Steve Davis blasts Ronnie O’Sullivan over retirement threat

Sheffield, United Kingdom: O’Sullivan has alienated snooker’s custodians before and always been accepted back into the fold, yet judging by the withering criticism delivered on Wednesday by Steve Davis, his latest hint at retirement has not been kindly accepted.

Moments before the Rocket stepped out for his grudge match against Judd Trump in the Betfair World Snooker Championship semi-final — a clash that was tied 4-4 at the end of the first session — Davis stood in front of an astonished Crucible audience and proclaimed that it might be better for the game if O’Sullivan were to lose.

Davis said: “The question for every snooker fan to ask is: ‘Is it better for Judd Trump to win this match rather than Ronnie O’Sullivan?’

“Ronnie is such a breath of fresh air when he plays great. It’s a tough question to ask. If Ronnie is saying that he’s not going to play on the table any more and that’s true, then what use is he to the future of snooker?

“We know full well that Ronnie O’Sullivan’s interviews are a bit like the British weather — changeable. But there’s a dilemma for snooker fans. They love what comes off the end of his cue, but they hate what comes out of his mouth because it is sometimes disrespectful to snooker.

“On the other hand it could be the mercurial talents of a genius. We’d all love Ronnie O’Sullivan to be playing more snooker, not less.”

Davis is one of only three men, with Ray Reardon and Stephen Hendry, to have won the world title more times than O’Sullivan.

Impeccable sportsmanship

It was Davis who inspired O’Sullivan from the moment he picked up a cue as a five-year-old in 1981 — the year Davis won the first of his six world titles.

The young Ronnie copied not only Davis’s cue action but every mannerism around the table from the way he walked to how he chalked his cue.

Despite Davis’s thoughts, the Crucible audience gave O’Sullivan a hero’s welcome. Cheered unequivocally and with a far greater volume than the applause which greeted Trump’s arrival into the arena, the 37-year-old could have no doubts that he remains the people’s champion.

Demonstrating impeccable sportsmanship when he touched a red while bridging over the pack, he called a foul on himself. No-one else in the arena, including referee Michaela Tabb, had noticed.

Everybody loves O’Sullivan. In truth, Wednesday’s performance was a touch more fitful than sublime, especially as a tense second frame evolved into a battle of wills and was decided by a re-spotted black.

O’Sullivan ought to have clinched the frame. Trump did, to level at 1-1. More inspired break-building from O’Sullivan lifted him into a 4-1 lead, but he did not earn an overnight advantage.

Steeling himself to offer the resistance he had promised, Trump took the final three frames of the session which may yet help to win the match and a passage into the final.

It will take much more to capture the hearts that still belong to O’Sullivan.