‘Rubbish’ Ronnie O’Sullivan produced worst performance in years at British Open, says Stephen Hendry

Ronnie O’Sullivan turned in the worst performance he’s produced in a long time in first round defeat to Alexander Ursenbacher at the British Open, reckons Stephen Hendry.

The world champion suffered a shock 4-1 defeat to Ursenbacher on Monday evening in Milton Keynes, although given his record against the Swiss star, maybe it was not too much of a surprise.

The 26-year-old has now beaten the Rocket three times, only losing to him once in the minor Championship League, so he certainly has no fear of facing the sport’s greatest ever player.

The world number one did not play like the GOAT on Monday, though, and Hendry was very critical of the 46-year-old’s performance, which saw him finish with a pot success rate of just 80 per cent.

‘That’s probably the worst I’ve seen Ronnie O’Sullivan play for a good few years, he was rubbish tonight,’ Hendry said of the Rocket.

‘He just never got going. He was over-hitting things, played three shots left-handed which missed by a long way. It’s the poorest performance I’ve seen from Ronnie in a long time.

‘I’m sure it’s not the fact he’s playing someone he’s lost to twice, I’m sure that’s not the reason, but for whatever reason he just wasn’t on it tonight.’

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Hendry was full of praise for Ursenbacher, though, who appears to have recovered from a very disappointing season last time around and was thoroughly impressive as he downed the world champ.

‘You have to give all the credit to Alexander because he was magnificent, he took it to Ronnie from