Tlisted here are plenty of eye-opening moments in the brand new Ronnie O’Sullivan documentary, The Edge of Everything, which lays bare one of the crucial advanced and compelling characters in sport and a lifelong battle with his personal genius. But one scene is especially hanging, when O’Sullivan and his mother and father keep in mind his father’s arrest and sentencing for homicide.
“He hit me over the head with a full bottle of champagne and I don’t remember anything else,” remembers Ronnie O’Sullivan Snr, of the evening he stabbed Bruce Bryan to demise in a membership on Chelsea’s King’s Road and injured Bruce’s brother Kelvin. “But I know I took that man’s life and I know I hurt the other one.
“I don’t want to talk about this because it’s not fair on the people that have lost their son. I’m still alive, thank God, but if I hadn’t done what I’d done, I’d be dead.”
When O’Sullivan’s mom, Maria, came upon about her husband’s arrest, she inspired the administration workforce of a 16-year-old Ronnie to ship him away to a event in Thailand, so he could be distanced from the information when it broke. When he was finally instructed his dad had been charged with homicide, Ronnie screamed and collapsed. “I’ve always regretted sending him away, I was just trying to protect him,” Maria says. “I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me.”
Reflecting on the second he came upon, O’Sullivan breaks down in tears, saying: “Nothing can prepare you for that. I couldn’t make sense of any of it. I couldn’t believe it.”
He remembers his dad’s phrases after being sentenced to life in jail. “He said, ‘tell my boy to win’.”
O’Sullivan on his taking part in his finest snooker: ‘It feels good. It feels powerful’
(Amazon Prime Video)
The Amazon documentary charts O’Sullivan’s rise from a younger boy whose father constructed a snooker room in their Essex backyard, and whose expertise was so clear that his father sat him down aged 9 to inform him he could be one of the best in the world, to the famous person participant who wrestled with drink and medication on a psychological well being rollercoaster.
It is an issue soothed in latest years by his relationship with the famend sports activities psychologist Dr Steve Peters, however O’Sullivan continues to seek for happiness alongside the factor that the majority torments him: chasing snooker perfection.
O’Sullivan calls it a “toxic competitiveness” and one of the best ways he has discovered to cope with it’s to detach himself from outcomes, to cease himself obsessing over his sport. But it stays a everlasting wrestle — solely final week, he withdrew from the Champion of Champions event citing his psychological wellbeing, saying he was “drained and stressed”.
I had moments once I was younger once I felt invincible
Ronnie O’Sullivan in The Edge of Everything
Among the speaking heads recruited to unpick O’Sullivan’s mindset are his mother and father, who function closely in the documentary alongside beforehand unseen dwelling video from his childhood, and his nice rival Stephen Hendry, who describes O’Sullivan as “a genius” whose report five-minute 147 is “the greatest thing that’s ever happened in sport”.
Then there are his mates, the Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and the artist Damien Hirst, who attempt to outline the true Ronnie. “Chekhov said anybody can face a crisis,” says Wood. “It’s day-to-day living that drives you mad.”
O’Sullivan has lengthy been open about his psychological well being struggles, however maybe extra revealing is his admission of what he calls “stage fright” earlier than snooker matches, even now, 30 years right into a profession with nothing left to show.
A clip throughout final 12 months’s World Snooker Championship ultimate reveals O’Sullivan confiding in Dr Peters, whereas sitting in his dressing room. “I feel like I want to cry,” O’Sullivan says. “I don’t even feel like I want to face it. I’m looking at my cue, I feel like my eyes are blurry. I’m scared, mate.”
It is worlds aside from Netflix’s Beckham series, an entertaning watch, however from which it’s not possible to recall something of significance that David Beckham mentioned. Such is Beckham’s dedication to his personal clear model that even his main flaw, infidelity, doesn’t elicit an admission or apology however is brushed beneath the carpet.
By contrast, there’s a rawness to O’Sullivan’s documentary (by the way co-produced by Beckham) which reveals weak spot in addition to depth of thought. It is obvious that he spends an excessive amount of time scared of not having the ability to find his finest sport, and turns into distressed when he doesn’t. He worries about his advancing years and when his abilities will fade.
O’Sullivan discusses his near-constant anguish taking part in snooker
(Amazon Prime Video)
But he can’t stroll away, irrespective of what number of instances he threatens to give up the game. He is addicted to the pleasure of taking part in flawless snooker, on a euphoric airplane nobody else can attain, and in the documentary he describes that feeling in poetic element.
“It’s a place where you lose yourself. You don’t think. Your mind feels clear, feels free. Free from any thought. It goes beyond that, in a way. It becomes very instinctive, and quiet, but yet very sharp. It’s like you’re razor sharp. It’s like you’re floating. It feels like you’ve got all the time in the world. And yeah, it’s just good. It feels good. It feels powerful.
“I had moments when I was young when I felt invincible. I know what that feeling’s like and I love it. I want that high.”
The latter a part of the documentary reveals his World Championship victory in 2022 – a record-equalling seventh crown – and captures the conversations with his opponent instantly after the ultimate, Judd Trump, and with his father.
As they embrace, Trump says: “You’re the best player of all time, I love you man,” which brings tears from the champion.
While posing for photographs, O’Sullivan’s father asks: “That’s it now isn’t it? Done now, aren’t you?”
His son responds: “I don’t know, mate…”
More than a 12 months later, he’s nonetheless going. O’Sullivan has received every little thing there may be to win in snooker, however giving up is the toughest half.
Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything is out there solely in cinemas throughout UK & Ireland on November 21 and launches on Prime Video on November 23.
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