Career

Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan, OBE(born 5 December 1975)is an English professional snooker and pool player.He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history. He is noted for his rapid playing style, mercurial temperament, and his ambivalent relationship with the sport, from which he has taken prolonged sabbaticals and repeatedly threatened to retire.O'Sullivan is based at the Legends Snooker Academy in Leytonstone, England, United Kingdom.

Early career
O'Sullivan's achievements in snooker began at an early age. He made his first century break (117) at the age of 10, completed his first total clearance (142) at age 12, and became British Under-16 Champion at age 13. He made his television debut in The Thames Snooker Classic when he was 14, with Steve Davis commentating on the match.He compiled his first maximum break in the final stages of the 1991 English Amateur Championships at age 15, and won the IBSF World Under-21 Championship in the same year. Shortly before turning professional in 1992, aged 16, he highlighted his capability by compiling breaks of 108, 128, 129, 135, 135 and 142 during a one day pro-am.

2014/2015 season: fifth UK Championship title
O'Sullivan started the 2014/2015 season at the Paul Hunter Classic, but lost 2–4 against Tian Pengfei in the last 16.His first ranking event was the Shanghai Masters, where he lost 3–5 against Alan McManus.Ronnie O'Sullivan then competed in the International Championship, cited as the biggest event in Asia, in Chengdu after beating James Cahill to qualify.Having battled to beat Ben Woollaston 6–4, in his opening match of the tournament, Ronnie sailed past his next two opponents, McGill and Li Hang, 6–1.This set up a meeting with Mark Williams, a man who had not beat O'Sullivan for 12 years, in the quarters; however, after falling 3–0 behind, Williams won the next 5 frames and eventually the match, 6–5.O'Sullivan next competed in the Champion of Champions where he was defending champion. O'Sullivan begun his defence with a 4–2 defeat of Stuart Bingham. He then went on to whitewash Marco Fu 6–0 to reach the semi-final. In the semi-final, O'Sullivan defeated Ding Junhui 6–4 and then went on to defeat Judd Trump in a high-scoring final, 10–7, making four century breaks and eleven breaks over fifty during the match. On 4 December 2014, O'Sullivan completed his 13th career maximum break in the fourth round of the UK Championship, against Matthew Selt.Three days later he won his fifth UK Championship, coming through 10–9 against Judd Trump in the final. After trailing 1–5 and 4–9, Trump won five frames in succession, before O'Sullivan prevailed in the deciding frame despite playing with a broken ankle, having broken it the previous week whilst running.

2016/2017 season: UK Championship runner-up and record seventh Masters title
O'Sullivan began the 2016/2017 season late, at the Shanghai Masters. In the first round, he defeated Liang Wenbo 5–4 after recovering from 1–4 down. It was his first professional tournament match in five months.However, this was as far as he progressed, as in the second round he lost by 2–5 to Michael Holt.Competing in the inaugural European Masters, O'Sullivan defeated David Gilbert 4–1 in the first round,Mark Allen 4–2 in the second round,Mark Davis 4–1 in the quarterfinals and then whitewashed Neil Robertson 6–0 in the semi-final.Facing Judd Trump in the final, O'Sullivan took a 5–3 lead after the first session. In the second session, O'Sullivan further led 8–6 before eventually losing 8–9.In the first of the Home Nations series of tournaments, at the inaugural English Open, O'Sullivan defeated Jimmy Robertson 4–0 in the first round, Zhao Xintong 4–3 in the second,but then lost to Chris Wakelin in the third by 3–4.At the International Championship, O'Sullivan beat Xiao Guodong 6–4 in the first round and Kurt Maflin 6–4 in the second to reach the last 16. However, he was then defeated by Michael Holt 4–6,making this the third consecutive loss to Holt in 2016.