![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/4\/590x\/secondary\/Ronnie-O-Sullivan-5072701.jpg?r=1700303119913\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There can be few sportsmen who, in their pursuit of excellence, stare as deeply into the abyss as Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan. His fight is as much with himself as with his opponent. \u200cHis mental demons are a constant companion. He could not face the defence of his Champion of Champions crown in Bolton last week and withdrew \u201cdrained and stressed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last month he pulled out of the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast because of \u201cmedical reasons\u201d. \u200cThat he is still standing – and still winning the biggest events – makes him one of the great champions. \u200cSnooker is not sprinting. Or boxing. Or rugby. Its physical demands do not extend much before a few hours on your feet in shiny shoes.<\/p>\n
\u200cBut mentally there are few pursuits as wearing. There is a lot of time to think when your opponent is amongst the balls.\u200c And thinking is not good for O\u2019Sullivan as a new film, released this week, graphically illustrates. \u2018Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan: The Edge of Everything\u2019 is, as you might imagine from the subject under the arc light, utterly compelling. Even if you can\u2019t stand snooker, you should see this.<\/p>\n
It is a journey into the soul of a tortured genius which lays bare just what it takes – and what it takes out of him – for O\u2019Sullivan to do what he does on the table.\u200c It is a study in mental trauma as much as sporting exceptionalism.\u200c\u200c At one point during the film\u2019s deep dive into last year\u2019s world championship final, TV commentator Dennis Taylor notes how cool O\u2019Sullivan appears at the table. If he had seen the behind-the-scenes footage of O\u2019Sullivan chain-smoking out of his dressing room window during the interval while he unburdens the fear which is gripping him to his psychiatrist, he might have reconsidered.\u200c<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong> Stephen Hendry angers ITV presenter as snooker icon fails to do his homework[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n O\u2019Sullivan talks about playing for enjoyment but those words jar against the pained figure going through agonies at The Crucible.\u200c To witness, as the viewer does vividly, the anguish and torment you wonder whether it is all worth it. \u200cO\u2019Sullivan does too. He thinks aloud in the film over how much easier it would be to spare himself the excavation of his soul. \u200c\u00a0\u00a0 There has never been a more gifted snooker player. As Stephen Hendry recounts ruefully in the film, The Rocket once beat him playing 90 per cent of their match left-handed.<\/p>\n His 147 at the 1997 world championships remains one of the most extraordinary five minutes and 20 seconds of sport you are ever likely to see. \u200cBut it takes more than just talent to have maintained the standards he has for so long. For all the weeks when it is all too much and the periodic threats to walk away from the game completely, at 47, he is still able to deliver snooker no other player can match. There is a perfectionist\u2019s drive deep inside him. To achieve what he has, given his back story, seems incredible. \u200c<\/p>\n His porn-pedalling father\u2019s imprisonment for murder triggered well-chronicled issues with drink, drugs and depression. Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan Snr features in the documentary. He reveals that, as he was being sent down, his departing words were: \u2018tell my boy to win\u201d. \u200cIt is as if those words, for good and ill, have been seared into O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s subconscious.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/4\/590x\/secondary\/RonnieOS-5072705.jpg?r=1700303120026\")
<\/p>\n\n