John Virgo has dismissed the idea that Ronnie O’Sullivan only has to turn up and put his mind to the World Championship to win it, saying the Rocket will need to be at his best to triumph at the Crucible.
The world number one has had a superb season, winning five titles including the UK Championship and Masters, arriving at the Crucible hoping to win all three Triple Crown events in the same season for the first time in his career.
The 48-year-old is the bookmakers’ favourite to lift the world title for an eighth time, and while Virgo agrees with that assessment, he knows the Rocket can be shot down.
Mark Williams beat O’Sullivan in last Sunday’s Tour Championship final, winning seven frames on the spin to do so, just as Luca Brecel did to the Rocket in last year’s Crucible quarter-final.
The iconic commentator and former UK champion points out that just one bad session is enough to end your hopes at this level and O’Sullivan cannot afford to produce one.
‘It’s hard to look past Ronnie, as he’s proved in the UK and the Masters, on the big occasion he does really produce,’ Virgo told Metro.
‘He’ll be a little bit disappointed after his Tour Championship defeat. Very reminiscent of when he lost to Luca Brecel in last year’s World Championship.
‘He lost seven frames on the trot and never made any sizeable breaks, which is amazing. He did the same against Mark Williams in the final of the Tour Championship, with no sign of that coming at all.
‘So for those people who think Ronnie’s only got to turn up and if he puts his mind to it he wins, that’s so far from the truth. He’s got to be at his best. Ronnie will know that, but it’ll be a shock to the system, losing as he did.’
Virgo was on commentary for the BBC in the session which saw O’Sullivan lose seven frames on the bounce to Brecel last year and he still cannot put his finger on what happened to the Rocket, despite asking the man himself.
‘Funnily enough he came over to see me in the summer and I asked him what happened against Luca Brecel in that match,’ explained the 78-year-old.
‘He said, “I don’t want to talk about it!” So it still wrangles with him. For the greatest player we’ve ever seen to play seven frames and not make a 30 break, nobody could have foreseen that.
‘He is human like the rest of us, but it was hard to believe. I can only assume it was the pressure of the tournament. Maybe he was looking too far ahead, who knows.
‘But he can’t afford bad sessions like that because the competition is there. If you have a bad session you’re going to get walloped, so to speak, which is what he did.’
Virgo also suggests that the carrot of an eighth world title, going clear of Stephen Hendry’s seven, will add pressure to O’Sullivan’s shoulders in Sheffield.
‘Ronnie’s entitled to be favourite, no one questions his ability, but as I say he’s got to put that last defeat out of his mind,’ he said. ‘And of course he’s got the added pressure of looking for the modern day record of eight world titles.
‘So that puts him under a little bit more strain than he would normally be under. But he’s coped with things like that before, so I expect him to put up a good show.’
O’Sullivan gets his World Championship campaign underway on Wednesday 24 April against a qualifier yet to be decided.
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