The Scot was dominant in the 1990s and the seven-time world champion was immune to pressure in a unique wayYou may have seen the famous clip of Diego Maradona’s warm-up routine, from the second leg of Napoli’s Uefa Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich in 1989: the one where he is like a Marvel superhero with a football. It is not just that Maradona pogos up and down with the ball seemingly glued to his head. Or that he effortlessly juggles the ball on his knees while jogging – before upping the ante by then bouncing it repeatedly off alternate shoulders. It is that the greatest player of all time is doing all this, and many other nonchalant tricks and flicks,...
Six-times world champion is happier than he has ever been and perhaps the least we owe him is to accept him on his own termsPerhaps it was fitting that it should end on a miscue. Maybe this is just the imagination playing trick shots but for a snooker player widely acclaimed as the greatest of all time, Ronnie O’Sullivan does seem to miscue quite a lot? Certainly more than you’d expect from your average preternatural, life-affirming, once-in-a-generation talent.There was one against Mark Williams at the 2016 Masters that cost him the frame. One against Ali Carter at the Crucible in 2018 that cost him the match. In fact, there are compilations on YouTube: the horrible scrape of the cue, the...
Our writers offer their choices for the highest honours at the prestigious ceremony, from Ronnie O’Sullivan to Tracey NevilleRonnie O’Sullivan has been winning for 25 years now: five world championships, seven Masters and seven UK titles, the latest of them this month. His 19th major victory means he has overtaken Stephen Hendry and become the most successful player in snooker history. Related: The Anti-Sports Personality of the Year awards 2018 | Simon Burnton Related: Dina Asher-Smith a real contender for BBC Sports Personality of the Year Related: Who are the team of 2018? My vote goes to England’s women netballers Continue reading...