan just broke through all the frustrations he had suffered, which had led to psychological issues.
Yes, there is a lot of negativity (and worse) on social media: people questioning Ronnie’s motives, ‘the Chinese players’, etc. Paradoxically, this remarkable win for Fan actually should give hope to some young British players, that it is possible to rise almost overnight, by doing the right things.
This is sad. I abandoned this match after frame 13 as I could not suffer the self-sabotage anymore: the miss of the brown was the icing on the poisoned cake, and to do something more fruitful with my Sunday evening. And glad I did: apparently Ronnie fought with all he had only to falter in the decider again: some place where he could still be trusted no long ago. I understand that he is 46 and what we can expect is the occasional great performance which he produced all week, but not translating it into a title hurts and takes the fun out of it. But I’m sure many are very happy about the new generation, change of the guard and the victory of another young one, so I guess I’m happy for them while I watch the first round scores of the Welsh that signal of the defeat for Jordan Brown. Not because he lost this time, but because he won a year ago.
Sorry, I said: insert expltives before “I watch the first round scores of the Welsh that signal of the defeat for Jordan Brown. Not because he lost this time, but because he won a year ago.”
There was no self-sabbotage Csilla, there was a bad struggle from start to finish that’s all. It’s unfortunate but the signs were there in the aftermath of the semi-finals.
Self-sabotage is probably not the right word I agree, because it suggests intentionality,
unforced errors or sth like this I should say, you know what I mean, maybe he doesn’t have it anymore and like I said it is sad.
I was lucky enough to be there live yesterday. It was a strange match. Ronnie struggled for most of the day and looked really out of sorts, surprising considering how well he had played up until the final. Some of the bets snooker he’s played all season. His long game was not there at all and he really struggled to construct any breaks whatsoever, often running out of position and having to play safe. He also didn’t’ get any luck when trying to split into packs and develop reds. He seemed very nervous and edgy to me unlike previous rounds I’d seen where he just looked relaxed and in the zone. Not sure if the pressure of being favourite got to him a little. He was distracted by 1 of the cameraman in the 1st session in the last frame and at the start of the 2nd session requested both photographers to be removed before they had even started the session. Usually when he is more aware of the room, is when he is feeling the pressure a bit more. He battled well but Fan was the better player and more fluent in the balls. He deserved to win. With that said, in the decider he did got for a long red which rattled several times in the jaw. We all thought in the arena it was in and I think so did he. Had it dropped, he may have had the chance to clear and I think he would have done as he appeared to have the bit between his teeth a little when he levelled for 9-9. Fine margins!
well I thought we’d hit rock bottom with Jordan Brown but apparently there’s always a new low
also why don’t any of these punks speak a word in English? I’m 20 just like him and I’m fluent, having never lived in England
His English is not bad, but it is extremely difficult to speak in front of a live audience. I expect that Victoria’s presence was requested by the broadcasters.
But I do agree that broadcasters need to try harder. Very rarely do they attempt to interview the Chinese players, who likewise need the practice. It’s only when Zhao Xintong won the UK that they suddenly found that he was pretty good.
This is NOT a new low. Everyone has bad days, and when players get older, they get more of them. Accept it or find yourself someone else to “support”. Was it a new low for Hendry when HE beat Hendry at 17? And those players are NOT punks, Yan, Zhao, Ding and all those a bit older DO speak English. I’m sure Fan is learning it. He’s a shy person, he probably didn’t feel confident enough in front of the cameras. BTW … do you speak Chinese? Lilely not. So shut up because it’s a language with a totally different structure to the European ones. It’s harder for them to learn than it is for Europeans. An with that good bye.
it’s not just a bad day, it’s a pattern. no other top player collapses continously in finals.
Ronnie should stop lying and shut up about the “I don’t care” attitude because clearly he’s the only one on tour who craps his pants whenever he’s in a final
It’s only last December he won one…
just to mention these defeats 😦
2019 WCH: Cahill 8-10
2020 European Masters: 4-5 Hill
2020 UK: 5-6 Ursenbacher
2021 Welsh Open: 8-9 Brown
2021 WCH: 12-13 McGill
2022 European masters: 9-10 Fan
Needs to overturn these type of matches.
It’s bowadays tipycal that Ronnie’s performance during the event is good, but in the final he plays a different game. There is no floating snooker…
Sure, but every other snooker player who lived (apart from Joe Davis perhaps), has had defeats like that occasionally. The same is true is any competitive sport. Success should be measured by wins, not losses.
The only real “big shock” there was the 2020 European Masters. Aaron Hill did next to nothing after that. At the 2019 World, Ronnie was extremely unwell. All the others played exceptionally well to beat him.