Magical Ronnie O’Sullivan: You’re Simply the Best
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN whisked up his 1000th ton in Preston over the weekend in style amid the jubilation of a jam-packed crowd at the Guildhall, the venue where he won his first ranking title the UK Championship in 1993.
The 43-year-old 19-time major winner racked up the 134 in the final frame he needed to beat Neil Robertson 10 – 4 and win the Coral Players Championship – his 35th ranking title.
His milestone came as he led 7 – 2 at the first session in the afternoon and despite Robertson showing good form in the evening with a 120 break, the Rocket did enough to lift the 125K first prize and rack his 1000th ton.
He told ITV4 after: “Preston was lucky tonight.”
And added that if there was any player he would have liked to have shared the moment with, it was Neil Robertson as the pair embraced after the match as Robertson congratulated O’Sullivan on the milestone. O’Sullivan added he would have liked to have shared the moment with either Ding Junhui or Liang Wenbo if not Robertson.
Delighted to win the Players Championship tonight in Preston and buzzing to have made my 1,000th century in the final frame 🏆 Thanks to all my fans for the support. Hard luck to my fellow Aussie @nr147 a class act and an even better human 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/wzxNoJ1rqO
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) 10 March 2019
As well as the 134, the Rocket racked up breaks of 115 105 and 90, 70, 67, 66, 65, 56, 52 early on as he played flawless snooker throughout the two sessions.
Watch the 1000th ton record, here…
Genius O’Sullivan in Numbers
Here’s his records…so far
- 19 triple crown majors – 5 World titles, 7 Masters, 7 UK Championships
- 35 ranking titles
- 5 World Championship titles
- 1000 centuries
- Fastest 147 at 5 mins 20 seconds
- 15 career maximums
Hendry, whom he had beat in 93 at the Guildhall, said of O’Sullivan that he’s now a winning machine as well as an entertainer.
“I played to win” but when I knew I couldn’t win anymore I didn’t enjoy it. That’s why I retired.
But Ronnie is still at the peak of his powers at 43 and it looks like he won’t be leaving the table any time soon…
Hendry added: “If that doesn’t inspire any youngster to want to play snooker, I don’t know what will!”
The song Tina Turner Simply the Best came to mind when writing this…
