Ronnie O’Sullivan gave an explanation of why he was walking around the Barbican Centre in York wearing trainers after securing his spot in the UK Championship round of 16. Thirty years to the day after his 1993 final victory over Stephen Hendry, the Rocket started his quest for an eighth UK title. He easily defeated Anthony McGill by winning six straight frames and moving on to the next round.
Despite having plantar fasciitis, Ronnie O’Sullivan disclosed that he managed to win his first-round match in the 2023 UK Championship.
Usually, it’s “The Rocket’s” table skills that make headlines, but when he started his quest for a record-breaking eight UK crown, many people were drawn to his footwear selection
The customary formal shoes that snooker players must wear were absent, and instead, black trainers were the color of choice.
Observant spectators quickly noticed the shift, and O’Sullivan gave a detailed explanation after defeating Anthony McGill 6-2 in York’s storied Barbican Center by winning six straight frames.
“The simplest way to describe my plantar fasciitis is like a bruise on your heel,” O’Sullivan said to Eurosport.
It hurts a lot to plant your foot, for that reason. My feet just get destroyed by shoes with leather soles.In order to essentially give my foot a break, I’ve had to resort to putting some extremely large old soles on them.
It follows proposals to loosen the dress code for snooker. World champion Luca Brecel recently declared that changing his clothes would be one of his priorities and that donning a bow tie would reduce his performance by about 20%.
O’Sullivan, though, was unfazed by it on Tuesday as he triumphed after falling behind McGill in the opening two sets
.
Even while it wasn’t exactly O’Sullivan’s best performance, it still had four 50-plus breaks, including the 92 he put forth in the last frame to secure his place in the round of 16.
“Obviously a tough start, down 2-0 in a best-of-11 match against a very, very good player,” O’Sullivan continued. “There was a feeling that I needed to gain control of the game at some point, but you never know—we could be down 4-0 at halftime and eliminated from the competition.”You experience all those feelings, but all you can do is hope that you receive an opportunity to take action. There’s a lot of pressure out there and it’s not easy.You’re under pressure to perform well in these compositions.
