Ronnie O'Sullivan is one of snooker’s most charismatic operators

Chris Maume on the maverick snooker genius, 40 today

Ronnie O’Sullivan aged 17, the year he became UK champion for the first time (Rex Features)

It's somehow surprising that "Rocket" Ronnie O'Sullivan has taken the standard two score years to reach the age of 40. Since he could barely see over the top of a snooker table he's been living in a bubble of speeded-up time.

He made his first century break aged 10, his first maximum break – when a player leads a frame from start to finish, potting every ball – at 15, and was UK champion at 17. He's won the world title five times, but his light and dark sides have led to an alternative nickname: "Two Ronnies". "He is not a normal bloke," says Barry Hearn, snooker's reigning impresario. Alongside Jimmy "Whirlwind" White and Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, he is the sport's most charismatic operator. He is also, many believe, its greatest ever player – and certainly the best-loved.

He has made the three fastest maximum breaks, including one of 5 minutes and 20 seconds, during the 1997 world championship. But there has also been trouble. He once received a two-year suspended ban for assaulting an official; in 2005 he lost a match after spending most of it with a towel over his head. The following year he was fined £20,000 for walking off after four frames.

He has suffered from depression. There have been run-ins with drugs. His father, who ran a chain of sex shops, served 18 years for murder. His mother was jailed for tax evasion.

O'Sullivan has addressed his difficulties. He consulted Steve Peters, a psychiatry professor with a sideline in unscrambling sporting heads. He has flirted with Buddhism. Several times he has threatened to retire. After winning the 2012 world championship he spent the rest of the season working on a farm. But he came storming back, and the next year won his fifth world title. Others have won more titles than "Rocket" Ronnie but none has inspired as much devotion.