11-8 Rocket likely to dominate again

SPORTS BETTING:

IT SEEMS ridiculous that, at 38, Ronnie O’Sullivan is by some distance the best snooker player on the planet. In age terms, the player continues to buck the trend.

The influx of superb young talent spearheaded by Judd Trump has threatened to see off the older brigade in the sport. But the young guns have been halted in their tracks - most notably by the likes of Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and, in the biggest event of them all, by O’Sullivan.

Roberston and Ding have been the stand-out players of the season. Ding has won five titles, while Robertson has the UK crown on his CV. Yet both are way behind O’Sullivan in the betting for this year’s World Championship, in Sheffield from Saturday.

The Rocket is a mere 11-8 favourite to win the title for a third successive year, and who can blame the bookies for making him so short a price? Quite simply, if O’Sullivan turns up anything like in form and with his temperament under control, he is almost certain to win.

You only have to look at the last two stagings of this great tournament for evidence that when O’Sullivan is in the groove, no-one can do anything about it.

Age has merely made him a better, more rounded player. He knows when to defend and when to attack.

And the temperament wobbles which blighted his early career seem to have evaporated with maturity.

O’Sullivan eased to the title in 2012 and, despite having a year away from the game, came back stronger than ever last year. No-one else could even have contemplated such a feat.

So the question you have to ask yourself as a punter is does O’Sullivan represent value at 11-8?

At first look I say no - you have to take into consideration a potential loss of form, illness during a long event and O’Sullivan’s history.

Then again his ‘C’ game is better than most of his opponents’ ‘A’ games.

Robertson is a player to be respected, but has a particularly tough draw this year. The likes of Mark Allen, Trump, Stephen Maguire, John Higgins, Stuart Bingham, Mark Selby and Ali Carter bar his way to the final.

O’Sullivan, in contrast, has most to fear from Shaun Murphy and Ding. I know which half I would rather be in.

It’s not original and it won’t make you rich, but if I had to have a bet – which I won’t – I would have to back O’Sullivan. The form book is screaming out his name.

Latest betting: 11-8 O’Sullivan, 8-1 Ding, 9-1 Robertson, 11-1 Selby, Trump, 20-1 Higgins, 22-1 Murphy, 25-1 Allen, 33-1 bar.