Ronnie O’Sullivan is absent from the Masters after pulling out of the tournament last week and his withdrawal was a source of amusement for Ken Doherty on Tuesday
Ken Doherty brought laughter to his BBC colleagues when he chimed in on Ronnie O’Sullivan‘s recent withdrawal from the Masters.
The Rocket’s absence followed a tumultuous display in the Championship League last week. After posting disappointing results, he found himself on edge, expressing frustration by banging his cue against the table upon missing an easy shot during a 3-2 loss to Robert Milkins.
As if the situation wasn’t heated enough, O’Sullivan dealt further harm to his cue, subsequently throwing it in the bin and prematurely quitting the tournament ahead of his remaining group stage match against Ali Carter. Barely two days before his first-round bout against John Higgins, O’Sullivan officially dropped out of the Masters event. Neil Robertson ultimately stepped into the empty slot.
In other developments, O’Sullivan has opted to be coached by Lee Walker, a seasoned mentor and the long-time trainer of ‘Class of 92′ legend Mark Williams. Williams’ Masters run recently found itself stymied by Ding Junhui in a tight match that concluded on Monday.Between frames, Doherty joined forces with seven-time Crucible conqueror Stephen Hendry and host Hazel Irvine for a round of analysis. As conversation steered toward Williams’ uneven match form and the presence of Walker in his corner, Hendry said: “It is all about alignment with Lee,” reports the Express.
Discussing the relationship dynamic Walker has with Williams in the heat of competition, Hendry mused: “I don’t think here at the interval they went into the dressing room and he [Walker] would be giving him stern talkings to, because Mark wouldn’t take it and would just tell him to get out. He is a mate as much as anything in the dressing room with Mark. It is an alignment the way he coaches, so it is all about that.”Doherty couldn’t resist a cheeky dig at Walker’s partnership with O’Sullivan, revealing a humorous anecdote: “I was ribbing him in the practice room, Lee Walker. I said, ‘how’s it going with Ronnie O’Sullivan? ‘ After a month with him he has smashed up his cue and pulled out of the Masters!”
Despite bowing out of the competition, the Rocket still made waves at the Masters by dropping into the Eurosport studio to shed light on his decision to withdraw. The snooker legend confessed: “Yeah, it was a nightmare decision to make.”
He elaborated on his readiness, saying: “You know, if you’d have asked me Sunday was I ready to play, I probably would have been OK to play, but it’s such a massive tournament. I’ve obviously been on this three-week trip away playing [in the Far East] and I just think I exhausted myself. [There was] a lot of pressure while I was away and I just think the build-up of all that kind of just got a bit too much really.”
Regarding the fate of his cue, he added: “I mean, I lost the plot on Thursday, snapped my cue, so that’s unplayable. I knew that at that moment in time, the right decision was to not play.”
He also considered the fairness to other players, stating, “And it’s such a big tournament, I thought whoever was going to come in should have at least had a couple of days’ notice.
“It [the cue] was in the bin, one of them wheelie bins, and then my mate said, ‘look, you can’t leave that there’, so he got it out and brought it with us.”