Whether Rocket O'Sullivan is the first person in the billiards world was controversial 10 years ago, and with the change of times, this answer has been decided.
* Gram belongs to a kind of billiards, generally speaking, the Chinese people play "Chinese-style black eight", and some play nine balls, such as Pan Xiaoting is the queen of nine balls, but the ceiling of the billiards world must be ** gram. Although the three rules are very different for professional players, the difficulty of the gram and the ability of the gram player are far beyond other billiards rules.
Generally speaking, if a player wants to play nine-ball and black eight, it is easy to transform. In fact, in the past few years, there have been many top players who have come to China to play the Black Eight Competition, and they can get started directly. But if you let the black eight and nine-ball players play ** gram, it will not work at all without a few years of returning to the furnace. **gram players playing black eight is playing, and black eight players playing **gram is extremely painful, neither accuracy nor movement is up to standard. In recent years, O'Sullivan has played nine balls with Pan Xiaoting, the queen of nine balls, completely with his eyes closed.
Therefore, whoever can rule the ** gram field can completely say that he is the king of billiards. The earliest ball king is Steve Davis, who is the "Davis of billiards" ridiculed by Guo Degang in his cross talk. The old ball king ruled an era, but unfortunately after Hendry's birth, Davis handed over the throne.
Hendry is a name we were very familiar with when we were children, he was known as the "Emperor of Billiards", and he was so strong that he had no friends at his peak. Before O'Sullivan entered his peak, Hendry was definitely the first person in the history of the first gram. But as the Rockets' form and accolades grew, Hendry's all-time No. 1 throne became more and more unstable.
Of course, there have also been many unborn geniuses in the history of the first gram, such as the second brother Jimmy White and Hurricane Higgins. Both are known for their gorgeous offense, and they belong to a strengthened version of Trump in attack, but they may not be as good as Trump in terms of overall strength. The reason why he is called "second brother" is because Jimmy White has won too many runners-up. The two geniuses can only be said to be the stars of **g, but they are definitely not overlords.
In terms of results, Hendry has long dominated the sport in the 90s of the last century, he is the youngest world champion and has a large number of records that no one can match. Therefore, Hendry's status in the field of **g is far greater than that of the second brother and the hurricane, although the latter two are rare geniuses.
And talent can often determine a person's ceiling, although Hendry crushed the first two geniuses, but after the third genius was born, the pattern of ** gram is gradually changing, this genius is Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The reason why it is said that 10 years ago, the first brother was still controversial, is because Hendry won the most world championships in history, and three major championships, both of which are dominant. Who knows that in the past 10 years, O'Sullivan has caught up in all aspects and almost broken all the records in the world.
Hendry is most proud of7-time World Champion, 4-time British Champion and 5-time MastersThis data was originally considered unprecedented, unprecedented. We always have the impression that Hendry is very old, and Rocket is very young, in fact, the difference between the two is only 6 years old, Hendry was born in 1969, and O'Sullivan is known as one of the "75 Three Heroes".
Hendry was in a decline at the end of the decade, while O'Sullivan is still in excellent form in his 40s. O'Sullivan overtook Hendry in the last 10 years, and he won a total of them7 World Championships, 8 British Championships and 8 Masters Championships.
Hendry had won five consecutive World Championships in the 90s, the crowning honour of his career. Generally speaking, a top player who can win a World Championship in his lifetime is considered to have no regrets in his life, while Hendry has won five in five years. Because of this, the number of his World Championship titles has always been considered unsurpassed.
And O'Sullivan's World Championship championship is very scattered, winning in and 2022 respectively, spanning a full 22 years. Before 2010, no one would have thought that the rocket, which was already close to age, would actually get older and stronger.
It is clear from O'Sullivan's award-winning year that his peak period covered the entire 21st century. And Hendry had no opponents in the 10 years he ruled ** gram, and he was equivalent to Jordan in basketball during that period, as long as he was on the court, others almost had to compete for the runner-up.
So is it better to reign for 10 years, or is it more powerful to have a peak period of more than 20 years? Apparently the latter. Because Hengdeli lived in an era where the competitive environment was far less than it is now. In other words, there are basically no first-class gram players who can wrestle with Hendry in the same era, and O'Sullivan has to face the billiards emperor at the peak of his career at the beginning of his career, the other two of the "75 Three Heroes" after maturity, and the fierce impact of the rising star "80 Five Tigers".
Whether it is "75 Three Heroes" or "80 Five Tigers", if it is placed in Hendry's era, it can pose a huge threat to the billiards emperor, even if these people may not be as great as Hendry, there are too many top players, and there is always someone who can share a lot of Hendry's honors. At the same time as O'Sullivan, there are also a series of first-class giants such as "Captain" Carter, Big Shark Bingham, and Fat Lee.
If these people are all in the same era as Hendry, then Hendry's championship is likely to be halved, after all, there are more wolves and less meat, and no one can carry it. Therefore, the competitive environment faced by Hendry is far from being comparable with O'Sullivan, from this point of view, even in the face of more brutal competition, the rocket is still surpassing Hendry in all aspects, which is enough to explain the problem.
Hendry's peak was fierce and short, he was active in the 90s, and his name has rarely been heard since the 21st century, until the 2005 ** China Open final, 18-year-old Ding Junhui won 9-5, we think of the long-lost billiards emperor again. This game marks the advent of Ding Junhui's era, and also implies that the era of the billiards emperor has officially ended.
At that time, we felt that the billiards world was also afraid of being less strong, and the 18-year-old Ding Junhui was barefoot and was not afraid to wear shoes, and relied on a fierce force to defeat the aging Hendry, but in fact, Hendry was only 36 years old at that time, which was not too big, and now Ding Junhui is also exactly 36 years old and is still in good shape. Hendry's form has been declining in his first years.
Therefore, some people say that the peaks of Hendry and O'Sullivan do not coincide, which is only half true. Because the difference between the two is only 6 years old, there is not a big gap in the field of **g. Even Selby in 1983 could go toe-to-toe with the 1975 Rockets, so why couldn't Hendry? So it was not the rocket who bullied the old billiards emperor at his peak, but the emperor stepped down from the altar prematurely.
From this point of view, the above conclusion can also be proven, because since the beginning of the 21st century, the major top players have all entered the mainstream, so the competition faced by Hendry cannot be compared with the 90s. Therefore, the real reason why Hengdeli has fallen from the top of his 30s may be precisely because the competitive environment has changed dramatically.
Since ancient times, there is no first, and there is no second, and the head-to-head confrontation between the two can also explain certain problems. The two sides have met a total of 56 times, with Hendry winning 21 and O'Sullivan winning 30 and drawing 5. O'Sullivan still has a narrow lead over Hendry. The two met 14 times in the final, with Hendry winning 4 times and O'Sullivan 10 times. Especially since entering the 21st century, Hendry has rarely won against O'Sullivan. Career win percentage: O'Sullivan 7472%, Hendry 6854%。
O'Sullivan is also ranked first in the cliff style in the single-stroke score of more than 100:1230 times, Hendry ranked 6th with 777 times, 2nd place: Higgins 965 times, 3rd place: Trump 953 times, 4th place: Robertson 907 times, 5th place: Selby 788 times, 7th place: Ding Junhui 642 times.
In the number of 147 perfect scores in a single stroke, O'Sullivan still dominatesHe had 15 perfect scores, Hendry 11, Higgins 12, Bingham 9, Trump 8, Murphy 8, Ding Junhui 7. This data once again shows that none of the players of the same era as Hendry are on the list, and 6 of the top 7 players are competing with O'Sullivan.
If O'Sullivan had been willing, he would have been able to shoot more 147 perfect scores, because he had deliberately scored one less point on one occasion as a way to pick the door of the organizers. And O'Sullivan often does not participate in sub-station competitions, he can fight if he wants to, and leave when he wants, but as long as he is serious, others will most likely admit defeat. In fact, it is true that O'Sullivan is at his peak, and others can't reach out at all.
Therefore, the current ** gram players all admit that O'Sullivan is the first person in ** gram, although he is sometimes not in the first place in the overall ranking, but everyone knows that no one can beat him when it comes to really playing the game, so the so-called ranking match is meaningless, O'Sullivan is the strongest, which is recognized. Despite this, the 49-year-old Rocket still recently returned to the first place in the qualifying round, and the second place is the strongest post-80s Trump.
To this day, the only thing that Hendry has not been surpassed by O'Sullivan is the length of the qualifying championship: O'Sullivan has 333 weeks, while Hendry has 471 weeks. But the honor is no longer significant.
Hendry was invincible at his peak because there were few competitors, and O'Sullivan actually dominated **g for 20 years, but he was not interested in **g in some years. From a sensory point of view, O'Sullivan is still more powerful, his shooting speed is the first in history, and Hendry's shooting is not slow, but it is still not as fast as the rocket. The Rockets also held the fastest 147 record, completing the perfect score in just 5 minutes and 21 seconds, which is extremely scary to think about. 37 hits, 100 percent shooting and only 5 minutes and 21 seconds, an average of 9 seconds to score a goal, and each ball had to be called for the number 7 black ball.
Having said all this, in the field of technology and achievements, O'Sullivan has long been the first person in history, which is an objective fact. And there is a reason why some people don't like O'Sullivan very much, first of all, billiards is a gentleman's sport, especially **g. Most of the players are British, and England has always been known for being gentlemen. And some of O'Sullivan's behaviors are not gentlemanly at all, he often grimaces in the game, and he does not shy away from the camera, either picking his teeth or picking his feet, and shaking hands with his opponent after picking his feet, informal.
And Hendry's walking, sitting and lying are full of gentlemanly demeanor, in terms of temperament alone, Hengdry is obviously more "stylish" emperor superstar, and he is very convincing as the spokesperson of ** gram. But competitive sports ultimately depend on results. Now 49 years old, O'Sullivan is still an insurmountable mountain for all opponents, and he may never win the championship again, but no one wants to meet such an opponent.
So did O'Sullivan win in a crushing way against everyone? Definitely!
Hendry lost in a direct confrontation with O'Sullivan, and Higgins, who is also the "75 Three Masters", is the player who has played the most times with O'Sullivan, O'Sullivan has a slight advantage of 40-35, and the two are 3-3 at the World Championships. So it makes sense to say that Higgins is third in history.
Among the rising stars, only Trump is closest to O'Sullivan, and Trump has a slight advantage with 15 wins and 16 losses, which is enough to see that Trump is the first brother of the younger generation. In 30 matches with Ding Junhui, Ding Junhui only won 6 times, and was beaten to cry by a rocket once.
O'Sullivan has fully realized his billiards talent, his skills have reached the pinnacle, he can open the bow left and right, and take down the opponent with his left hand. Combining his achievements, records and records, there is no doubt that the first person in the history of the first gram belongs to O'Sullivan, and Hendry can only rank second.
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