In this interview Ronnie talks about life as a married man, moving to Dubai and Pluto900

ROCKET FUEL 

Ronnie O’Sullivan loving new life in Dubai after wife Laila Rouass gave him ultimatum

O’Sullivan has also thrown his support behind the world’s first 24/7 dedicated snooker channel

by Rob Maul, Associate Sports Features Editor

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN says he is loving his new life in Dubai – and loving the fact he now has a wife.

Snooker’s greatest ever player made two significant lifestyle changes this year and both of them have given him major contentment in his personal life.

In June, the Rocket got married to long-term partner Laila Rouass, an actress and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, in a low key ceremony in East London.

Few people knew about it until he announced the news on his Instagram page with a photo from the big day and the caption: “We finally made it official!! Mr & Mrs O’Sullivan.”

And then the couple packed up their belongings and moved to the UAE, which is an easier commute to events in China and his Saudi Arabia snooker academy.

On the benefits of heading to sunnier climes, O’Sullivan, 49, told SunSport: “It’s really good. I’ve got a great practice facility there, which was one of the main reasons for going.

“I was struggling to find somewhere to play. It was either get a train up to Sheffield or try to move to Sheffield.

“But my wife wasn’t too keen on Sheffield. So she said we either go Spain or Dubai.

“And I thought, well, Dubai is nearer China. Obviously it’s in the Middle East.

“All the tournaments that I play and all the work that I do is there. It just made sense to go to Dubai.

“Really enjoying it out there. Great gyms. I’m enjoying that side of it.

“I had some friends over there before that played snooker and they’ve helped me get into Dubai life.

“I’ve met some really nice friends and fitted in really well. So yeah, it’s great.

“I’m not a sunbather, but I’d much rather the heat than cold, if that makes sense. Spring and autumn are my favourite times.”

Like most newly-married men, using the word ‘wife’ instead of girlfriend or fiancée in conversation has taken some getting used to.

O’Sullivan – who has three children from previous relationships – said: “Everyone just knows where they are a bit more.

“It probably feels a bit more mature, I suppose. It does take a while.

“At first I was like, oh, to say that word (wife), but now it feels pretty normal. It’s nice. Everything’s good. Everyone’s happy, which is the main thing.”

O’Sullivan has pulled out of three consecutive tournaments on medical grounds but his next appearance on the baize will be at the Xi’an Grand Prix, which starts on October 7.

In the meantime, he has thrown his support behind the launch of Pluto Snooker 900, the world’s first 24/7 dedicated snooker channel, which will stream free and on demand on Pluto TV.

The Snooker 900 format consists of 900 seconds (15 minutes) on the table, a 20-second shot clock, ball in hand for fouls and a sudden-death blue-ball deadlock shootout to settle ties.

The channel – which will initially broadcast 18 hours a week of live snooker from Monday to Wednesday – launches on Monday (October 6) with a Legends Week.

This will star golden oldies Jimmy White, Ken Doherty, John Parrott, Tony Drago, Joe Johnson and Tony Knowles.

Over the next 12 months, there is more than £600,000 in prize money pledged for amateur players.

And episodes of O’Sullivan’s acclaimed coaching series, The Rocket Method, will also be screened.

O’Sullivan, the seven-time world champion, said: “I remember filming the masterclass and after day three, having been on my feet for 12-13 hours a day, I couldn’t even walk.

“That was probably the hardest work we’ve ever done because we really had to crash it out.

“You’ll see every bit of advice from beginner to the real advanced stuff.

“I put it all on the table there. It’ll be great for any snooker or pool player or any cue sports player that wants to improve their game. I’ve really gone into big detail.

“Hopefully this new channel launches some snooker ambition in young players. It’s going to be like a bit of talent spotting.

“The 900 format, which sharpens the mind, is going to give people a chance to feel what it’s like to play on TV. Feel what the pressure and that nerve is like.”

The Pluto Snooker 900 is the latests – but surely not the last – of Jason Francis snooker brainchildren. I’m really curious about it.

Here are WST reports on what happened on the first day of the 2025 International Championship Qualifiers

Higgins Earns Narrow Win Over Pullen

John Higgins narrowly avoided a second consecutive defeat against world number 103 Liam Pullen, winning 6-5 to qualify for the final stages of the International Championship.

Pullen beat Higgins 5-3 when they met in the Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers earlier this month, and the 20-year-old nearly pulled off another shock win against his illustrious opponent. From 3-0 down this time, Pullen won four frames in a row, then shared the next two to lead 5-4. But four-time Crucible king Higgins won the last two to earn a spot in the final stages in Nanjing, China in November.

Neil Robertson made the 1,000th century break of his career during a 6-1 win over Umut Dikme, while Si Jiahui top scored with 89 in a 6-3 defeat of Sunny Akani.

Robert Milkins remains in danger of relegation from the tour at the end of this season and he lost 6-5 to Wang Yuchen. Ben Mertens fired breaks of 132 and 124 in a 6-3 victory over Matthew Selt while Mark Selby eased to a 6-0 success against Steven Hallworth, compiling runs of 124 and 131. Jack Lisowski saw off Bulcsu Revesz 6-2 with breaks of 54, 101, 69, 128, 51 and 69.

And here is Neil’s 1000th century break

Only four players have reached that “milestone”: Ronnie, John Higgins, Judd Trump and now Neil Robertson.

Congratulations Neil!

As alway all the detailed results are available on snooker.org

And as so often the “late” matches are not reported on. Amongst those “late matches” features the 6-4 victory by Liu Wenwei over Luca Brecel. It’s a really bad result for Luca and a really good one for Liu. Liu is 21, he is in his first year as a pro and had, so far, not won a single match in a straight knock-out format event. Luca made the only two big breaks in the match, a 81 and a 67. Luca is not “in danger ” but his results so far this season have been poor for a player of his quality. Other than a QF run in the 2025 English Open he’s done very little.

Another Belgian player whose results this season are worrying is Julien Leclercq but, at least he’s won his first round match in three occasions. The Belgians have opted to travel for every match/tournament rather than moving to the UK. Staying with their families is probably better for their mental health than living abroad, away from their loved ones, but it’s tiring.

The final in Cheltenham today will be competed between Shaun Murphy and Anthony McGill.

Here is how we got to this… as shared by WST

Afternoon Session – McGill Stuns Higgins To Reach Final

Anthony McGill remained on course for the greatest triumph of his career as he came from 3-2 down to beat John Higgins 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Unibet British Open.

McGill has two ranking titles to his name, at the 2016 Indian Open and 2017 Shoot Out, but the 34-year-old Glaswegian made it clear after today’s tie that victory in Cheltenham tomorrow would be the best moment of his life on the baize. He will meet Shaun Murphy or Mark Selby in the final, with first to ten frames to lift the Clive Everton Trophy and bank £100,000.

This week’s success is particularly sweet for McGill as his form and results had suffered over the past three years – indeed his previous ranking semi-final was at the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. He has slipped to 57th in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings – from a career high of 12 – and had even been in danger of relegation from the tour. But he is already guaranteed a boost of £45,000 and a return to the top 50.

Having turned 50 in May, four-time World Champion Higgins had hoped to become the oldest ever winner of a ranking title, but was outplayed today in the closing stages by his close friend and practice partner. 

A cagey 30-minute opening frame came down to the colours and Higgins potted a tricky yellow but went in-off, handing McGill the chance to go 1-0 ahead. The second was resolved by a safety battle on the brown, Higgins converting an excellent long pot to create the opportunity to level the tie. A run of 62 gave Higgins the lead and he was among the balls first in frame four but missed a red to top corner on 16, letting McGill in for a break of 99 to make it 2-2 at the interval.

A superb 111 from Higgins gave him the fifth, then McGill dominated the next two with runs of 50 and 57 to lead 4-3. In frame eight, Higgins was on 13 when he was unlucky to knock a red in when splitting the pack off the blue, and his opponent punished him with an excellent 104 to go two up with three to play. Wishaw’s Higgins had an opportunity to pull one back but missed a red to centre on 37 in frame nine, and again McGill was clinical with a 93 clearance. 

“It’s fantastic win for me because John is a legend,” said McGill, who is through to his fourth ranking final – the only one he lost was the 2017 Indian Open against Higgins. “This will be the biggest final of my career. I have had a lot of good wins at the Crucible but this would definitely top all of them. I wasn’t nervous today, I was really enjoying the occasion. I made a few mistakes, but tried to put them to the back of my mind and I felt good all the way through.

“I really want to compete in the final. Then if it doesn’t go my way, I’ll look back and it will be fine. But right now, I really want to end the week with the trophy in my hands. In the last couple of years I have won hardly any matches so this is a huge week for me.” 

Higgins said: “Anthony hit the ball superbly well, like the way we all know he can. A big turning point was the fourth frame when I missed an unforgiveable red with the rest with the balls at my mercy. If I had gone 3-1 up I would have been in control. Then in the last frame I butchered a red to the middle, it was a horrible shot and I’ll leave the tournament with that in my mind. But every credit to Anthony, he finished the match off very well.“

Evening Session – Red Hot Murphy Crushes Selby

Shaun Murphy is just one win away from ending a 26-month drought without a ranking title as he hammered defending champion Mark Selby 6-1 to reach the final of the Unibet British Open. 

…

In one of the few events with a random draw, Murphy has been handed some tough assignments this week in Cheltenham but has knocked out the likes of Neil Robertson, Judd Trump and now Selby. The 43-year-old’s final challenge will be against Anthony McGill over a possible 19 frames on Sunday for the Clive Everton Trophy and £100,000 top prize.

Murphy will be aiming for the 13th ranking title of his career and first since the 2023 Championship League, although he has lifted major silverware in that time as he won the Johnstone’s Paint Masters earlier this year. World number 16 Murphy could become the first player to complete the ‘grand slam’ of tournaments televised by ITV having previous won the Champion of Champions, World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship.

His previous meetings with McGill have included two at the Crucible – Murphy winning a 2015 quarter-final then McGill gaining revenge in the opening round in Sheffield the following year.

Each of the first two frames tonight came down to a safety battle on the final green, and both times Murphy came out on top as he went 2-0 ahead. He then compiled a break of 116 to extend his lead, before Selby responded with a run of 123. In frame five Selby was on 54 when he missed a red to a centre pocket, and he later botched a safety on the last red, gifting Murphy the chance to go 4-1 ahead.

Former World Champion Murphy led by 60 points with three reds left in frame six, before Selby clawed his way back, gaining 20 penalty points. However, four-time Crucible king Selby then missed an awkward yellow to a baulk corner, and Murphy eventually went 5-1 ahead. That ended Selby’s resistance as Murphy’s break of 93 secured a 27th ranking final.

“If you are going to beat Mark you have to take the game to him and score when you get chances,” said Murphy. “I’m reluctant to say I mixed it with him in the safety department because I had to ride my luck at times. But overall I’m delighted with the performance. 

“I’ve had a very tough draw to get to the final but hopefully that hasn’t taken too much out of me. It has been a while since I won a ranking event so it would be nice to pick up another one. This event has a huge history going way back to when I was young, I came to watch it as a kid . It holds special memories for me and it would be lovely to take the trophy home.”

Selby, who beat John Higgins in the final here last year, said: “Shaun played great from start to finish. There were a few fifty-fifty frames I could have won which could have made a difference. I should have won the fifth to get back to 3-2 to get back of the match. But I wasn’t good enough and Shaun was very strong.” 

The detailed results, including the frames scores, are available on snooker.org.

I don’t have anything to add about yesterday’s action. For some reason I can’t really explain why but I find Anthony hard to watch. Still i really want him to win today …

Shaun has been at it again recently …IF, really, Ronnie has abused him verbally when he was 12, that is, of course, wrong, but Shaun doesn’t give any information regarding the circumstances nor about what was said.

The rest is nonsense. Ronnie has brought more fans to snooker than anybody else and, importantly, he’s done it during a period when snooker was truly in decline and really needed a boost. He’s done it under constant media scrutiny. He’s done it despite a very difficult family situation and his battles with depression and addictions. What more does he need to do? He’s not perfect, true, but nobody is. He’s not doing or saying the right things all the time, true, but nobody does. He’s human. Now, surely, that’s unforgivable …