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Ronnie O’sullivan Turned 50 on Friday. Here, Press Association Sport takes a look at some snapshots of his historic career at the pinnacle of the snooker world.
50 words on…growing
O’Sullivan began playing snooker at the age of seven and two years later he won his first tournament. He scored his first century at the age of 10, and his first competitive maximum at the age of 15, and turned professional in 1992 at the age of 17. He won his first ranking event – the UK Championship – Later that year.
50 words on record
O’Sullivan is the youngest player to win the UK Championships and the Masters, and the oldest player to win all three Triple Crown events. He has won a record eight UK titles, eight Masters titles and 41 ranking titles. He was the first player to make 1,000 century breaks.
But 50 words…max
O’Sullivan made his first competitive score of 147 at the 1991 English Amateur Championship at the age of 15. He has set 17 competitive maximum records, including the fastest ever record of five minutes and eight seconds against Mick Price at the Crucible in 1997, which was also his first maximum break as a professional.
50 words on controversy
O’Sullivan was fined and banned for assaulting a press official at the 1996 World Championship. He has criticized the game and his opponents and called the venue of the 2018 English Open a “hellhole”. He abandoned his best-17 UK Championship match Stephen Hendry After five frames.
50 words on rivals
O’Sullivan had a long-running feud ali carterWhich he described as a “****** nightmare” after a heated clash at the 2024 Masters. He called Mark Selby ‘The Torturer’ due to his aggressive style of play, and in 2002 told Hendry to “go back to his sad little life”.
But 50 words…ongoing
O’Sullivan loves running and has written a book on the sport. He wrote, “I used to depend on drugs and alcohol to support myself, but now I have found the healthiest of addictions – running.” At his physical peak, O’Sullivan was recording a time of nearly 34 minutes for the 10K.
50 words on life
Away from the snooker table, O’Sullivan has written a series of crime novels and launched video games, as well as an award-winning documentary. But in 2013 he revealed his true passion, claiming: “My dream would probably be to be a property developer. I’d love tohouses ‘Under the hammer’.
50 words on greatness
O’Sullivan is almost universally regarded as the greatest snooker player of all time. But ‘Rocket’ refutes the claim, pointing to other candidates. He insisted in 2024: “I don’t consider myself the greatest. Maybe I’m one of them. You’ve got Hendry, (Steve) Davis, and my hat’s in the ring with them.”
50 words on retirement
O’Sullivan first threatened to retire in 1994 at the age of 18 after losing to Ken Doherty at the UK Championships. He repeated this threat before the 2012 World Finals, but instead took a year off before returning to capture his fifth World title the following year. At present he has no concrete plans to step down.