Daniel Wells is still motivated to prove Ronnie O’Sullivan wrong after the hurtful comments he received from the Rocket a couple of years ago.
While competing at the 2023 Welsh Open as a top-up amateur, O’Sullivan suggested that Wells should forget about chasing his aspirations as a professional player.
Wells, who first joined the main tour in 2008 before enduring an on-again, off-again career for the next decade or so, had just beaten Matthew Selt to reach the last 32 of the competition.
Yet O’Sullivan was harsh with his assessment of the Welshman, saying on Eurosport: “I think for him he should just stay as a part-time player, irrelevant of how well he does.”
“There’s a lot of players on tour who can’t mentally sustain it. If I was advising him, I’d tell him to stay as a part-time player.
“He’s tried [being pro] and he ain’t at that level – never will be,” O’Sullivan, the world number one at the time, added. “At best, he’ll maybe make a few semi-finals now and again.”
“He’s never going to be a tournament winner. He’s just not good enough.”
Wells went on to beat Judd Trump in the same tournament before losing to Shaun Murphy in the last 16, and he later rejoined the professional circuit in time for the 2023/24 campaign.
Since then, the 37 year-old has made back-to-back appearances in the semi-finals of the Xi’an Grand Prix – helping him to reach a career-high world ranking of number 40.
More than two years on from those O’Sullivan quotes, Wells still thinks about the comments and uses them as fuel in his pursuit of success.
“That’s a perfect motivation for me. It’s perfect,” Daniel Wells said on the latest episode of the Talking Snooker podcast with Nick Metcalfe and Phil Haigh.
“Because it was in the public domain, and it still follows me around now. We’re speaking about it now.”
“People speak to me about how Ronnie said that, and yeah, it wasn’t very nice to be honest.
“However, I don’t really go along with that notion, because for him to even know who I am is a massive achievement to me anyway.
“Like, I didn’t really get the whole thing of me staying as an amateur, because people who pick up a snooker cue would love to be known by Ronnie O’Sullivan – let alone compete against him.
“So while it wasn’t very nice, I am thick-skinned enough and I’ve had a lot of people telling me I’m not good enough since my childhood.
“And do you know what? As a pro in my twenties coming through, I never really had that motivation as such.
“Obviously, I wanted to win for myself. But now I’ve got an extra bit of a point to prove, because somebody else thinks I can’t do it.
“It’s a perfect scenario for me. If I can’t do it, he’s right and so what? But if I can do it, it’s brilliant for me.
“It really does keep me motivated. I’ve got the quote up on my wall actually in the snooker room.
“The quote was, ‘you’re never going to be good enough to win a tournament.’ So we’ll see, we’ll see.
“I haven’t really got anything to lose, because if I don’t win a tournament, then so what? He’s right.
“But if I can do it, what a buzz that’ll be. That’s my aim now – to get a photo with a trophy under the quote.
“In Xi’an last year, it nearly happened. I say it nearly happened – I lost 6-1 in the semi-final. But Ronnie was in the other semi against Kyren [Wilson].
“It would have been nice [to play Ronnie in the final]. I think already, maybe, I’ve kind of proved him wrong slightly.
“If I stayed an amateur, I couldn’t have got to the semi-final or I couldn’t have got to the Crucible.
“I’ve done okay, I’ve earned a decent living. I’ve earned a better living playing snooker than what I did cleaning toilets.
“I didn’t like it at the time, I’ve got to be honest. [From] somebody who I obviously looked up to, but it’s motivation.
“I could have shrivelled into my shell and thought I’m not good enough, but that’s not the type of person I am.
“I’ve got a chance to prove somebody else wrong, and fingers crossed that I can. We’re still speaking about it now, and it is humiliating. Because Ronnie’s opinion carries a lot of weight.
“He’s the greatest of all time, and people seem to hang on his every word. Rightfully so in a way, because he knows better than anyone who is good and who is not good.
“So to hear that is not very nice. It is hurtful and humiliating. And certain people take pleasure in that.
“I can be walking around town with people saying, ‘oh Ronnie said this about you, he thinks you’re rubbish’, and I didn’t find that very funny.
“I’ve got a family who has supported me for all the years that I’ve been a pro and trying to be a pro.
“And I didn’t like it at all. It was embarrassing. But at the same time, it has given me something that focuses my mind.
“Obviously, I’ve got other reasons for wanting to do well. But it’s another very exciting thing to be able to have the chance to prove the best of all time wrong.
“If I don’t, I don’t. But if I do, it’ll be great.”
Daniel Wells will next be in action at the upcoming UK Championship, where he’ll face either Robert Milkins, Mateusz Baranowski, or Sahil Nayyar in the third round of the qualifiers.
Photos credit: WST
Hopefully he continues to do well. His career performance looks like it’s on an upwards trajectory. The Rocket and Stephen Hendry can be frank with their comments at times but they’ve both been there and done that and they are both paid to express their views on their profession these days. It can happen that some people won’t appreciate what they hear. Understandably so.
At the time, Dan Wells was working for a cleaning agency scrubbing council houses, whilst trying to follow his ambition of being a professional snooker player. What Ronnie said was unneccesarily personal and dismissive. Wells had to walk the streets of Neath with kids laughing at him.
Just because someone is a great player does not allow him to say whatever he likes. Punditry should be analytic and constructive, not abusive – and it was close to that. I hope somebody in the production team pointed that out to Ronnie, but it’s likely nobody dared.
well spoken!
You might not like what Ronnie said, and it did stray a little beyond constructive opinion, but he’s entitled to say it as the comments were nowhere close to contravention free speech rules and pundits are often criticised when they deliver anodyne rhetoric.
I think O’Sullivan was trying to say Wells might be better off being part-time to ease the pressure of relying on snooker for his living.
O’Sullivan expressing his view Wells is never going to win a tournament is fair comment, if that’s what he truly believes.
I also give full credit to Wells for channelling his disappointment over the remarks into producing better results and performances. His scoring has improved since he returned to the tour.
I hope Wells proves him wrong and wins a tournament. I’m sure O’Sullivan would congratulate him and admit he was wrong. It would be particularly nice to see Wells achieve this feat as he was the inaugural recipient of the Paul Hunter Scholarship.