Did ROS throw the WSC ?

[gem]

Just wondering peoples views on the wsc ?

Does anyone else think RO'S threw the final ?

No. Just beaten by a better all round player.

[wildJONESEYE]

Only Selby could have beaten Ronnie the way he did Mark has a way of getting to Ronnie. Head to head in main tournaments its now 6-6 and in finals its 3-2 Selby and at the Crucible 2-0 Selby

[gavpowell]

He played relatively poorly all tournament - he was almost fortunate to beat Perry really. Everyone's been saying for ages that Ronnie is leaving chances, the other players just aren't capitalising. This time Selby did.

If he were going to throw a world final, I really can't see it being against Selby - for all the "respect" he gave Mark before the final started, I think he actually hates Selby and the way he plays the game. This is a man who said he wanted to beat him 10-1 in the Masters, which is all of 3 months ago.

[j6uk]

No. Just beaten by a better all round player.

lol, oh really? so selby's the real genius right and the best player of all time?

[Cyril]

Even the greatest players lose a World Final occasionally, infact, the only multiple World Champion to have a 100% win record in World Finals is Joe Davis! Interesting to look back though, both Reardon and Hendry won their first six World Finals before losing in their seventh. Ronnie won his first five and has now lost in his sixth.

Multiple World Champions of the modern era and their World Final records:

John Spencer WWLW
Ray Reardon WWWWWWL
Alex Higgins WLLW
Steve Davis WWWLLWWW
Stephen Hendry WWWWWWLWL
John Higgins WLWWW
Mark Williams LWW
Ronnie O'Sullivan WWWWWL

All time (including the 1960's challenge matches):
Joe Davis WWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Walter Donaldson WLLWLLLL
Fred Davis LLWWLWWWWWWLLL
John Pulman LLWWWWWWWWL

[rdsalt]

He played relatively poorly all tournament - he was almost fortunate to beat Perry really. Everyone's been saying for ages that Ronnie is leaving chances, the other players just aren't capitalising. This time Selby did.

If he were going to throw a world final, I really can't see it being against Selby - for all the "respect" he gave Mark before the final started, I think he actually hates Selby and the way he plays the game. This is a man who said he wanted to beat him 10-1 in the Masters, which is all of 3 months ago.

Think its a bit harsh to say Ronnie played relatively poorly all tournament after beating Murphy 13-3 and Hawkins 17-7 and having the most centuries of any player. Agree that he wouldn't throw a match against Selby though, I don't think Selby is his favourite player by a long way. I dont think much people would say Mark is a better player than Ronnie, but he is a very good match player, never gives up, handles the pressure better than most, and plays his own game rather than the player he is against. I also think he is one of the few players that genuinely believes he can beat Ronnie even if Ronnie is playing well.

[Cyril]

It's the old thing really. Ronnie's best is better than anyone but you can't do a thing sitting in your chair.

[gem]

lol, oh really? so selby's the real genius right and the best player of all time?

No, just a better all round player.
Ronnie is a genious when going for him.

This is possibly the reason Ronnie has only managed 5 titles so far. He has struggled to win when everything is not going as he likes.

[jrc750]

lol, oh really? so selby's the real genius right and the best player of all time?

Funny but i didn't see where he said best player of all time, you made that bit up lol
Selby won, Ronnie lost, get over it

[The Statman]

No.

Think of the school fees he can pay with the £300,000 top prize, certainly more than he could make from a betting scam!

[gavpowell]

That was the other thing that worried me going into the final - Ronnie didn't say anything stupid all tournament!

[The Statman]

That was the other thing that worried me going into the final - Ronnie didn't say anything stupid all tournament!

To be fair, though, he hasn't said anything stupid all season!

I thought his interview particularly after the Welsh Open final was very good, not the Ronnie we've seen just answer the questions put to him in as few words as possible, nothing negative, just openly chatting and saying something to listen to. For me, it's been one of the most enlightening bits of the season.

Also, along with that, is the Ronnie O'Sullivan show on Eurosport - I was sceptical that he would make a good 'presenter' of a show but it was excellent, especially the chat with Neil Robertson in which they both spoke engagingly and seemed to be naturally enjoying it.

I didn't think we would get that from O'Sullivan and it's come across really well.

[warren132]

I hope i dont get in to trouble for saying this but i heard from a good source a Professional Gambler from the London area that Ro's was told to loose the final against Mark or some people would expose some bad things about Ro's.

hope this was not the case or surely this would need looked in to.

[Smeeagain]

I just don't think ROS is the kind of player to chuck it.
He loves the sport. If you any of you haven't had a chance to read either of his books then Id urge you to do so. He's been a troubled man for along time and only now seems to be finding some kind of inner peace with running/snooker/personal life (for example his girlfriend who I think because is fiance last year doesn't even get a mention to the very last page of the latest book whereas all his personal relationships previously have been played out publicly. Whether you like the guy or not its a good read - I read a lot of autobiographies (even of folk I don't particularly like but who have achieved a lot, just to see how they tick and how they got to where they are)
When they were sitting at 11-11 the misses were shocking - so much so that regardless of that pink you could accuse either player of throwing the game with such apparently simple errors one after the other. And I don't believe skilfull as he is that he could keep throwing frame after frame after frame after frame without it becoming apparent. What if Selby had played badly? Is Ronnie then suppose to stand on one leg, close his eye and hopefully miss (on his day he would probably still pot it!).
I think there are a pile of issues there - but Selby ground him down. He said as much in the post match blurb when he said he was just numb. I think Ronnie would rather have had a 17-17 situation where each player had taken it in turns to deliver centuries+ in every frame to get there.
For the ROS fans (me included) it wasn't a pretty game. For a connoisseur of tactical snooker (which is also) me included it was an amazing display.
Sportsmen make mistakes. I was once knocked out of a British Final by 6 hundredths of a second due to a mistake made by a team mate. Did he chuck it - did he hell. But the mistake he made would have been exactly the right thing to do if you wanted to chuck it. He has regretted that moment every since - 20 years on still talks about it. He made a mistake. Ronnie made mistakes and Selby just wore him down.
Just my tuppence worth.

[The Statman]

It's funny, though, how this question often seems to come up when someone with a fair lead loses.

You just have to accept that these things happen and sometimes the better player has a bad day at the office and loses. Anyone who's played snooker to any half-decent level will be able to identify with the fact that sometimes you can literally not pot a ball, and then the next day you play better than you ever have.

On Monday (and to a certain extent, Sunday as well), O'Sullivan had that bad day at the office and Selby was playing better on Monday than he had all fortnight, give or take. That's just the way it goes.

In 2010 all four semi-finalists had been 4-frames down in an earlier match; do we look back at the whole tournament and see if it was a fix?