For the true snooker fans who, like me, are not so young and have been following the sport for a long time, yesterday was a bittersweet day. It’s great to see young talents developing but it’s sad to see players that you have appreciated for years saying their goodbye. It’s life. No one and nothing lasts forever.
Yesterday, Dominic Dale, Joe Perry were relegated , as was Jimmy White the day before, and whilst Jimmy might get yet another invitational tour card1, for Dom and Joe it’s probably the end of the road as professionals. Both have dedicated their life to the sport – thank you Dom and Joe – and I hope that we will at least see them on the Seniors tour, and, of course, in the commentary box.
Zak Surety made nine breaks over 50, including three centuries, to edge out Jack Lisowski in a high quality clash and move one win from a Crucible debut at Halo World Championship Qualifying.
The Essex cueman enjoyed a breakthrough run at this year’s World Open, where he made the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time. He had looked on course to reach a dream maiden final, but lost 6-5 to John Higgins from 5-3 up.
It was Surety who trailed after today’s first session, when he emerged with a 6-3 deficit. Tonight he fired in breaks of 139, 80, 100, 80, 64 and 103 to cap off a stunning display and book a Judgement Day clash with Ricky Walden, who defeated Mitchell Mann 10-9 on the final black.
“I’m buzzing. I’m a bit speechless. I’ve got a few scars from the semi-final in China. When I got to nine, all I could think about was John Higgins clearing up against me. I had to tell myself to shut up. I’m delighted that I managed to hold my nerve. Especially in the World Championship and against Jack,” said 33-year-old Surety.
“It will be a new experience playing on Judgement Day. It is something I’ve watched every year and I’ve never quite got there. I’m excited. If I play like that I have every chance of doing well. I need to try and go in and play it like every other match. It obviously isn’t, but I’ll enjoy this win, go in full of confidence and try my best.“
The careers of two snooker stalwarts, Dominic Dale and Joe Perry, came to an end after they suffered respective defeats this evening. Both players turned professional in 1992 and arrived at this week’s event having made up their minds that it would be their last.
Dale lost out 10-5 to Welsh compatriot Daniel Wells, who will now face Gary Wilson on Judgement Day. Afterwards 53-year-old Dale, who won the British Open in 1997 and the Shanghai Masters in 2007, proclaimed that he couldn’t have given his career any more.
Dale said: “I think I’ve got the best out of myself. I’m very fortunate to have been in two major ranking finals and won them both, as well as the Shoot Out. I shall look back on my career and think I did the best I could. I’ve left my mark on the sport. As a commentator, I will still be watching it assiduously.
“I want to thank everybody for all the support I’ve had over the years. We’ve played in some wonderful venues and travelled to some wonderful places, especially in China. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an will live long in the memory. I’ve been fortunate to have met some great people and fans. I hope they can continue to enjoy snooker the way I shall.”
Perry’s 33-year career came to an end with a 10-5 loss at the hands of China’s Yuan Sijun, who now plays compatriot Zhou Yuelong. The Gentleman’s finest moment came in the 2022 Welsh Open, when he defeated Judd Trump in the final. He also won the Players Championship Grand Final in 2015.
Perry said: “There’s people I’d like to swap careers with and I’m sure there are plenty out there that would like to have had mine. I’ve got no regrets. I’ve given snooker everything and the time has come. I’m absolutely fine with it.“
World number 17 Wilson thrashed Hammad Miah 10-1. Aaron Hill scored an impressive 10-5 win over Anthony McGill. He now plays last year’s losing semi-finalist David Gilbert, who defeated Gong Chenzhi 10-5.
I haven’t much to add. I don’t want to detract from Zak Surety’s win – he was excellent – but … Jack was his infuriating self again 😡.
Ronnie O’Sullivan opens up on past regrets, hopes for the future and winning an elusive eighth world title at the Crucible – as he insists ‘I’m not ready to quit yet!’
Ronnie O’Sullivan recently returned to the practice table after being ‘burnt out’
Veteran’s participation in this year’s World Championship hangs in the balance
He has set himself a deadline to try to rediscover his form and love for the sport
By DAVID COVERDALE
As he takes a drag from his cigarette, Ronnie O’Sullivan issues a health warning to young snooker fans. Only it is not smoking that he is advising them against.
‘You get one life and you should choose something that doesn’t tug at your heartstrings quite as much,’ says the greatest snooker player of all time, speaking to Mail Sport, fag in hand, from his home in Essex.
‘That’s what snooker has done to me. I wouldn’t want anyone that I care about to go through what I went through.
‘From the age of 12 to 16, I loved the game. If that had continued through my career, I’d say to my kids, “Yeah, go and play snooker, it’s been amazing”. But I’ve had a lot of problems from 17 up until now and it takes its toll on you. It starts to sap away at your happiness.
‘Most people who live in the real world probably have four or five different jobs in their career. But as a sportsman, you only get one, so you have to stick with it whether it’s good or bad. You have got to stay in it until you decide that it’s not working for you.’
In January, O’Sullivan decided that snooker was not working for him. He pulled out of the Masters as defending champion, and has gone on to skip four further tournaments on medical grounds.
Ronnie O’Sullivan recently returned to the practice table following a short break.
The Rocket has recently returned to the practice table and even hit two maximum breaks — including one in only 6min 23sec — while playing locals at his academy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia earlier this week. Yet just six days out from the start of this year’s World Championship, the record seven-time champion has still not decided if he will enter the draw.
O’Sullivan has not missed the Crucible event since making his debut there in 1993, but he will wait until after his final practice session on Wednesday to make the call. ‘If it’s like it is today, it’s just not going to be pretty for me,’ says one of sport’s most tortured souls on the day we chat.
As for his long-term future, O’Sullivan — who turns 50 in December — has set himself another deadline to try to rediscover his form and love for the sport. ‘I’m not quitting just yet, but I will give myself two years to try and figure it out,’ reveals the world No5, who is now being coached by long-time associate Gary Filtness.
‘I don’t want to finish my career feeling like I wasn’t really performing to the level that I know I can. I don’t have to win tournaments, but I just want to feel like I’m enjoying the game. I’d like to go out with a smile on my face.
‘I have to try and repair myself and just try and find how I used to play snooker. It’s a massive rebuilding process and probably the last one I’ll ever have to do as a snooker player.
‘Do I think I can do it? Probably not if I’m being honest. I think it’s probably a bit too late in my career and I’m probably damaged goods in the form of a snooker player. You take a lot of battle scars over the years. But I’m not prepared to quit at this point because I feel like I would be quitting on a bit of a low.’
So how has O’Sullivan — who picked up his last world title as recently as 2022 and won the UK Championship and Masters just last season — plumbed such depths?
Breaking point, quite literally, came in January at the Championship League in Leicester, when he snapped his cue and binned it after a 3-2 defeat to Robert Milkins. He insists, however, that his red-mist moment had been on the cards for some time.
‘I regret it, but that wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, I’d had four years of just really struggling and I just couldn’t take it anymore,’ explains O’Sullivan, who says he is still searching for a new cue he is comfortable with.
‘It wasn’t the losing, it was the playing really, really badly. Four years of bad spells is a long time, so it burnt me out. It ground me down. It’s been torturous. I got to the point, especially at the start of the season, when I was getting scared to go near the practice table or getting scared to get my cue out of my case.
‘I tried playing left-handed for a whole month in August. Then I tried to change my bridge and I was wearing plasters on my fingers. So I have tried a lot of things but I’ve hit a dead end, which is why I needed to take time out.
‘It’s not a mental thing. It’s more of a physical thing. It’s really hard to explain. Watching my game on TV, I could see what was wrong, but I just didn’t know how to fix it. In the end, I couldn’t even watch myself play because I just hated it.
‘I believe that goes back six years to when I started changing my technique to try to find that extra five per cent of consistency. But I’ve totally made my game worse.’
Regrets over technique tinkering date back much further than six years. ‘My biggest mistake was when I was like 13, 14, trying to copy players like James Wattana and Ken Doherty,’ says O’Sullivan. ‘They were the best players I’d ever seen live and I thought I needed to cue like them.
‘That’s where the problems started. I should never have gone away from what I had because what I had was better than anybody else has ever had, in my opinion. I was self-taught. It was just very solid, very natural. I played for fun then.’
Fun is not something O’Sullivan has had at a snooker table for some time. ‘I think the last time I actually enjoyed playing was probably about 2018,’ he admits.
In the past, O’Sullivan has turned to running — the title of his 2013 autobiography — to help him through tough times, whether that be recovering from alcohol and drug addictions or battling depression. However, he has only just laced up his trainers again.
‘I thought if I am going to play at Sheffield, I need to at least try and get myself into some sort of training,’ he says. ‘So I started running again a couple of days ago, but I only ran for 12 minutes. That’s all I could do because I haven’t done anything since mid-December.’
Not since 2012-13 has O’Sullivan taken such a long break from snooker. During that season-long sabbatical, he did voluntary work at a farm in Epping Forest three days a week, feeding animals and cleaning out stables and pigsties.
‘It was nice to meet different people and different characters, who wanted something to do to give back,’ recalls the TNT Sports pundit. ‘Not someone who wants a selfie and who says, “You’re great”.
‘They didn’t give a s*** down there, it was just like, “Are you going to do some work or sit on you’re a*** and do nothing?”. It was good fun.’
Incredibly, having played just one competitive match that campaign, O’Sullivan made his comeback at the Crucible in April 2013 and successfully defended his title. So, could he make another victorious return this year and win an eighth world crown, giving him the outright record ahead of Stephen Hendry?
‘No,’ comes the instant reply. ‘In 2013, I didn’t pick my cue up for nine months, but when I did pick my cue up, I was hitting the ball like a dream.
‘I’m now coming from a point where, if I was to go to Sheffield, I’d be happy with just winning a match. I think that’d be a good result for me. If I got one win, I’d be over the moon.’
So, that’s not very encouraging and it’s not really new either, we have been there before… so all we can do is wait and accept whatever comes. At least he’s not ready to hang his cue just yet.
15 thoughts on “The 2025 World Snooker Championship Qualifiers – Day 6 … and an “update” interview with Ronnie”
The article says that Ronnie is now being coached by Gary Filtness. Does that mean that Ronnie has moved on from Lee Walker?
I’m not sure but it may be for practical reasons as Gary is based in Essex, like Ronnie, whilst Lee of course is based in Wales.
There have been many comments about retirements beginning “it’s sad…”, which are too sentimental. For me the situation with the likes of Joe Perry and Dominic Dale is not sad at all – I’m actually really happy that have decided to move on with their life and have made positive plans. What’s ‘sad’ is when players try to keep hanging on year after year, sometimes adopting ultra-negative tactics (and sometimes gamesmanship) to grind out a few wins per season, because they are addicted to live competition. That’s pitiful.
However, one very poignant match was between young Gao Yang and Tian Pengfei. Tian is a senior figure (a director at Ding’s Academy), who has mentored young Chinese players for many years, when they first arrive as teenagers in the UK. Someone like Gao would look to him as a father-figure. Gao looked hungry and ambitious, Tian looked washed-out. Gao’s win relegated Tian from the tour, like a changing-of-the-guard moment. I spoke to Tian after the match: he will play at Q School, but of course it’s always a very tough challenge there.
There were other relegation/survival stories and the situation is now a bit clearer. But we still have no idea is the likes of Dale and Cao (and one suspended player) will be removed from the list before the cut-off.
You are right Lewis, Tian deserves more recognition than he has got. His whole career was overshadowed by Ding’s achievements. If you have another opportunity to talk to Tian, please tell him that he should be proud of what he achieved. He’s massively contributed to grow the game through what he did to support the younger Chinese players. The most influential mathematician in my former career as a mathematician, Paul Libois, never got the Fields medal, but was the mentor and biggest formative figure for two mathematicians who got that recognition. For those who wonder, the Fields medal in the equivalent in Mathematics to the Nobel prize in Physics or Chemistry.
That’s almost exactly what I did say to him. Media these days will naturally concentrate only on the big names (they have to cater for their audience) and pass over the best stories or subtitles.
I hope Perry and Dale are happy about their decision to retire, but it is just natural for fans to feel sad, partly because over the years we developed an attachment to them and partly because their retirement is a sign of time passing and this is not necessarily cheerful.
Yes, it’s good and interesting to have young players and I do follow a few, but it takes time to get to know and appreciate them: just being a young player is not a merit in itself. I’m not sure about the gamesmanship comment, but there are certainly relatively young players whose whole career is nothing than Q-School+2 years of pro-tour where they win virtually nothing+relegation+Q-School and the whole cycle starts again. Now that is pitiful. I know it is still a living, especially with the 20000 pounds/per year introduced, but still.
And yes, give Jimmy a card if he wants it. Nobody would want Jimmy depressed because he cannot play and he does not perform worse on the Tour than many.
I agree completely. I think there can be a rather superior tone to some of the comments here: “I’m more interested in watching 17-year-old Chinese players ranked somewhere in the 80s, and so should you be.”
Yes, believe it or not I agree with you and Andy (his comment below). It’s very difficult for fans to engage with young players, partly because WST, WPBSA and broadcasters do absolutely nothing to promote the future of the game. Indeed quite the opposite – many of the systems put barriers in the way. Snooker has given me a lot over the last 46 years, and I’m keen it should be there for future generations to play and enjoy. Anyway, that’s my niche in the work I’ve done…
As for the “17-year old Chinese player…”, a couple of nights ago I spent a few minutes chatting to a young Chinese player (in perfect English) in the Players’ Lounge – a real character. If he wins his match on Tuesday, he could give the most positive and enthusiastic interview on Judgement Day, and win many fans. But according to the precedent they have set in the last few years, they probably won’t ask him. Does that not concern you?
I certainly don’t know how other people work. Personally I care little for interviews with random players I haven’t really seen. If they hang on, we see them play, enjoy their games , eventually there will be interviews and we’ll get to know them. I remember they tried to promote Yan Bingtao, and didn’t they promote him well? The man had cats for God’s sake! Apart from the fact that he didn’t end well in the cheating scandal, despite this very charming piece (have I mentioned the cats?) I didn’t become a fan of his game. So for me playing and interviewing come together. Yes, some who don’t make it to the business end of tournaments, will fade and only their parents will care about them, no matter how interesting characters they may be. But that’s the nature of the sport. But of course if they hold on, people will care even when they decline.
Just to add: I became a Ronnie-fan because of his game and presence at the table. His interviews…meh! I know he will alway be interviewed and I could easily do without it.
Each their own of course … I find the interviews important and I like it when it’s not just about how the matches went. That is maybe so because for six years I was going to a lot of events as a photographer. I met the players and I came to know them a bit a human persons, not just as guys who are good at putting balls in holes. The WST media officer wasn’t too happy with me taking pictures that were not “at the table” pictures, until the day a delegation of players, lead by Mark Williams, came and told him that they liked it, that I was showing the human side of them and it is important to them. I never took pictures that could show any player in a bad light and they knew it. Now WST does a lot more of that, notably in their interviews, and I believe it’s good. Before that, the press had their “good guys” and their “villains” and fans had no way to know the players any differently. That’s also the reason I started recording the post-match interviews and publish them. That was even less popular with WST and some of the other press guys. Some, not all. My decision to do that came after a lengthy post-match interview with Ronnie, who had lost in the QFs at the Crucible and was very down on himself. He had tears in his eyes (yes I have the pictures to prove it too). It was the year before he started working with Peeters. He had said that, if things in his life and his form didn’t improve, he may not find it in himself to continue to play. However, as he was about to leave the media room, he was asked if we would see him the next season. His immediate answer was “Of course! I hope so!”. All the same, the only thing the media reported on the next day was “Ronnie threatens to quit snooker”. He hadn’t threatened anyone with any thing and his last sentence before leaving the media room had been about his intention and hopes to play…
I get the impression that the interviews are a little bit older and have just been released now and, therefore, it is nothing really new. In ‘the Sun’ there is a similar article and on the homepage there is also a video in which the interviewer talks about the interview. Here he quotes Ronnie by saying that he has still 16 days to find new equipment before the Crucible starts:
We will find out in the next few days, since the last of his training sessions with a top-16 player will be on Wednesday.
The qualifiers this year are as exciting as ever and I am looking very much forward to the next few days.
Jack was his infuriating self again
Jack played well. Zak was unbelievable. Why infuriating? Zak took him out of the game. That’s how this sport works. Jack was cold later on.
Yes I agree. It’s unfair to constantly criticise Jack Lisowski every time he loses a match. Zak Surety has been one of the most impressive players this week.
What is infuriating me is that Jack, after all these years, still doesn’t accept that sometimes he has to “tighten” the game up and cut off opportunities for his opponent. Zak was indeed excellent and, precisely because of that, Jack should have tried to starve him of possible openings. It might not have worked the way Zak was playing but Jack should at least have tried.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
The article says that Ronnie is now being coached by Gary Filtness. Does that mean that Ronnie has moved on from Lee Walker?
I’m not sure but it may be for practical reasons as Gary is based in Essex, like Ronnie, whilst Lee of course is based in Wales.
There have been many comments about retirements beginning “it’s sad…”, which are too sentimental. For me the situation with the likes of Joe Perry and Dominic Dale is not sad at all – I’m actually really happy that have decided to move on with their life and have made positive plans. What’s ‘sad’ is when players try to keep hanging on year after year, sometimes adopting ultra-negative tactics (and sometimes gamesmanship) to grind out a few wins per season, because they are addicted to live competition. That’s pitiful.
However, one very poignant match was between young Gao Yang and Tian Pengfei. Tian is a senior figure (a director at Ding’s Academy), who has mentored young Chinese players for many years, when they first arrive as teenagers in the UK. Someone like Gao would look to him as a father-figure. Gao looked hungry and ambitious, Tian looked washed-out. Gao’s win relegated Tian from the tour, like a changing-of-the-guard moment. I spoke to Tian after the match: he will play at Q School, but of course it’s always a very tough challenge there.
There were other relegation/survival stories and the situation is now a bit clearer. But we still have no idea is the likes of Dale and Cao (and one suspended player) will be removed from the list before the cut-off.
You are right Lewis, Tian deserves more recognition than he has got. His whole career was overshadowed by Ding’s achievements. If you have another opportunity to talk to Tian, please tell him that he should be proud of what he achieved. He’s massively contributed to grow the game through what he did to support the younger Chinese players. The most influential mathematician in my former career as a mathematician, Paul Libois, never got the Fields medal, but was the mentor and biggest formative figure for two mathematicians who got that recognition. For those who wonder, the Fields medal in the equivalent in Mathematics to the Nobel prize in Physics or Chemistry.
That’s almost exactly what I did say to him. Media these days will naturally concentrate only on the big names (they have to cater for their audience) and pass over the best stories or subtitles.
I hope Perry and Dale are happy about their decision to retire, but it is just natural for fans to feel sad, partly because over the years we developed an attachment to them and partly because their retirement is a sign of time passing and this is not necessarily cheerful.
Yes, it’s good and interesting to have young players and I do follow a few, but it takes time to get to know and appreciate them: just being a young player is not a merit in itself. I’m not sure about the gamesmanship comment, but there are certainly relatively young players whose whole career is nothing than Q-School+2 years of pro-tour where they win virtually nothing+relegation+Q-School and the whole cycle starts again. Now that is pitiful. I know it is still a living, especially with the 20000 pounds/per year introduced, but still.
And yes, give Jimmy a card if he wants it. Nobody would want Jimmy depressed because he cannot play and he does not perform worse on the Tour than many.
I agree completely. I think there can be a rather superior tone to some of the comments here: “I’m more interested in watching 17-year-old Chinese players ranked somewhere in the 80s, and so should you be.”
Yes, believe it or not I agree with you and Andy (his comment below). It’s very difficult for fans to engage with young players, partly because WST, WPBSA and broadcasters do absolutely nothing to promote the future of the game. Indeed quite the opposite – many of the systems put barriers in the way. Snooker has given me a lot over the last 46 years, and I’m keen it should be there for future generations to play and enjoy. Anyway, that’s my niche in the work I’ve done…
As for the “17-year old Chinese player…”, a couple of nights ago I spent a few minutes chatting to a young Chinese player (in perfect English) in the Players’ Lounge – a real character. If he wins his match on Tuesday, he could give the most positive and enthusiastic interview on Judgement Day, and win many fans. But according to the precedent they have set in the last few years, they probably won’t ask him. Does that not concern you?
I certainly don’t know how other people work. Personally I care little for interviews with random players I haven’t really seen. If they hang on, we see them play, enjoy their games , eventually there will be interviews and we’ll get to know them. I remember they tried to promote Yan Bingtao, and didn’t they promote him well? The man had cats for God’s sake! Apart from the fact that he didn’t end well in the cheating scandal, despite this very charming piece (have I mentioned the cats?) I didn’t become a fan of his game. So for me playing and interviewing come together. Yes, some who don’t make it to the business end of tournaments, will fade and only their parents will care about them, no matter how interesting characters they may be. But that’s the nature of the sport. But of course if they hold on, people will care even when they decline.
Just to add: I became a Ronnie-fan because of his game and presence at the table. His interviews…meh! I know he will alway be interviewed and I could easily do without it.
Each their own of course … I find the interviews important and I like it when it’s not just about how the matches went. That is maybe so because for six years I was going to a lot of events as a photographer. I met the players and I came to know them a bit a human persons, not just as guys who are good at putting balls in holes. The WST media officer wasn’t too happy with me taking pictures that were not “at the table” pictures, until the day a delegation of players, lead by Mark Williams, came and told him that they liked it, that I was showing the human side of them and it is important to them. I never took pictures that could show any player in a bad light and they knew it. Now WST does a lot more of that, notably in their interviews, and I believe it’s good. Before that, the press had their “good guys” and their “villains” and fans had no way to know the players any differently. That’s also the reason I started recording the post-match interviews and publish them. That was even less popular with WST and some of the other press guys. Some, not all. My decision to do that came after a lengthy post-match interview with Ronnie, who had lost in the QFs at the Crucible and was very down on himself. He had tears in his eyes (yes I have the pictures to prove it too). It was the year before he started working with Peeters. He had said that, if things in his life and his form didn’t improve, he may not find it in himself to continue to play. However, as he was about to leave the media room, he was asked if we would see him the next season. His immediate answer was “Of course! I hope so!”. All the same, the only thing the media reported on the next day was “Ronnie threatens to quit snooker”. He hadn’t threatened anyone with any thing and his last sentence before leaving the media room had been about his intention and hopes to play…
I get the impression that the interviews are a little bit older and have just been released now and, therefore, it is nothing really new. In ‘the Sun’ there is a similar article and on the homepage there is also a video in which the interviewer talks about the interview. Here he quotes Ronnie by saying that he has still 16 days to find new equipment before the Crucible starts:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/34437194/ronnie-osullivan-form-snooker-comeback-crucible/
We will find out in the next few days, since the last of his training sessions with a top-16 player will be on Wednesday.
The qualifiers this year are as exciting as ever and I am looking very much forward to the next few days.
Jack played well. Zak was unbelievable. Why infuriating? Zak took him out of the game. That’s how this sport works. Jack was cold later on.
Yes I agree. It’s unfair to constantly criticise Jack Lisowski every time he loses a match. Zak Surety has been one of the most impressive players this week.
What is infuriating me is that Jack, after all these years, still doesn’t accept that sometimes he has to “tighten” the game up and cut off opportunities for his opponent. Zak was indeed excellent and, precisely because of that, Jack should have tried to starve him of possible openings. It might not have worked the way Zak was playing but Jack should at least have tried.