Ronnie O’Sullivan leaves Shaquille O’Neal confused after chance hotel meeting

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

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed that he once left basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal confused after getting as big as reception as the hoops ace during his recent trip to Macau. O’Sullivan is currently playing at the English Open in his native Essex, where he is hoping to win the top prize for only the second time in his career.

The Rocket flew out to Macau last weekend to play an exhibition against fellow snooker legend Jimmy White and bumped into O’Neil in the lobby at the glitzy Wynn Hotel. The latter had no idea who O’Sullivan was but quickly learned that he was in the company of a fellow legend after witnessing the reception he got from the fans in attendance.

O’Sullivan explained: “You know, it’s quite funny because we were all standing there. You had the people at the hotel, the CEO, the CFO, Shaq, then me and Jimmy White. You had quite a big crowd of people all there.

“They introduced each one. There was a little clap. Shaq got a little bit of reception. When they introduced my name, I got just as loud as Shaq. Shaq was looking down like that, ‘who is this dude?’. He came up to me: ‘Hey man, you are alright?’. I said: ‘I am cool’. It was quite funny.

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“I love Shaq, seen a few clips of him on YouTube and he seemed like quite a good character. When I met him, I was like ‘ah, I really like this guy’ before I had even met him. Obviously, he’s a superstar, an NBA legend, and just to meet him… because I like my basketball, after watching a few of the Netflix series I had got into the sport. It was great to meet him.”

O’Sullivan has since returned to UK shores to play in the English Open and is among the favourites to claim an extra piece of silverware in Brentwood this week. However, it remains to be seen whether his troublesome elbow injury will cause any major problems for him after it forced him to withdraw from last month’s British Open.

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The Rocket has been managing a bout of tennis elbow for around two years and it visibly flared up during his win over Andrew Pagett earlier this week. He later revealed that the injury could risk putting a stop to his career if it fails to ease up, with the issue not compatible with playing high-level snooker on a long-term basis.

“It could potentially be career-threatening as far as playing top-level snooker goes if it stays like this,” said O’Sullivan. “I wouldn’t be able to play. I might be able to compete in the odd match here or there, but trying to win tournaments without playing power shots I’d be an absolute million, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

“So I have to get it fixed and keep it fixed, be careful, take no risks and not go mountain biking. It’s painkillers this week, then rehab and then injections if I need to.”

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