Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals his greatest shot in 30 years at World Snooker Championship – ‘As well as I could hit a ball'

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed that his magical pressure pot on a key red during his 17-11 win over fierce rival John Higgins in last year’s World Championship semi-final is his greatest from 30 golden years at the Crucible Theatre. The showmanship of the shot was an item of brilliance and beauty that was breathtaking in its execution, but also typical of O'Sullivan's innate ability to seize the day.

Ad Higgins had lost four straight frames from leading 6-5, but appeared destined to end the second session only 9-7 adrift on Friday afternoon when he embarked upon a timely break of 53 in the 16th frame. World ChampionshipWho stands between O'Sullivan and record eighth world title?03/04/2023 AT 18:10 The four-time world champion needed one more ball to leave his opponent requiring snookers, but somehow missed a frame-ball black off the spot.

O'Sullivan returned to the table chasing blacks with all three remaining reds to force a re-spot against the odds. After a minor error by Higgins during a safety exchange, O'Sullivan was faced with a fiendishly tough red down the length of the table to the yellow pocket.

With pink and black close together at the business end of the table, potting the red was difficult enough, but his natural attacking instinct to screw the white off two cushions and land on the black was outlandish even by his own historic exhibits of green baize inspiration. “It's difficult to pick out a single shot, but I played a really good shot when I played John Higgins in the World Championships in the semi-finals last year,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport ahead of the 2023 World Snooker Championship, which is live on discovery+, Eurosport, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com.