Ronnie Sullivan is an eye-catching name in the draw for Q School this week, although the young prospect is already bored of questions about his near-namesake.
The 20-year-old from Coulsdon is making his way in the game, committing full-time to snooker in recent months as he chases his dream.
He heads to Q School in Leicester this week hoping to win a place on the professional circuit and begin to see the hours on the practice table pay off.
With a name so similar to the sport’s greatest ever player, obvious questions will arise, but Sullivan says his name and chosen sport is all just a coincidence.
‘It is just a coincidence really,’ he told Metro. ‘They [his parents] were deciding between two names and just picked one. I don’t even know if they realised it until I started playing snooker that I had the same name as Ronnie.’
On whether the name inspired him to take up snooker, he said: ‘I didn’t really care about the name, to be honest. It’s got to the point now when anyone mentions it it just does my head in.
‘I have met him a couple of times. I get on with him. He’s a nice fella. We have a mutual mate and I think he mentioned me to him a couple of times.’
Despite their association, the Rocket is not Sullivan’s snooker hero, with the youngster looking to Stephen Hendry and Neil Robertson as his role models.
‘Just because how much Hendry won really,’ he explained. ‘I think he retired five years before I even started playing, but I’ve spent hours watching him. He was the best.
‘And Robertson, I think everything about him is just the best. Technique-wise, I think the way he plays the game, it’s probably between him and Judd [Trump].’
Sullivan is at the other end of the snooker food chain to O’Sullivan, quitting work doing house clearances to focus entirely on the game, which is not easy in financial terms.
The 20-year-old is looking for a sponsor to help him on his journey in the game, which he believes will take him to the top.
‘I’ve been playing since I was 11 or 12,’ he explained. ‘I took a year out last year while I was working, but I’ve been playing full-time since December again. Banging in the hours, eight hours a day, religiously.
‘I haven’t got a sponsor, that’s the struggle with it, it’s quite hard financially. So my dad helps me out a lot, as much as he can.
‘It’s expensive and I couldn’t go to the WSF Championship this year [in Morocco]. A lot of things I missed out on abroad because I just couldn’t really go.
‘But I’m trying to go all the way. If I didn’t think I could do it, I wouldn’t be playing full-time.
‘I’m only going to get anywhere with the game if I’m going to put the hours in. So it’s got to be done and I enjoy it, I really enjoy it. So at least I’m doing something that I love.’
Sullivan has been putting in the work, not only on his own, but with coach Terry Burke and practicing with the likes of Joe Perry ahead of getting his Q School campaign underway on Wednesday.
That campaign begins in Leicester at 9am, with eight two-year tour cards on the line over two events.