Neil Robertson has explained the thing that Judd Trump did that hampered Ronnie O’Sullivan in his quest to win world title number eight.
The Rocket was dumped out at the quarter-final stage by Stuart Bingham and the wait goes on for him to claim dominance at The Crucible.
O’Sullivan is tied on seven world crowns with Stephen Hendry but he will be back in Sheffield next year to try again.
Robertson actually believes it was something that Trump did in his quarter-final that knocked O’Sullivan out of his stride against Bingham.
Neil Robertson shares how Judd Trump knocked Ronnie O’Sullivan out of his stride
The World Championship wasn’t meant to pan out as it did this time.
It was supposed to be O’Sullivan meeting Trump in the semi-final, with the two best players of last season going head-to-head for a place in the final.
However, before O’Sullivan lost to Bingham, Trump was really disappointing in his defeat to Jak Jones earlier that day.
Robertson thinks that aspect played on the mind of O’Sullivan and piled the pressure on him.
He told the Metro: “Judd Trump went out earlier in he day and I think he felt that realistically if he got through Stuart, then he would comfortably win it.
“Maybe it just that, the eighth title on the line in that little mini-session. There’s been a couple of moments in the Worlds where that has happened to him.”
O’Sullivan will be back next year
It’s fair to say that if The Rocket brings his best game to any tournament then he stands a chance of winning it.
Much like every other player, however, he does feel the pressure and ultimately, that’s perhaps what happened last month.
O’Sullivan will naturally have another go next year though and despite what he says he will be rooting for title number eight.
At 48-years-old he’s still one of the best players on the planet and after losing to Bingham he will push reset and be ready to go again next season.
Robertson does make a good point though and perhaps the pressure did go up when Trump was beaten.