Ronnie O’Sullivan has compared the Class of ’92 to Mexican boxers after reaching the last four of the World Snooker Championship.
The Rocket thrashed Stephen Maguire 13-5 in the quarter-finals at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
The world number one will next feature at the semi-final stage for a record 13th time of what has been a glittering career, as he continues his bid for a record-equalling seventh world crown.
Fellow esteemed 1992 tour graduates John Higgins, who O’Sullivan could play in the semi-finals, and Mark Williams are also still in the hunt for glory.
“Every match is tough, so I’m just pleased to still be in the tournament,” Ronnie O’Sullivan told World Championship sponsors Betfred.
“It’s down to the one-table setup so I’m pleased to still be playing. I’ve had a hard good season and enjoyed every moment of it.”
“I’ve enjoyed the last ten years of playing and I just want to keep enjoying it – just appreciating every moment I get to go out there and play.
“I feel alright, I’m always ready to play. In yourself sometimes you can feel whatever, but actually I’ve got it in a good place now. I’m enjoying everything I do.
“30 years here, I can’t believe it. Still here playing, still here competing, still loving it, still enjoying it.
“I don’t get too ahead of myself any more, I just play the balls, play the table, and enjoy doing something that you love.
“I don’t know (what it is about the Class of ’92). I think there’s a lot of talent out there, there’s some great young Chinese players coming through.
“There’s a lot of really fantastic players out there, but I suppose because we’ve been doing it for so long.
“We’re 47 now, or coming up to 47, and it’s sort of unheard of really. But I think certain people can do it.
“I look at Williams and Higgins – because I can’t speak for myself – and I can see how they’re doing it, there’s just little subtleties that they have in their game.
“It’s a bit like a Mexican boxer. We’ve been brought up in the Mexican way of playing snooker.
“You get the British fighters and they are comfortable over here, but you throw them over in Mexico or the American market, then they don’t look so good.
“I think we came from that kind of background of snooker where we were brought up with hard match play, lots of tournaments.
“You were dedicated to your sport, and I think that’s kind of stood us in good stead really. We’re probably the three Mexicanos.
“When I won four (world titles) that felt great. I always said that four was a big milestone – five didn’t feel much different to four.
“Six was okay. Seven, I don’t know. I’m not really bothered by numbers and records, it’s just experiences for me.
“To still be here playing is the thing. But I do have to get my head down, I have to focus and just try and squeeze every bit out of it as I can.”
Featured photo credit: WST
It appears to me that much of the rest of the field aren’t learning from playing and watching these greats like Ronnie, Higgins & Williams. It’s not because they don’t want to, it’s because they don’t know what they are actually looking for, they don’t ask themselves the right questions or actually know what the right questions are? They are lucky they still have these old timers around them to study. It’s not due to a lack of talent that the rest of the field keeps falling by the wayside year in year out, they can and do practice endlessly but the truth is, the secret is…mindset. They can in reality spend less time worrying and trying endlessly to hit the cue ball in the centre for unnecessary amounts of hours a week and give more time over to realising and studying weaknesses, strengths, the mind, philosophical questions, psychology, mindset, lifestyle and crucially to really understand the difference between needs and mere wants. For this they must seek advice, a mentor and be prepared to listen and study in order to know what the questions are that they need to ask themselves. A good starting point is to rid themselves of the idea of winning and the pressure that brings.
Yan and Lisowski are the best of the rest.