O'Sullivan emerges from bubble with sixth Crucible title

THERE is no more fitting winner of a socially-distanced World Snooker Championships than Ronnie O'Sullivan, in a world of his own on and off the table, writes Tom Harle.

No-one in the sport is on the Rocket's wavelength and there are fewer and fewer above him in the history books after he sealed a sixth Crucible title in some style.

O'Sullivan beat a weary Kyren Wilson 18-8 to draw level with his heroes Steve Davis and Ray Reardon as a six-time winner and claim a 37th ranking title.

The Essex legend surpassed Stephen Hendry's 36 tournament wins last year and only the Scot sits above him with seven successes in Sheffield.

Crowds were allowed back for the final and throaty roars of 'come on Ronnie' rang around the famous venue again - but sent a chill down O'Sullivan's spine in all the worst ways.

"All the people shouting 'come on Ronnie' scare me a bit because there's so much passion in their voice, it's like life or death to them," he said.

"Snooker is meant to be a nice, gentle sport.

"Up until there was no crowd, I felt pressure because I want to do well but when you throw the fans into the mix, it just takes the fun out of it for me.

"I wish they could be a bit more quiet and let us get on with it. I'd probably do better and it would mean more if there wasn't any crowd.

"I could play the World Championship every week of my life without a crowd. It's probably helped me this year."

Both O'Sullivan and Wilson needed dramatic deciding frames against Mark Selby and Anthony McGill respectively to seal their places in the showpiece.

And those draining experiences showed in both of their performances as a scrappy opening session, won 6-2 by O'Sullivan, set the tone for an underwhelming spectacle.

Wilson played his best snooker in the second session on Saturday night, winning five successive frames to pull the score back to 8-6 at one stage.

O'Sullivan was in dire straights but preserved a 10-7 overnight lead and dominated Sunday's early action, leaping into a colossal 17-8 lead with Wilson wilting.

He needed only one frame in the evening session and got it at the first opportunity.

O'Sullivan gave a memorable interview to the BBC after his semi-final success, obsessing over finding his 'cue action' and after the final revealed just how he found it.

“Normally I go for a run in the morning but after Saturday night, I was unable to put balls together and couldn’t hit any solid shots," he said.

"Kyren was striking it well and for me to win four frames, it was only because of his mistakes and I should have really been behind. I’d got out of jail.

"I owed it to myself to get on the practice table and find a slot and a swing technique. I found myself a grip that I could hold my finish a bit better and could compete.

"It would have been horrible for me not to make a game of it, because that’s what people want to see. It was up to me to get a bit aggressive and make something happen."

O'Sullivan has consulted books written by 15-time champion Joe Davis to get back to the basics of the game in the midst of his Crucible campaign.

Davis spent the twilight years of his career playing exhibition matches and a similar fate may await Ronnie in the coming years.

The Rocket says he won't be overstaying his welcome like an ageing rockstar but his Crucible triumph will help prolong the dream a little longer.

"I've been an exhibition player for the last four or five years really," said O'Sullivan.

"I love my exhibitions, I love travelling and love that side of it. It does impact your performances as a professional so that's why my results have suffered recently.

"I wanted to get a balance and winning lots of tournaments never made me happy.

"I'm not like the Rolling Stones, they seem to keep going until they're 80.

"I'm not sure people will want to watch me when I'm 60 or 70. I need to win some tournaments to remind people I'm still a half decent player."

PLEASE LEAVE IN FINAL PAR – Live snooker returns to Eurosport and the Eurosport app. Watch the World Championship from 31st July – 16th August with analysis from Jimmy White.