Why snooker's golden generation are still shining at 50

When a 14-year-old Ronnie O'Sullivan was asked by a TV reporter in 1990 what he admired about his snooker hero Steve Davis, he replied "he invents shots … not many players can do that".

It was an early insight into O'Sullivan's approach. His motivation is not just to win, but to set new standards in his sport.

Now, 35 years on, he has eclipsed the achievements of the players he looked up to and during this week's UK Championship - a tournament where he holds the record for both the oldest and youngest winner - O'Sullivan will celebrate his 50th birthday.

At an elite level, for a sport to have just one player that age would be remarkable enough, but O'Sullivan's half-century will mean three of the top six players in the world rankings will have entered their sixth decade.

Mark Williams and John Higgins, who like O'Sullivan became professionals in 1992, also turned 50 this year.

But such ultra-longevity is not a given in this sport. Stephen Hendry, who holds the joint record with O'Sullivan of seven world titles, won his last ranking event at the age of 36, while Davis' win at the 1997 Masters, aged 39, came as a major shock.

The Class of 92, though, stubbornly refuse to fade. Here BBC Sport examines why three 50-year-old players are still at the top.

For Davis, now 68, the difference between his generation and this one is psychological.

"I was always blaming my technique for failing, rather than trying to re-educate my brain," he told BBC Sport. "It felt like it was just the circle of life.

"Ronnie, John and Mark have proven that's not the case. It's all in the mind… you have more longevity than you think."

O'Sullivan's mentality has been shaped by psychiatrist Professor Steve Peters, with whom he has worked since 2011. In his 2023 Amazon Prime documentary, The Edge of Everything, O'Sullivan asks him: "So what age can I go to, so I don't have to question myself?"

"If you keep looking at your age, you go back to these self-fulfilling prophecies," Peters says. "You're going to start saying 'Oh, I'm 46, I won't do as well!' I don't want that. If you want to win, and you want to keep producing the goods, then forget age."

It is advice O'Sullivan has stuck to, telling BBC Sport this month that he feels "alright" about turning 50, adding: "I try not to put too much pressure on myself … I quite like being at this stage of my life."

Snooker may not be an athletic or explosive sport, but success still depends on physical attributes that should favour younger players.

O'Sullivan keeps himself fit by running, but it is harder to ward off other aspects of ageing, such as deteriorating eyesight, which Williams knows only too well.

"It makes me laugh. I need glasses for everything: reading, middle distance [potting], long distance [potting], everything," Williams told BBC Sport in September.

The Welshman has been considering having lens replacement surgery but has postponed it three times, most recently in November, mainly because he keeps winning.

Williams may be benefitting from what psychologists call the brain's neuroplasticity.

Zoe Wimshurst, who helps coach athletes make the best use of their vision, explained that as long as an athlete does not have an eye condition, such as cataracts, the brain has the capability to adapt to reduced vision.

"Everyone, by the time you get to your mid-30s, maybe early 40s, you'll notice that the lens of the eye really stiffens," she said.

"[But] our brains will constantly adjust to the challenges we put them under, and this continues throughout our lifespan, even into really old age.

"But, even if it is not your eyesight, it may be other parts of your body that let you down."

"Somewhere down the line in a fine muscle control game like snooker, your body betrays your brain," Davis said.

"Your arm doesn't do what's required. The first thing I felt was that yes, I hit the ball in a straight line, but I didn't hit it at the right pace.

"The weight of the delivery is the thing that will happen and there's no real way out of that. That's going to happen."

O'Sullivan's work with Peters has coincided with careful management of his body and he has often stressed the importance of diet to his success.

"He doesn't drink, he eats proper food," 1979 UK champion John Virgo said. "You wouldn't think he was 50, I mean, he still looks 30!"

Williams has also had a recent nutrition-based epiphany, revealing in 2024 he had introduced a pre-match meal, which he says sustains his energy through long evening sessions.

And while Higgins lost more than three stone in 2021, something he attributed to regular spin classes, he now says that weight has gone "back on" but that he is installing a gym at home to change things and get "a little bit more motivation".

"The hardest part as you get older is the practice. That love of the game has got to be in you all the way through," Virgo added.

Williams, Higgins and O'Sullivan are not immune to those challenges. Higgins, a four-time world champion, said in September he finds it "difficult to get the cue out the case to practice".

"But I just think, that's just life," Higgins added. "You get older. Your priorities change."

Higgins has considered taking a break from certain tournaments but is restricted by the nature of the ranking system, where entry into big events can depend on performance in the smaller ones.

"It's a difficult juggling act," he said. "It can do your mental health no good trying to go to these events."

O'Sullivan, too, has reined back his schedule in Europe since moving to Dubai. The UK Championship will be the first event he has played in this country this season.

But none of the trio seem ready to say goodbye yet. Just like in tennis where the big three rivals of the past two decades – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – were all pushed by each other to greater successes, so too are O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams.

"If one was doing it, it begs the question why isn't the other one doing it?" Virgo said. "I think they've motivated one another."

The lack of challengers

After his last Triple Crown win at the Masters in 2024, O'Sullivan observed that younger players "need to get their acts together because I am going blind, have got a dodgy arm and bad knees and they still can't beat me".

While China's Zhao Xintong won this year's World Championship, few players have emerged who have gone on to dominate the calendar. It is exemplified by the results of this season, where 11 different men have won the first 11 events.

But it is not that easy when you're chasing O'Sullivan who, according to Virgo, has more "natural ability" than any current sportsman and which he remembers witnessing in the then 16-year-old's first appearance on popular gameshow Big Break in 1992.

"The way he falls into the shot, you could see it straight away," he said, watching the teenager scuttle round the table and making a rapid clearance that won his contestant a prize haul that included a new fax machine.

O'Sullivan, at least in public, maintains that winning tournaments is "not the be all and end all".

However, he has hinted in the past that long spells without success help sustain his motivation.

It is now almost two years since he won a ranking event, but the young O'Sullivan's hero, Davis, says this birthday could change things.

"Who's to say that turning 50 isn't the catalyst that Ronnie needs to go, 'Yeah, I'm going to show everybody how good I am'," said Davis.

"We all know how good he is, but I think Ronnie really does enjoy making people's jaws drop.

"If he won the UK Championship, if he won the World Championship, our jaws would drop… Yeah, that would be a monumental thing to do."