Roger Federer comparison made as Ronnie O’Sullivan returns to Crucible

Ronnie O'Sullivan explains why he made a 146 in 2016

Ronnie O’Sullivan gets nothing like the wider sporting credit he deserves for his brilliance – according to Anthony McGill. Scot McGill, 32, starts his campaign today to get back to the Crucible where he has not missed a World Championship since 2014 – having just missed out on automatic seeding.

That meant the former semi-finalist was plunged him into the brutal qualifying bearpit where he needs to win two matches at the English Institute of Sport. Four-time world champion John Higgins was McGill’s idol as a kid and the Wizard of Wishaw’s first title 25 years ago was the first match a wide-eyed youngster ever watched.

But McGill, who takes on John Astley today, believes that neither world No.1 and seven-time world champion O’Sullivan or fellow Scot Higgins are appreciated enough. He said: “I don’t think any snooker players get the recognition. I know Ronnie is the biggest draw…but even Ronnie.

“For the standard he plays to – does any sports person out there play to a higher standard of their sport than Ronnie? There might be people who match it like Roger Federer in tennis, but nobody is as good at their game as what Ronnie is at this. And even he doesn’t really get the recognition.

“He’s not really a superstar is he? People know him, they have heard of him, but he’s not. In terms of John [Higgins], I’d say the same. It’s the way he is. It’s hard for me to say who John would be rated the same as in Scotland, because I am in the snooker world.

“It’s difficult for me to know what Joe Bloggs thinks about snooker or John or whatever. It is a question to take to the streets and canvas people. John’s first world title in 1998 was my first introduction to snooker. I remember watching John.

“I remember waking up the next morning and my mum or dad must have bought one of the newspapers. It was all John Higgins on the back page. It was the first game I ever watched, him and Ken Doherty in the final…a long time ago, 25 years ago. I had never played snooker before. I had never seen it or anything. I had never played it. I think for that Christmas, I got a little snooker table and started playing.

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“When I first practised with him I was like, ‘It’s John Higgins’. But now it’s just normal. Everyone still s***s out of their backside, don’t they – no matter how famous they are.”

McGill has shown that when he gets to the Crucible he can be a real danger – and revels in the unique and tight atmosphere. There have been famous wins over Mark Selby and O’Sullivan.

And three years ago he was desperately unlucky to lose a semi-final to Kyren Wilson in a decider – one of the most incredible and dramatic frames ever seen. He added: “It would be great to get back to the Crucible. When you are a kid watching on TV it looks massive, like Centre Court at Wimbledon. But when you play there, it is tiny.”

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