2018 World Grand Prix

[fkhan]

Love him or hate him but you can’t deny him.

[vilkrang]

He practices as much as anyone, perhaps more as he is obsessive with it (read a bit about him or watch some documentaries to confirm).

Any professional player is similar and none of them could just turn up to win a tournament without practising. When he said he hadn't played I assumed he meant he hasn't played any tournaments since the Masters.

It doesn't matter how much natural talent you have at something, if you don't practice, you won't ever win a thing, in any sport (any individual sport anyway). Ronnie has probably the biggest natural talent coupled with an obsessive practice regime which is why he is so successful.

[OmaMiesta]

Lol why is it surprising that Ronnie won without practicing? He did it in the World championship coming back not playing for a year yet people still doubt him. He certainly doesnt put in 4-6 hours a day like 90 percent of the main tour, he literally wins most tournaments playing his b game as well....I guess haters are always gonna hate.

[jonny66]

Lol why is it surprising that Ronnie won without practicing? He did it in the World championship coming back not playing for a year yet people still doubt him. He certainly doesnt put in 4-6 hours a day like 90 percent of the main tour, he literally wins most tournaments playing his b game as well....I guess haters are always gonna hate.

There's a Twitter vid of Ronnie practising, the guy asks him how long he's been at it and he says "about 2 and a half hours, halfway through" so that's 5 hours a day.

I think he practices as much as anyone. I have no idea how you can consider that as being a "hater", but ho hum.

[Odrl]

When he said he hadn't played I assumed he meant he hasn't played any tournaments since the Masters.

Yeah, I'm not sure why people find this statement so interesting. About half of the field this week didn't play in the German Masters, so they won't have played much proper snooker since the Masters either, and even longer for those who weren't in the Masters at all. There was the Shoot-Out and two groups of the Championship League, plus the qualifiers for the China Open which O'Sullivan was exempt from, so it's not really that unusual to hear a player say they haven't played for a while. :wink:

[adebisi10]

When he said he was cold, he meant that he didn't play in a tournament since Masters, ofcourse he's practicing, everyone needs to do it regularly, even talent like him, he said that numerous of times.

[narl]

Lol why is it surprising that Ronnie won without practicing? He did it in the World championship coming back not playing for a year yet people still doubt him. He certainly doesnt put in 4-6 hours a day like 90 percent of the main tour, he literally wins most tournaments playing his b game as well....I guess haters are always gonna hate.

If we're being realistic, his talking out of his ass skills are about on par with his snooker skills. Fine to watch him play but hearing the bs that goes along with it gets old.

[dsailer]

I know I sound like a big Ronnie fan saying this but I think the reason why he lacks at social skill is that he really is some sort of genius.

I'm with you. From what I can tell, Ronnie lacks empathy and has no filter. It's just part of who he is. I have a son with aspergers - my wife thinks that's what it is. A guys born with no arms and you feel bad. You don't get the same sympathy if the problem's in your head it seems. I don't know the guy personally and could be totally off base, but that's what I see.

It seems obvious whatever it is, he's way off the bell curve.

[blahblah01]

I'm with you. From what I can tell, Ronnie lacks empathy and has no filter. It's just part of who he is. I have a son with aspergers - my wife thinks that's what it is. A guys born with no arms and you feel bad. You don't get the same sympathy if the problem's in your head it seems. I don't know the guy personally and could be totally off base, but that's what I see.

It seems obvious whatever it is, he's way off the bell curve.

I'm on the Autism Spectrum, and Aspergers hasn't officially existed for a few years?

The bold bit is a tad harsh given your son and bit about no arms?

As above, what is he supposed to have said?

[vmax]

"I haven't played since the Masters [in mid-January] so I came here cold and I got lucky this week."

Of course he practises but he hasn't played a tournament since The Masters, the difference between the two is chalk and cheese. It's quite obvious you're a Ronnie hater Narl without any good reason for being so, nitpicking everything he says so that you can be offended on behalf of someone else.
The blokes the greatest snooker player of his time and if a microphone wasn't shoved in his face everyday with the same bloody questions behind it then he would be allowed to be the enigma he is.

I for one watched the evening session with the tv on mute listening to Tangerine Dream's Rubycon album and switched the tv off when the final frame was over. I have no need to listen to anyone elses yap about what I just witnessed for myself. Maybe Ronnie should take a leaf from Alex Higgins book and have a ready made rubber stamp answer after every match, something like ' yeah I played well enough to win, been practising five hours a day for the last two weeks and got my reward tonight'. Give exactly that every time and the microphones and interviews will go away and he can leave the arena with his mates/family, whosoever is with him on the day and get back to his own reality.

Steve Davis didn't go through this media circus every tournament, he arrived at the venue, didn't mix at all with the other players, went out and won and remained a snooker robot without a personality feared by all, nothing wrong with that then but he couldn't be that now as he would have 'obligations' to the sponsors and to World Snooker.

Personally I think you should be having a go at Selby who wasted Ding to the extent that he had little left for the next day; yeah I'm a Selby hater but not for anything he says as he always says what the media want him to say. I simply can't stand his gamesmanship in dragging out frames and dragging down players to his own poor standard when he's not on song. It ain't mental toughness it's deliberately spoiling the entertainment value these top players give to us; after a week at the coal face earning our bread and dripping we deserve more than what amounts to local league snooker played at a slightly higher standard, and if a shot clock is the answer then it can't come quick enough.

[Odrl]

Personally I think you should be having a go at Selby who wasted Ding to the extent that he had little left for the next day; yeah I'm a Selby hater but not for anything he says as he always says what the media want him to say. I simply can't stand his gamesmanship in dragging out frames and dragging down players to his own poor standard when he's not on song. It ain't mental toughness it's deliberately spoiling the entertainment value these top players give to us; after a week at the coal face earning our bread and dripping we deserve more than what amounts to local league snooker played at a slightly higher standard, and if a shot clock is the answer then it can't come quick enough.

That's just ridiculous. In no way should Selby be blamed for Ding's poor performance in the final. You can blame the scheduling, sure, as Ding had a late best-of-11 the night before the final while his opponent had a day off, but blaming Selby for giving Ding a good game is just silly. It was the best match of the tournament for me, hard-fought and tense, and there was not a hint of controversy about it. :wink:

[Dave Walton]

"I haven't played since the Masters [in mid-January] so I came here cold and I got lucky this week."

Of course he practises but he hasn't played a tournament since The Masters, the difference between the two is chalk and cheese. It's quite obvious you're a Ronnie hater Narl without any good reason for being so, nitpicking everything he says so that you can be offended on behalf of someone else.
The blokes the greatest snooker player of his time and if a microphone wasn't shoved in his face everyday with the same bloody questions behind it then he would be allowed to be the enigma he is.

I for one watched the evening session with the tv on mute listening to Tangerine Dream's Rubycon album and switched the tv off when the final frame was over. I have no need to listen to anyone elses yap about what I just witnessed for myself. Maybe Ronnie should take a leaf from Alex Higgins book and have a ready made rubber stamp answer after every match, something like ' yeah I played well enough to win, been practising five hours a day for the last two weeks and got my reward tonight'. Give exactly that every time and the microphones and interviews will go away and he can leave the arena with his mates/family, whosoever is with him on the day and get back to his own reality.

Steve Davis didn't go through this media circus every tournament, he arrived at the venue, didn't mix at all with the other players, went out and won and remained a snooker robot without a personality feared by all, nothing wrong with that then but he couldn't be that now as he would have 'obligations' to the sponsors and to World Snooker.

Personally I think you should be having a go at Selby who wasted Ding to the extent that he had little left for the next day; yeah I'm a Selby hater but not for anything he says as he always says what the media want him to say. I simply can't stand his gamesmanship in dragging out frames and dragging down players to his own poor standard when he's not on song. It ain't mental toughness it's deliberately spoiling the entertainment value these top players give to us; after a week at the coal face earning our bread and dripping we deserve more than what amounts to local league snooker played at a slightly higher standard, and if a shot clock is the answer then it can't come quick enough.

I'm one of Selby's biggest critics and hate the way he plays, I agree his gamesmanship is awful and I agree it's not mental toughness or great match play snooker, it's a win at all costs attitude and he's far too good a player to resort to crap like that, but it's what he does, however you can't blame him for Ding not being prepared for the final, it's done and gone, if anything Ding should have been up for it, just outplayed the world no.1 and bettered him in the safety exchanges, he's just not consistent enough and doesn't seem to bother outside of China anymore.

[Mark187187]

Someone just told me that Selby only made 2 70+ breaks all tournament. Is that true? If so that is pretty impressive that he won any of his matches, albeit at a cost to viewers. I'm not a fan of his tbh, but I do respect him for grinding out wins when he's not in form.

[Odrl]

Someone just told me that Selby only made 2 70+ breaks all tournament. Is that true? If so that is pretty impressive that he won any of his matches, albeit at a cost to viewers. I'm not a fan of his tbh, but I do respect him for grinding out wins when he's not in form.

He made three actually, and 11 half centuries in 18 winning frames. It's not great, but not really poor either.

[Dave Walton]

Someone just told me that Selby only made 2 70+ breaks all tournament. Is that true? If so that is pretty impressive that he won any of his matches, albeit at a cost to viewers. I'm not a fan of his tbh, but I do respect him for grinding out wins when he's not in form.

He made three actually, and 11 half centuries in 18 winning frames. It's not great, but not really poor either.

For the supposed no.1 player in the world it's very poor.