Ronnie O'Sullivan 'will be on it' for Masters defence at Alexandra Palace in London - Alan McManus
Published 16/12/2024 at 16:02 GMT
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The Masters is looming large on the horizon, and Ronnie O'Sullivan will be a star attraction at the Alexandra Palace in London next month. He will be the defending champion, but there are doubts about his form after skipping a host of events in the 2024/25 campaign. Watch and stream top snooker action, including The Masters, live and on demand on Eurosport and discovery+.
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Alan McManus feels Ronnie O’Sullivan will be firing on all cylinders for the defence of his Masters title.
The 2024/25 campaign to date has been one to forget for O’Sullivan, as his best results have been semi-final appearances at the Xi'an Grand Prix and Shanghai Masters - while he has been absent from a number of events.
Triple Crowns have been a priority for O’Sullivan for much of his career, and he currently has 23 to his name after adding a UK Championship and Masters to his trophy cabinet last term.
He has seen Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson take control of the current campaign, and the world No. 1 and No. 2 will be among the favourites for next month’s Masters - which will be live on Eurosport and discovery+.
O’Sullivan’s lack of competitive action poses a question about how sharp he will be at the Alexandra Palace, but McManus feels he will be motivated to try and add a ninth Masters to his CV.
"I think Ronnie is going to be sitting on his own thoughts of the past couple of weeks thinking that I have got to get on this, I can’t turn up in front of 2,000-plus people and not put on a show," McManus told Eurosport.
"He will be on it."
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McManus’ fellow Eurosport expert, Neal Foulds is of the opinion that heading to north London relatively fresh could be to O’Sullivan’s advantage.
O’Sullivan famously took the whole of the year off after winning the World Championship in 2012, before returning to action at the Crucible and defending his crown.
"I expect him to play well," Foulds said. "Whether he can defend it I don’t know.
"But maybe less is more with him. The fact he has not been playing might actually help him."
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Watch and stream top snooker action, including The Masters, live and on demand on Eurosport and discovery+
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