Ronnie O’Sullivan is our greatest sportsman – and the most devastatingly honest

The seven-time snooker world champion has dominated and defined his sport, writes Jim White. But his Amazon Prime documentary shows he has no time for the PR game so successfully played by the likes of David Beckham and Michael Jordan

The documentary focuses on Ronnie O’Sullivan’s triumphant 2022 World Championship (Getty Images)

There is a scene in Edge of Everything, the new documentary about Ronnie O’Sullivan, that provides as sharp an analysis as you will ever see of the pressures of top level sport. It is from footage taken in his dressing room during the final of the 2022 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.

At 46, O’Sullivan is poised to become the oldest winner of the title in history. But as he takes a break in the scrabble to overcome his opponent Judd Trump, he is behaving less like a seasoned veteran and more like a panicked teenager, stomping around the room in total dismay, close to tears in his frustration.

“Fuck me Steve,” he tells his resident psychiatrist coach Dr Steve Peters. “I’m bashed up here mate. What do I do?”