Ronnie O'Sullivan 'very aggressive' on and off the table, says veteran snooker star
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Veteran snooker star Dominic Dale says Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only player he has felt intimidated by during a match, describing the Rocket as ‘very aggressive’ on and off the table.
Dale and O’Sullivan both turned professional in 1992 and have been competing on the main tour ever since.
The Rocket has obviously had the better career – the 49-year-old has had a better career than every other snooker player – but Dale’s has also been more successful than most, with two ranking titles to his name and a peak of number 19 in the world rankings.
The pair first met professionally in 1993 World Championship qualifying and it is fair to say O’Sullivan has had the better of their contests, winning 11 of the 12 they have played in total.
The Spaceman admits that he has felt intimidated by O’Sullivan when he has faced him, partly because of his dazzling play, but also down to his ‘aggressive’ demeanour.
Speaking on the Snooker Scene podcast, Dale said: ‘Ronnie’s the only player that I can ever say I found intimidating to play against.
‘Not just his style of play, because he can wipe you off the table in no time. It’s just because he’s such a character.
‘He’s a very aggressive person, Ronnie. In life generally as well as on the table and you feel that, it comes through when you’re playing him and you’re sat in your chair. If you make a mistake and he makes an 80-odd in no time at all it is frightening.
‘You think, “jeez, I can do this on the practice table, probably at half the speed, but I’m never likely to play with this much freedom in a match,” and he can really embarrass you.
‘All of a sudden he can make a difficult game look impossible. You can be 3-0 down in no time, playing Ronnie, and all of a sudden a black off the spot becomes 10 times harder. It’s very intimidating.
‘It took me a long, long time to get over the intimidatory factor that Ronnie always has. It’s only the last five or six times I’ve played Ronnie, that I’ve actually played the player and not the person.
‘I have beaten him in China and I’ve lost a couple of close matches and it’s nice to play a little bit against him because sometimes I have played Ronnie and just been completely inept because I’ve been completely overawed playing him.’
The 53-year-old has announced that he will retire from professional snooker at the end of the season, bringing to a close a 33-year career at the top.
As he prepares fore retirement, Dale has some advice for young players who have to take on the likes of O’Sullivan, and that is to enjoy it.
‘When you go out to play Ronnie O’Sullivan you’ve got to understand that it’s a privilege,’ said Dale. ‘If you look at it that way it can help you perform.
‘Instead of trying to work out a way to beat them, enjoy the experience.
‘The other thing is when you play somebody like Ronnie O’Sullivan the crowd are going to be on his side as well. They’re not going to clap you for any of the good shots you may play, but they’ll clap a black off the spot for Ronnie O’Sullivan.
‘It creates a fantastic atmosphere. Enjoy the atmosphere. For any youngsters that are going to be playing some of the game’s greats, enjoy the experience and take out from that what you can and learn from it.
‘You must enjoy playing the game’s great players, if you don’t enjoy those occasions you’re never going to be winning trophies.’
Both O’Sullivan and Dale are set to play next at the World Championship, with the Welshman in his last tournament as a professional, taking on the qualifiers.
The Rocket will go to the Crucible as a seed, if he does indeed choose to play after pulling out of a string of events this season.
