Ronnie O’Sullivan has produced countless memorable shots over the years, but only one sticks out as his finest piece of work.
The moment of magic in question took place during the 2022 World Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield.
A six-time world champion going into the event, O’Sullivan was just two wins away from a seventh when he took on John Higgins in the semi-final.
O’Sullivan had been in dominant form to reach the final four, picking up wins over David Gilbert, Mark Allen and Stephen Maguire prior to his match against Higgins.
Higgins started the contest brightly and enjoyed a 6-5 lead, but from that moment on, it was one-way traffic in the direction of O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan won the next four frames to go ahead 9-7, but in the 16th frame it appeared Higgins would wrestle back the momentum.
Yet one small error from Higgins opened the door for O’Sullivan to produce the shot of a lifetime and take the lead.
Higgins managed to misfire on a frame-ball black to gift O’Sullivan a way back in, although he had all three remaining reds on the table.
O’Sullivan managed to pot the red into the yellow pocket from one end of the table to the other, but crucially put enough spin on the cue ball to bounce off of two cushions and land back on the black.
It was a marvellous shot that kickstarted O’Sullivan’s comeback as he won the frame to take a 10-6 lead.
So marvellous was the shot, O’Sullivan told Eurosport in 2023 it was ‘one of my best’.
“It’s difficult to pick out a single shot, but I played a really good shot when I played John Higgins in the World Championships in the semi-final last year,” O’Sullivan said.
EurosportO’Sullivan managed to pot the red in the yellow pocket in the top left[/caption]
EurosportImpressively, ‘Rocket’ bounced the white ball off two cushions to settle in prime position to pot the black[/caption]
“I was 43 points behind with two reds on and the pink and black were tied up.
“I potted the red into the yellow bag, screwed across the side cushion, the back cushion and over to the other side cushion, got onto the black and potted the black.
“That red for me was as well as I could hit a ball. I remember that shot pretty well.
“That was one of my best.”
Even 1994 Masters winner Alan McManus was left in awe of O’Sullivan’s wizardry on the green baize.
“The red and black are the two best shots I’ve seen back-to-back in a World Championship semi-final,” McManus said.
O’Sullivan went on to win the semi-final against Higgins 17-11 to book a match against Judd Trump in the final.
The 49-year-old’s experience proved decisive as he overcame Trump 18-13 to become a seven-time world champion.
