Ronnie O’Sullivan lost in the second round of the World Snooker Championship. (Image: Getty Images)
Radzi Chinyanganya has spoken candidly about what it is truly like to work alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan. Chinyanganya is the vibrant voice and face of snooker on TNT Sports. The 39-year-old launched his broadcasting career with the BBC before becoming his current employer’s premier snooker presenter via Eurosport in 2023. He is leading coverage from the Crucible this year.
He frequently works alongside seven-time world champion O’Sullivan, who was knocked out of this year’s World Championship by John Higgins. Chinyanganya lifted the lid on what the Rocket is genuinely like away from the cameras and the table.
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“Ronnie is actually a wonderfully gentle, considerate man who would much rather be with his friends, who are not famous,” Chinyanganya told The Mirror.
“He’d much rather go and have a curry with his mates, in a local restaurant, than he would ever want to go and spend time with The Rock, Brad Pitt or Margot Robbie. He is the most down-to-earth bloke you’re ever likely to meet.
“All my conversations with him are usually not about snooker. It’s about his family. He also loves his boxing and that’s kind of what we bond over. But I think he’s quieter than people would think. I think that there’s a big expectation that if you go up to him in the street he’s going to be performance Ronnie. I think it must be quite difficult to carry the mantle of the greatest ever.
“Because on the table he’s the Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan and when he’s off the table he’s Ronald Antonio O’Sullivan, who’s just a normal geezer from Essex with an extraordinary skill.
“He is a guy that I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with off the table. He’s generous, considerate, loyal and a lovely bloke. So for me, I don’t see him as Ronnie the player, I see him as Ronnie the bloke. In some respects, he’s much closer to you and I than perhaps you might think.”
Presenter Radzi Chinyanganya has worked with Ronnie O’Sullivan for TNT Sports. (Image: PA)
O’Sullivan has been providing his expertise to TNT Sports for a number of years, and Radzi recalled several occasions where the 50-year-old’s perspective was difficult to fathom.
“We’re talking about Ronnie O’Sullivan, who looks at snooker through a lens that I think we can only imagine,” he added. “For example, the semi-final of the World Champs in 2023. Luca Brecel trails Si Jiahui by nine frames. The match is over. What does Ronnie say off-air? ‘Don’t write Luca off because Si is untested.’
“I thought, ‘What?’ Well, we know what happened. Unfortunately, Si fell apart and Luca went on an unbelievable run. Ronnie had seen something in Si’s body language or Luca’s body language. He’d seen shots that he’d refused or taken on when he shouldn’t have.
“I remember once asking Ronnie about how somebody was playing. He went, ‘Oh, he’s playing well mate.’ I said, ‘How do you know?’ Because Ronnie was sitting on the other side of a wall. He went, ‘Oh mate you could hear it. He’s been leathering them.’ It never occurred to me that you can hear how somebody is playing. You can when you’re Ronnie O’Sullivan.
“This is a guy who can walk from a Rileys snooker club with a five-year-old cloth and bang in a 147, as he can walk into the Crucible Theatre with a brand new cloth of the finest order and produce magic. I personally think he’s in the conversation for the greatest British sportsperson ever, not just snooker.”