Ali Carter shows true colours with fresh comments about Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ali Carter has shown his true colours by hailing Ronnie O’Sullivan’s performance during their World Championshipclash this year as “unbelievable”. Carter suffered a first round defeat at the Crucible on The Rocket’s long-awaited return to snooker after several months away from the sport.

Their meeting in April was expected to be a fiery one given the pair’s recent history of falling outs. But after losing 10-4 to seven-time world champion O’Sullivan, who claimed a hat-trick of century breaks along the way, Carter has had nothing but positive things to say about his rival.

“It was a big game, to be honest, I’ve had a lot going on behind the scenes, family stuff, and it was probably a game I didn’t need,” he told The Metro. “When I drew Ronnie, I was like oh f***ing hell, but he was good as gold. It’s fine between me and him now, but it was the draw no one wanted, wasn’t it?

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“And despite what people say, in the second half of the match he was unbelievable. I missed the boat in the first half really due to not quite being on it and then he got stronger.”

Despite practising together in their younger days, Carter and O'Sullivan had been on frosty terms since a controversial incident seven years ago. During a second-round World Championship tie in 2018, the pair infamously barged shoulders at the Crucible as they walked past each other between table visits.

The feud continued six years later at the 2024 Masters when Carter accused O'Sullivan of "snotting all over the floor" during the final, which O'Sullivan won to claim an eighth title. The 49-year-old responded to the claims by saying Carter needed to "sort his f****** life out".

But there was no sign of antipathy during their Crucible meeting this year. Following his defeat, the Captain watched O’Sullivan reach the semi-finals, where he lost 17-7 to eventual winner Zhao Xintong.

And Carter could not believe that the snooker legend opted to change both his tip and ferrule mid-match with the score at 4-4. Questioning the controversial decision, Carter said: “He cruised through to the semis really, then he decided to make that decision to change his ferrule and, for me, he couldn’t win that match when he’d done that.

“I just can’t understand why he did that. You’ll have to ask him. He wasn’t 8-0 down or 7-1 down, he was 4-4!

“Ronnie plays everything with side, he moves the ball around and that’s hard enough to do with a new tip on a new cloth as it is but to throw that in with a new ferrule going from titanium to brass and having all those factors in the semis of the Worlds, you’re gonna be a million no matter how good you are!

“Whether he wanted to give himself an easy out if he lost or whatever, I don’t know, but it was a very, very strange decision and the people around him, what are they doing?

“The guy who’s even done his cue should be saying, listen, I ain’t doing it for you. But he’s his own man and you make your own decisions and if they go wrong, so be it.”

Cue expert Martin Chesworth of Chesworth Cues, Sheffield, was at the barbers when he received a call from the Rocket to conduct emergency surgery on his tip and ferrule. Despite having reservations initially, the cuemaker decided to take on the job.

“He sounded a bit anxious,” Chesworth previously told the Mirror. “He was adamant he wanted it changing. He wanted the titanium ferrule off and a brass ferrule putting on. I stayed back after the work and did the job. I put him a decent tip on as well. I then dropped it round to where he was staying.”

He added: “I got a text later on from him and he said, ‘It’s better.’ I just wished him well and that was the last I heard from him. When I’ve done jobs for him in the past, he’s always been friendly, upbeat and genuine. What more could you ask for from a customer?”