It was just before 9pm in Sheffield when Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan lost control of the action.

The 200th century break (recording with 100 and more points) of his long career at the world championship tournaments in snooker was already within reach when he suddenly lost the last concentration on the next shot.

How it sometimes goes when someone already has the win in their pocket.

Seconds later, he couldn't or wouldn't hold back the tears that swept over him at the moment of his ultimate triumph.

The only way he could half-conceal that was on the shoulder of his staunch rival Judd Trump, who had put the pressure on him as best he could over those two final days.

And there the head of the new world champion rested, hand-stopped for more than a minute.

Memorable victory

A little later, O'Sullivan indicated to the British television experts that his opponent, who was 14 years his junior, had immediately moved him to more tears during the exchange of words between the two most charismatic billiard sports figures.

However, O'Sullivan kept the exact nature of the compliment to himself.

On the other hand, the rest of the world knows at least since this memorable victory (18:13) how to classify the now 46-year-old magician from the north of Greater London in recent history.

On this Monday, a "Bank Holiday", O'Sullivan aka 'The Rocket' matched the record set by the Scotsman Stephen Hendry, who had won the almost 100-year-old silver trophy with the figure of a shepherdess on top seven times until 1999.

Most of the other records in the Crucible era that started 45 years ago belong to O'Sullivan anyway - from the number of wins in the prestigious Triple Crown tournaments (now 21) to the record for most career centuries (1169 ).

Cracking this last, relevant record was not as easy for O'Sullivan as his game suggested in the best, sometimes brilliant moments.

21 years after his first World Cup victory, the No. 2 on the seeding list always prevailed by a clear margin against four top-class opponents in the semi-finals during the two weeks of the tournament.

The unparalleled control at the gaming table that was necessary for this was once again admired by all experts.

The piercing of the object balls and the simultaneous placing of the cue ball for the next shot was sometimes so great that the former Scottish professional Alan McManus once exclaimed spontaneously: "That's art!" But on the second and last day of the final, of all days, the eternal crowd favorite had to work hard to concentrate , which is behind so much class, seems difficult to pay tribute to.

More staggering than electrified

On Sunday, meanwhile, with 10:4 frames a good bit ahead, O'Sullivan seemed to run out of fuel on Monday afternoon.

He couldn't prevent Trump, world champion of 2019, from fighting bravely to reduce the gap to three frames.

But in the evening session of the explosive generation duel, the old master knew how to secure four of the last six rounds with an inimitable feeling for the decisive moments in order to cross the finish line.

Apparently not a drop remained in the tank.

More staggering than electrified, O'Sullivan, according to Trump, "by far the best player of the tournament" accepted applause, a trophy and a check for half a million British pounds (around 595,000 euros).

He then poked his head into every shoulder that one of the family members who rushed over to congratulate him could only offer him in the shower of confetti over the green table.

"I was so tired," O'Sullivan admitted moments later.

And: “It was like torture.

But I said to myself: pull yourself together.

Still, I never really believed it would happen... This is my best result ever!”

The final tournament of the global Main Tour was already marked by nostalgia in the last few days.

For example, co-favorite Trump found himself surrounded by three older men over 40 in the semifinals.

Together, O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams make up the famous "Class of 92", which, even after thirty years as a professional, absolutely refuses to let up in their performance.

The attack of the next generation, the often predicted triumph of the ambitious competitors from China: All of this bounced off the stoic trio as if someone had just thrown paper.

Skirmish with the referee

There were also irritating moments in Sheffield.

Just like shortly after the start of the final, when the Belgian referee Olivier Marteel interrupted the game, which had been so fluid so far, in the fourth frame for a lengthy discussion with O'Sullivan and a subsequent warning.

The "improper gesture" that the eminently important man punished had seen no one but him.

A few days earlier, Jack Lisowski was thwarted from above in a similarly questionable manner.

The 30-year-old quarter-finalist from England's South West wanted to make a statement on the devastating war in Ukraine with a blue and yellow flag at his seat.

It's the country his grandfather came from.

This was classified as a political demonstration by the organizing World Snooker Tour (WST) and was therefore prohibited.

Here an open debate involving the activists would have made sense.

After all, these are grown men who are allowed to stay up late in the evenings.