Ronnie O'Sullivan is back working with his former coach ahead of the upcoming World Snooker Championship.
O'Sullivan is the defending champion and is hoping to win a record eighth world title this year. And the Rocket has reunited with Stephen Feeney ahead of the tournament, having previously worked with him between 2018 and 2020.
Feeney is the man behind SightRight and has worked with a number of sports stars from the worlds of snooker, golf, football, darts and cricket. He is a sighting and alignment coach who first came to prominence in the sport after helping Stuart Bingham and Mark Williams win world titles with his unique coaching methods.
Feeney attempts to correct parallax error, an optical illusion players can experience when inadvertently looking across the line of aim. His work with Bingham led to him becoming the oldest first-time world champion in 2015, while he helped Williams win his first world title in 15 years in 2018.
Feeney also began working with O'Sullivan that same year, before Covid intervened and they stopped. However, the pair are now back together after O'Sullivan told Feeney his game was "not where he wanted it to be" ahead of the World Snooker Championship.
"I've seen him several times," Feeney told the Metro. "With Ronnie, we put a plan together when we first started and he's now won two of the three World Championships he needs to break Stephen's record, so to connect up again really just continues that process.
"We worked together from 2018-20, then there was the break with Covid and everything. I've grown as a coach, there's more that I know and can deliver and I think Ronnie's enjoying that too.
"He's enjoying being introduced to shots that even he wouldn't have thought about before. We've got to continue pushing boundaries. For him to win an eighth we've got to continue to improve.
"Some people think he can just walk away with it, but you've only got to look at the tour this season, there are far more accurate players than there used to be. He's got to go and perform.
"In the last season he's not had the results he would have liked, so I think this is timely, but there is a bit to do. His game was not where he wanted it to be. I also think he continued to be inspired by Mark [Williams] continuing to get good results."
