Ronnie O’Sullivan has insisted he is not a superstar of snooker after progressing to the semi-finals of the World Championship. He defeated Stephen Maguire 13-5 to make the last four for a record 13th time and is aiming to equal Stephen Hendry’s record of seven world titles.
Despite being within touching distance of his record, The Rocket claims Hendry is still the sport’s greatest. "Stephen is an all-time legend for me, the greatest player," O'Sullivan told the BBC.
"He was the Tiger Woods of snooker. Me, John (Higgins) and Mark (Williams) have all done well, but when he was flying he was a superstar. When there's three of us, we're not superstars. But when there's one man dominating the sport like he did, like Tiger Woods, it's a different level."
Leading 11-5 overnight, the 46-year-old reeled off breaks of 71 and 126 in the first two frames of the morning session to win. Although not at his belligerent best and struggling with his cue tip, O’Sullivan still won comfortably and will face either John Higgins or Jack Lisowski.
"It's workmanlike more than flowing, but I've had to learn to steady the ship and I think that's the key to being consistent - being able to minimise the bad spells," said O'Sullivan. "I am looking forward to it. When it comes to the one-table set-up you can relax a bit more, and I'm excited still to be in the tournament and to get there."
O'Sullivan analysed his performance and the struggles with his cue on Tuesday evening before Wednesday's final session.. “I battled hard, I had a couple of chances but it felt tense out there," he told Eurosport/Discovery Plus.
“I enjoyed the battle, just trying to stay in a good place and try to give yourself a chance to play well. As long as it (cue tip) doesn't implode on me then it will stay on. It’s not ideal, but the more I play with it the more I get a bit comfortable with it. I’ve played with worse and won so that’s all I can say.”
The world No.1 also commented on his mentality when competing at Crucible during an intense and demanding fortnight of high-level snooker. “I just play each session as it comes, it's another match tomorrow morning, you just try and forget the scoreboard, it’s a marathon this tournament," he added.
"There’s no point in looking for the winning line, you just have to keep playing frame after frame and ball after ball and get into that rhythm. That’s what tends to happen the longer you stay in this tournament, you have to adopt that type of mindset.”
