Profile

Ronald Antonio “Ronnie” O’Sullivan

Date of Birth: December, 5, 1975

Lives in Chigwell, Essex.

Professional snooker player

Turned pro in 1992
Nickname: The Rocket
Plays for England

Professional career

  • Ronnie is a seven times World Champion. He has won 39 ranking titles, including 7 UK Championships, 3 minor ranking titles and 34 invitational professional tournaments, among them 7 Masters titles.
  • His entertaining, fast and attacking style of play earned him his nickname, The Rocket, and has endeared him to millions of fans around the world. The epitome of Ronnie’s game is probably the famous 147 that he completed in 5 minutes 20 seconds against Mick Price at the World Championship in 1997, the fasted maximum ever in snooker history.
  • Ronnie is considered by many fellow players, pundits and fans, to be the most naturally gifted player ever to grace snooker,  a “genius”. Seven times World Champion and most successful ever player Stephen Hendry has repeatedly branded him as the best player in the game.

Ranking Tournament Victories: 39

  • UK Championship 1993, 1997, 2001, 2007, 2014, 2017, 2018
  • British Open 1994
  • Asian Classic 1996
  • German Open 1996
  • Scottish Open 1998, 2000
  • China Open 1999, 2000
  • World Championship 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020,2022
  • European Open 2003; Irish Masters 2003, 2005
  • Welsh Open 2004, 2005, 2014, 2016
  • Grand Prix 2004
  • Northern Ireland Trophy 2008
  • Shanghai Masters 2009, 2017
  • German Masters 2012
  • English Open 2017
  • World Grand Prix 2018, 2021
  • Players Championship 2018, 2019
  • Tour Championship 2019

Minor Ranking Tournament Victories: 3

  • Players Tour Championship – Event 1 2011
  • Kay Suzanne Memorial Trophy 2011
  • Paul Hunter Classic 2013

Invitational Tournaments 34

  • Nescafé Extra Challenge 1993
  • Benson and Hedge Championship 1993
  • The Masters 1995, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017
  • Charity Challenge 1996, 2000 (then Champions Cup)
  • Riley Superstar International 1997
  • Premier League Snooker (originally European League) 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 (spring), 2005 (winter), 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 (variant rules)
  • Scottish Masters 1998, 2000, 2002
  • Irish Masters 2001, 2007 (Kilkenny Irish Masters)
  • Champion of Champions 2013, 2014, 2018, 2022
  • Shanghai Masters 2018, 2019
  • Hong Kong Masters 2022

Highest Tournament Break 147 – 15 times

Highlights:

  • Began the 1992/1993 season, his first season by winning 74 of his first 76 professional matches, including a winning streak of 38 successive victories, a record that still stands.
  • Compiled 14 competitive maximum breaks, including the fastest ever 147, in 5 minutes 20 seconds.
  • By qualifying for the 1993 World Championship at  the age of 16, became and remains the youngest player to do so.
  • By winning the UK Championship in 1993, at 17, became and remains the youngest player ever to win a major ranking title.
  • Ronnie won the Premier League Snooker a record 10 times, nobody has won the same event in more occasions.
  • Winning the World Championship in 2013 was very special: it was the first time a player managed to defend their world crown since Stephen Hendry in 1996 and the feat is all the more extraordinary because Ronnie had taken almost the full season out, taking sabbatical time to sort out private issues and spend time with his family and children.
  • In his quarter finals match in the Masters 2014, Ronnie beat Ricky Walden 6-0 in 58 minutes and scored 556 unanswered points, a new record. The next day, he booked his place in the final, making it 10 appearance in the Masters final, yet a new record (Stephen Hendry has 9). He then went on to win the event for the 5th times.
  • Ronnie made his 12th maximum break in the final frame, of the final of the Welsh Open 2014, going one better than Stephen Hendry. And this could possibly the last frame ever played at the Newport Centre in Newport, a venue he loves
  • During the 2017/18 season Ronnie win five ranking titles, a record he shares with Stephen Hendry, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui
  • By defending his UK Championship crown on December 9, 2018, Ronnie broke several records: this was his 7th UK title, more than anyone else, and it brought his tally of “Triple Crowns” to 19, more than anyone else. It was also the first time anyone defended the UK crown since Stephen Hendry in 1996 and to do this 25 years after winning his first, then only 17 years old, is quite an extraordinary achievement.
  • Ronnie made a record breaking 1000th competitive century, a 134, in Preston on March 10, 2019, a new milestone in the history of the sport, and he did it in style as this happened during the final frame of the 2019 Players Championship, his 35th ranking title.
  • By winning the Tour Championship 2019, Ronnie equalled Stephen Hendry’s record of 36 ranking titles. He also went back to World n°1 for the first time since 2010.  This was all the more remarkable because he only played in half of the tournaments that season.
  • By winning the 2020 World Championship, Ronnie became the most prolific ranking events’ winner with 37 titles, superseeding Stephen Hendry.
  • Ronnie O’Sullivan’s battling comeback win over Neil Robertson in the 2021 World Grand Prix final saw him extend two records: a 38th ranking title, and a gap of 28 years and 21 days from first to most recent
  • By winning the 2022 World Championship he equalled Stephen Hendry’s record tally of World Titles. He also beat or equalled several Crucible records: most wins, most appearances, most QF appearances, most SF appearances and most centuries.

Personal life

  • Ronnie was born in Wordsley, West Midlands, but he grew up, and still lives in Chigwell, Essex.When he was 16, his life was taken upside down when his father was arrested and, later, jailed, for murder. Not long after that, his mother was also arrested and jailed for tax evasion. Such events would have been distressing for any teenager and the fact that Ronnie was already a star in his sport didn’t make it easier as he had to deal with it all under the scrutiny of the media. There is little doubts that those circumstances are at the root of his well documented issues with depression, drugs and alcohol.
  • Ronnie though is a fighter and has sought solutions to his problems and tried to better himself throughout his adult life.He is currently working with Dr Steve Peters, the well know sport psychologist who helped the British Olympic cycling team and author of “The Chimp Paradox”.
  • Ronnie is a keen long distance runner and runs for Woodford Green with Essex Ladies. His personal best over 10 km is 34′ 54”. He insists that running helps him to find a better balance and to keep a clear head.
  • Ronnie loves all sports, but is particularly interested in athletics, boxing and tennis. He’s a massive Federer fan. He loves cars and even participated in the Volkswagen Racing Cup at Silverstone using a Volkswagen Jetta with the car number “147”.
  • He enjoys cooking. He particularly loves – to cook and eat – Chinese food. He’s also “famous” for his savoury curries. He’s preparing a book about nutrition and fitness in collaboration with Harley Street nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert.
  • Ronnie has three children: Taylor Ann, already a young adult, born from an early relationship, Lilly and Ronnie Jr from former partner Jo Langley. He has a strong loving bond with his two youngest children and is a doting dad. He is engaged to actress Laila Rouass.
  • Ronnie is the author of  six books. Two were written in collaboration with Simon Hattenstone and published by Orion: “Ronnie, the Autobiography of Ronnie O’Sullivan” (published 2003, second edition 2004) and “Running: The Autobiography” (published 2013). He’s also the author of three thrillers: “Framed” (published 2016 by Orion),  “Double-Kiss” (published 2017 by Pan-McMillan) and “The Break” ((published 2018 by Pan-McMillan). The last one, “Top of your game” published on May 16, 2019, in collaboration with nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert, is both a cook book and a guide to healthy nutrition.