Snooker star’s chat with Ronnie O’Sullivan tipped to rile up Crucible rivals

 Ronnie O'Sullivan needed some convincing to play at the World Snooker Championship.

Barry Hawkins helped convince Ronnie O'Sullivan to play at the 2025 World Snooker Championship

World Snooker Championship hopefuls will rue the chat that convinced Ronnie O'Sullivan to play at this year's tournament, according to John Parrott. The Rocket needed a nudge to commit to the Crucible after spending three months out of competitive action amid fears that he had 'lost his bottle'.

And he came back with a bang on Tuesday and Wednesday, romping to a 10-4 win over bitter rival Ali Carter to secure safe passage to the second round. O'Sullivan explained, leading up to his clash with Carter, how former world No. 4 Barry Hawkins played an instrumental role in swaying him towards taking the plunge.

"I played him for a couple of days and on the second day, it was that bad that I quit halfway through the session," he said. "Barry came down and had a talk to me and said it’s not as bad as you maybe think.

"I was like, 'Really?' He said, 'It’s just maybe concentration or whatever'. Barry kind of convinced me that maybe I was being a bit harsh on myself. So I was like, 'OK'. But he gave me a good hiding over the two days, which I expected and probably needed."

Reflecting on that pivotal moment, BBC pundit and former world champion Parrott felt that O'Sullivan's performance was so good - particularly in the second session - that those responsible for making up his mind have effectively done one over on every other player with hopes of clinching a world title.

John Parrott suspects Barry Hawkins' chat with O'Sullivan may work against other snooker stars

"There should be a sign in the foyer that says, 'Quiet please, genius at work'," he said. "We use [the word] genius in sport, we’ve got the [Lionel] Messi’s and the Tiger Woods's, this boy is in that [bracket]."

Parrott added, with more than a tinge of sarcasm: "I bet all the players are delighted that Barry Hawkins made him come to this year’s championship!"

Although Hawkins gave O'Sullivan a 'good hiding' behind the scenes, he won't be joining him in the second round after his agonising 10-9 defeat to Hossein Vafaei.

O'Sullivan now has two full days off before his second-round meeting with Pang Junxu. The Chinese cueist fought through a tough match against Zhang Anda to set up his showdown with the Rocket, coming through 10-7 on Wednesday.

Asked if he had any advice for the 25-year-old, who will no doubt have a large majority of fans cheering against him at the Crucible, Parrott said: "Good luck to him! Why not? Go out there and pit your wits against the best."