2 hours ago
3 
Taking down the GOAT is a tough task, but Neil Robertson feels he knows how best to tackle Ronnie O’Sullivan on the snooker table.
The Rocket is bidding for a record eighth World Championship title this year, hoping to move ahead of Stephen Hendry who he currently sits alongside on seven.
O’Sullivan might not have won a ranking title since January 2024, but a double-147 in a match in Saudi Arabia and a history-making 153 break in Yushan this season have a few tipping him to land another Crucible crown.
Robertson beat the 50-year-old in the final of the Saudi Arabia Masters back in August and has downed the Rocket on a string of other occasions, including twice at the Masters and in the final of the Tour Championship.
The Aussie and the Englishman are in the same quarter of the draw in Sheffield and Robertson knows how he will approach the game if they do meet in the last eight.
‘Oh, you just have to stand up to the pressure,’ Robertson told Metro. ‘When he says this is the momentum of the match, this is how it’s going to be, you have to jump on the platform with him and go with it.
Are you snooker loopy?
You're in the right place. I'm Phil Haigh, and I cover the game we all love for Metro.
In my new newsletter, The Table, I'll be analysing the biggest talking points, breaking down frames and crowning the week's winners and losers every Monday.
The World Championship is here, so there's no better time to sign up.
‘I’m not the type – like say Mark Selby’s had great success in terms of switching how the momentum goes in a match where it becomes a bit harder and then it puts Ronnie in a difficult place – I don’t have that skill set to grind frames out like that.
‘From time to time I can do it, but in the long-term in a match it’s no good.’
Their meeting in Saudi Arabia earlier this season was a dramatic one, with Robertson romping into a 7-2 lead, then finding himself 8-9 behind, before winning the final two frames to lift the trophy and win the £500,000 top prize.
The Thunder from Down Under says he felt he had to stick to an aggressive approach throughout, whatever the scoreline or O’Sullivan’s form.
‘When he was coming back at me from 7-2, there was no way I was going to be refusing shots or anything because as soon as you start to do that, he picks up on it and then he just runs away,’ said the 44-year-old.
‘You just have to play. It’s quite a simple equation because you just have to play and don’t be worried about what happens.
‘I think a lot of people get worried about losing. If he plays great, he plays great, but he approaches it the same way. He’s so aggressive and so attacking all the time, you just have to be ready for it.
‘As soon as you hit the ball to play safe, he’s basically over your shoulder, so you need to be ready.’
Robertson points out that O’Sullivan’s aggression is not just shown by crunching in long pots or exploding the pack open, but even when he is playing safe.
‘There’s nothing I can really do to dictate how the match is going to go because he’s very aggressive with the safety shots,’ said the 2010 world champion. ‘He opens them up and he backs himself to get a great cue ball.
‘He’s the only player in the world I’ve seen who can open the reds up and back himself to get the white glued on that baulk cushion because these days not many players open up the reds anymore.
‘That’s still part of my game, I’m trying to get the balance right where I want to open up the reds, but you can’t push a red near the hole because I can’t get that consistent weight where I’m getting it an inch or glued to the cushion all the time.
‘So the fact he opens them all up means that you just have to go with it, you have to be aggressive, you can’t refuse balls. If you start refusing balls, he picks up on it and then he gets more aggressive and it gives him confidence.
‘The prime example was when I was 9-8 down and I had a 50-50 red in the middle. If I pot it, I go 9-all, but if I refuse it, then I may never get another chance. So I just had to go for it.
‘I can’t think of too many occasions where I’ve lost to Ronnie and I thought, “oh man, I wish I’d been a bit more aggressive” or “I wish I’d played quicker” or anything like that. You just play.‘
The world number three says his approach against the Rocket is actually very straight forward, although beating him is not.
‘In some ways he’s the hardest player in the world to play and somehow he’s the easiest because it’s just always a great match,’ he said. ‘It’s how I enjoy playing the game. And if he plays better than you, then so be it.
‘That’s the best way to accept losing in snooker matches. If it’s a good game and you’ve both gone for it, that’s it. So it’s pretty easy.
‘There’s other players who change things and make it hard and are maybe negative tactically and just wait for a mistake to happen from you whereas he just goes for it. The frames are over quick. It’s fun.’
Debutant He Guoqiang will be the next player trying to beat O’Sullivan at the Crucible, with their opening round match starting on Tuesday morning.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·