I never really saw Alex in his prime, not live anyway. Think he was pretty much done when I was growing up. But via highlights and what not, he too seemed a real maverick. I think it’s fair to say his demons got the better of him whereas ROS looks to have fought them off.
Tbf he gave us one. He promised to come back after he was whisked away for an interview at Winter Gardens and he did come back.
Dutifully might be more of the word. Total contrast to Kyren Wilson who had all the time I the world for a chat and photos despite not having much time until his match!!
His demons ruined him. Where you'd say Hendry was of the same ilk as Davis, Ronnie is cut from the same cloth as Alex - players that make you want to watch as a magical break/shot/clearance could happen at any given minute. Extremely talented
Once had the late great Alex Higgins at our local WMC. He played three games against three of the best players who used to drink in our Club. One of those selected was a lad called Mick Convery. He was a very good player was Mick and his forte was his safety play. After about twenty minutes of knocking the cue ball safe, Alex sidled up and said to Mick " break them up mate." Mick had everyone in the room in stitches when he replied " they've come to see thee not me pal, you split ' em up." He did and eventually Mick beat him, but he won the remaining two frames quite easily. Alex stayed locally overnight and popped back for a couple of pints and a couple of frames the following day apparently.
I think Fred Davis would have old manned him to death. Ronnie would have smashed his cue, stormed off and got a job as an East End tour guide.
I'm not a big snooker fan, but I do find Ronnie an interesting character, probably due to my line of work in talking therapies. He strikes me as a very troubled man and it is good that he gets support for this. He appears to be battling his love for the game against his perfectionist/self critical traits which creates this "don't care" self-preservation mode. He is clearly not entirely comfortable with strangers either which explains why people find him rude and abrasive at times. A very conflicted person whose heart is probably in the right place.
What geniuses are "nice people"? Given his family background it's no surprise he's conflicted. He really does overdo the I can't go anywhere without crowds thing though. He should try being an Indian cricketer!!
Remarkably they did play each other in a qualifier when Fred Davis was 79 and Ronnie 17. Ronnie won 5-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Davis_(snooker_player)#Retirement