October 29th 2023.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is one of the greatest snooker players in history. But he has one particular player who has been a source of struggle for him throughout his career: John Parrott.
When O'Sullivan first joined the professional snooker circuit in 1992, Parrott had already won the World Championship the year before. The teenage O'Sullivan quickly made an impression by winning the 1993 UK Championship, but he couldn't get the better of Parrott in their early meetings.
In fact, Parrott beat O'Sullivan in their first six clashes, including a 13-3 walloping in the 1994 World Championship at the Crucible. O'Sullivan finally got his first win against his bogey player at the 1995 Masters. But Parrott still retired with an 8-4 winning record against the seven-time world champion, even beating O'Sullivan as recently as the 2000 Masters.
When asked about his bogey player by Eurosport, O'Sullivan said: "John Parrott was that player for me, I think he beat me the first seven times we played. He played great and I never used to play against him, that's sometimes what happens, you know."
Parrott himself spoke about his impressive record against O'Sullivan earlier this year, saying that it was all about overcoming a mental hurdle. He said: "There's always been an aura and a sparkle about him. The trouble is you can sit in the chair and fall in love with him. I looked at it as a challenge, no one expected me to win, let's give it a go and get stuck in."
"It's extremely intimidating, there's no way round that. You realise when you come out that nearly all the crowd are there to watch him play so you need to have a fair bit of self belief. You have to show him that you're there to play because he feeds off weakness. If he sees someone not giving him the punishment he deserves then he just gets stronger. You need a bit of character about you."
Jimmy White, another great of the game, also had his own bogey player. He said: "Mine was Steve Davis for sure, he was a much better safety player than me and I had to play my top game to beat him. For me, it was Steve Davis."
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