2024-02-21 FrankReport
The 2024 Players Championship is underway, based on the Chinese player Zhou Yuelong's 2-6 loss to the two-time Players Championship champion O'Sullivan in the first round, and the seven-time world champion Hendry commented: "Zhou Yuelong may just not be able to step through O'Sullivan's so-called halo", not only Zhou Yuelong and Hendry think: "There are many other Chinese players who are "too polite" to O'Sullivan on the field, which is really inappropriate in the arena."
After beating Zhou Yuelong in the first round of the Players Championship, O'Sullivan was able to extend his winning streak to 16 matches this season, and the 48-year-old veteran has once again galloped around this season and continued to write his legendary movement as a champion (5th Shanghai Masters Championship, 8th British Championship, 8th Masters Championship, The 3rd World Grand Prix Championship), O'Sullivan's current total number of ranking tournament champions has reached 41, and his unattainable records are bound to have a great deterrent effect on today's opponents, which is the most reasonable explanation for O'Sullivan's so-called aura.
This game is also Zhou Yuelong's third loss to O'Sullivan that season (the first two games: 5-6 O'Sullivan in the final of the British Championship 1/4, and 3-4 O'Sullivan in the 16th round of the World Grand Prix), and from the analysis of the evolution in the previous two tiebreakers, Hendry believes that Zhou Yuelong is not without the opportunity and ability to defeat O'Sullivan, Hendry commented on ITV: " I know that O'Sullivan is the hero of many Chinese players, so if they want to challenge O'Sullivan, they must get rid of their current "too polite" mentality against O'Sullivan."
If you look at the game (in the first round of the Players Championship), the courageous Zhou Yuelong took a (2-1) lead at the beginning, but as the game progressed, Zhou Yuelong became extremely weak and matched the strength and confidence at the beginning, why?Hendry analyzed: "Is Zhou Yuelong too much "respecting" O'Sullivan?Does O'Sullivan, who is a ** gram goat character, really have an "aura"?As Selby said: maybe only the real top players are not afraid of O'Sullivan".
Hendry continued: "I don't mean that I have a problem with the respect and friendliness of Chinese players towards O'Sullivan, my original intention is that players should put aside all feelings with their opponents in the arena and fully engage in the fight, is Trump polite to Lisowski?(Trump and Lisowski have been friends for many years, but Trump unceremoniously defeated Lisowski in both finals of the 2020 2021 season (9-2 at the German Masters and 4-0 at the Gibraltar Open), I tell you, (6-time world champion) Steve. Davis would never talk to an opponent in the ring, he pretended he didn't know us at all."
In short, Hendry's advice to his players is based on the fact that he wants them to forget about their opponents and give it their all. But not all Chinese players are at a loss in front of O'Sullivan, at least Zhang Anda defeated O'Sullivan 9-6 in the semifinals of last year's National Championships (see picture above).