Acting the GOAT: Ronnie O’Sullivan returns to snooker number one spot as world sport’s number one

If you can’t join them, beat them. Ronnie O’Sullivan has lately been wheeling out an Australian accent so dodgy it makes Quentin Tarantino’s effort in Django Unchained sound as authentic as Alf Stewart after a trip to the dunny. Thankfully O’Sullivan, full of tomfoolery and ballyhoo, continues to put the accent firmly on winning in his own inimitable style. Especially when he comes up against Australia’s finest.

O’Sullivan’s 13-11 win over Neil Robertson in the Tour Championship final in Llandudno on Sunday evening came only a fortnight after his 10-4 success against the majestic Melburnian in the Players Championship final at the old Guild Hall in Preston, a venue where the 17-year-old O'Sullivan first caught the public's imagination by winning the UK Championship 26 years ago.

Robertson must be sick of the sight, and perhaps sound, of O’Sullivan, who has been a bit more Mad Max than Rocket Ronnie in recent days due to his newly found take on the Antipodean patois.

On the green baize, first impressions continue to count. Robertson was left to rue a missed black off the spot in the penultimate and final frame at the Venue Cymru when in among the balls, leading 35-0, and set to level at 12-12. It was a key error that saw O’Sullivan calmly peel off a regal 89 like he was potting pool balls to claim the £150,000 first prize and a return to world number one for the first time since 2010.

Robertson - winner of the Welsh Open before these two final defeats - is an export so stout he should be sponsored by Castlemaine XXXX. Australia doesn’t really give a XXXX for snooker. Which is a shame because Robertson is arguably the most prodigious talent to brandish a cue away from the traditional UK and Ireland-based snooker scene.

Yet the 1980s Aussie plodder 'Steady Eddie' Charlton, who took longer to play a shot than the Boxing Day Test, is a more memorable household name Down Under because of the era he played in. 2010 world champion Robertson has it all and more. Yet still comes up short against O’Sullivan. That is no slight on Robertson because they all tend to come up short against O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan is a snooker professional who plays a different game from the rest.

It is called snooker, but O’Sullivan’s version of it is a bit like one of those blokes who used to do the Rubik’s cube in less than a minute. He sees shots quicker and plays them faster than anyone else. He is Neo in the Matrix. He is The One. He solves puzzles on a snooker table rather than merely hole coloured balls. He is Bansky of the Green Baize. It is all a very cathartic experience.

Like his 'People's Champion' predecessor Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, he is a rather considered safety player, but does not want to fraternise with the dark arts whenever they can be avoided.

That was never better illustrated in a crucial 21st frame that he eventually won when he opted to go for and miss a tough red to a centre pocket rather than put Robertson back behind the yellow having watched his opponent fail to hit a red from the escape.

There is a way to win and a way to lose. O’Sullivan would rather win going for pot than win by death from a hundred cuts. Slow strangulation is not for him. No other player would have taken on such a red at such a taut point of the struggle.

As it was, Robertson could not benefit as he missed the final red with the rest and lost perhaps the pivotal frame of the match having restored parity at 10-10 from 6-3 behind earlier in the day.

O’Sullivan – who made two centuries in the final, of 100 and 129, while relying more on fortitude than flair – has jokingly claimed he would like to play Seniors Snooker. For O'Sullivan, age is just a number.

Most of the older boys will keel over at the prospect. He has time to play both tours if he wishes after returning to the sport’s summit having played in only seven out of 18 ranking events, winning three, losing one final and reaching a semi-final. He also won the Shanghai Masters, the Champion of Champions and reached the Masters final in three key invitational tournaments.

"To get to number one playing half the tournaments as everyone else is probably one of the best achievements in all sport," he said.

In a locker room full of folklore, it is probably not his greatest feat. That would be winning a fifth world title in 2013 a year after carrying off his fourth in 2012 despite taking a full year off. Having become the first player to make 1000 competitive centuries a fortnight ago, he also equals Stephen Hendry’s haul of 36 ranking titles before bidding for a sixth world title in Sheffield next month.

When you are the GOAT, records come thick and fast.

At 43, he is the oldest number one in snooker since the six-times world champion – and a former mentor to O’Sullivan on tactical strategy – Ray Reardon of Wales held the coveted slot in 1983 aged 50.

Robertson compared O’Sullivan to Roger Federer in tennis after the match, which was rather apt. But it may undersell just how naturally gifted O’Sullivan is with a load of balls and a snooker cue.

“Three finals in a row is a fantastic effort but to lose the last two is very disappointing, but I am playing the equivalent of the Roger Federer of the snooker table, and he is probably even better than that,” said Robertson to a few giggles before addressing the crowd pointedly: “Well, he is, actually.

Technique or longevity? It is difficult to say what is more impressive. Is there a better player in any sport in the world than O’Sullivan in snooker? And the answer to that is fairly obvious.

O’Sullivan returns to the world number one spot in snooker as professional sport’s number one.