Ronnie O’Sullivan’s ‘crazy’ decision slammed by former world champion
The Rocket's gamble did not pay off.
Neil Robertson has labelled Ronnie O’Sullivan’s decision to change his tip and ferrule during a match as ‘crazy’ and one that was almost certain to cause the Rocket to lose heavily.
The change came after the first session of O’Sullivan’s semi-final with Zhao Xintong, with the scoreline level at 4-4.
Whether it was due to the new tip and ferrule or not, it certainly seemed that the gamble had failed as O’Sullivan would lose the next eight frames on the spin, losing the session by whitewash.
The seven-time world champion made something of a fight of it in the final session, but ultimately lost 17-7 and was largely a shadow of his incredible best.
O’Sullivan has not been playing with his current cue for long and also changed his tip before the match, so there has been a lot of change for him of late, but Robertson thinks the mid-match switches were absurd.
‘I hope who ever changed Ronnie’s tip AND ferrule made it very clear to him that doing so would result in an almost certain heavy defeat before posting anything on social media,’ Robertson wrote on X.
‘Switching from titanium to brass [ferrule] or vice versa mid match unless something was damaged is crazy.’
O’Sullivan had been playing with the same cue for a number of years before smashing it out of frustration with his game at the Championship League in January.
The Rocket was then not seen in action until his opening round at the Crucible, so there was plenty of confusion over his cue situation until the eve of the event.
‘I’ve got a cue. It seems ok,’ O’Sullivan said the day before the World Championship began. ‘I’ve had this one for three or four months just sitting int he rack. I tried it out and knew it was ok.’
The 49-year-old beat Ali Carter, Pang Junxu and Si Jiahui to reach the semis, but was not happy at all with his own form or how his equipment was feeling over those three wins.
He confirmed after defeat to Zhao that he has played with three different tips over the event, while also switching his titanium ferrule for brass.
‘I started off with one tip…yeah, three tips and one ferrule,’ he said. ‘I tried something different with my cue. I tried to go back to the old brass ferrule.
‘I don’t even know if it was the cue, the ferrule or me. It was three things.’
On his return to action in Sheffield, O’Sullivan said he is planning to give himself two years to try and regain his form, and with it enjoyment in the game.
However, his below-par performance against Zhao left him questioning whether he will actually continue for that long.
‘I want to give it two years but if you play like that, it’s pretty pointless. It’s not good,’ he said.
