James Maddison, a Coventry boy, responds to Ronnie O’Sullivan’s victory with two words. Masters of Snooker
James Maddison, a midfielder for Tottenham, congratulated Ronnie O’Sullivan on his victory over Ali Carter at Alexandra Palace.

James Maddison, an English player who was born in Coventry, has praised Ronnie O’Sullivan after the player’s decisive victory at the MrQ Snooker Masters. At Alexandra Palace, O’Sullivan defeated Ali Carter with ease.

Maddison, 27, of Coventry, was among the thousands of supporters of O’Sullivan in the throng. At the wildly popular event on Sunday (January 14), fighter Paddy Pimblett was also spotted supporting his close pal.

At Alexandra Palace in London, O’Sullivan overcame a 6-3 deficit to defeat Ali Carter 10-7 to win a record-tying seventh championship. With a 5-3 lead after the first session and an even bigger lead when play began, Carter appeared headed for his maiden Triple Crown victory.

James Maddison, an English player who was born in Coventry, has praised Ronnie O’Sullivan after the player’s decisive victory at the MrQ Snooker Masters. At Alexandra Palace, O’Sullivan defeated Ali Carter with ease.

Maddison, 27, of Coventry, was among the thousands of supporters of O’Sullivan in the throng. At the wildly popular event on Sunday (January 14), fighter Paddy Pimblett was also spotted supporting his close pal.

At Alexandra Palace in London, O’Sullivan overcame a 6-3 deficit to defeat Ali Carter 10-7 to win a record-tying seventh championship. With a 5-3 lead after the first session and an even bigger lead when play began, Carter appeared headed for his maiden Triple Crown victory.

However, O’Sullivan won three straight frames to tie the score, and in the thirteenth frame, Carter broke The Rocket’s record by making his ninth century of the match. But after winning the UK Championship in December, O’Sullivan mercilessly punished Carter’s errors to win back-to-back Triple Crown tournaments for the first time in his career. Carter collected just 51 points in the final four frames.

Maddison, a former Coventry City FC player, congratulated The Rocket right away. He claimed that following his victory over Ali Carter, the 48-year-old was on a “different level.”

“To be honest with you, I have no idea how I won this competition. I’ve just done some research,” O’Sullivan said to BBC Sport.

“I tried to play a little more freely, but tonight I just wanted to keep Ali honest because if he’s going to win, he’s going to have to knock me off the table. I just wanted to see if he had it in the end,” he said.

“Ali didn’t play well tonight; he was better this afternoon, but he gave me a few free passes evening. He was combative today, but he showed me some restraint tonight and avoided some of the balls I was afraid he might.

Asked about his chances of winning the World Championship at the Crucible, O’Sullivan said: “I always have a good idea round about February, March whether my game is in good enough shape to win the Worlds. At the moment I would probably say it is not good enough to feel confident of winning.

“I can still win it, but I would like to go there with a bit of confidence with my game. Longer sessions you have to learn to cruise, just win most of your games in second gear, but at the moment I feel like I am having to squeeze everything out just to get a result.”

James Maddison’s school days in Coventry

Maddison went to Caludon Castle School as a youngster. His former PE teacher and close friend Steve Frankish has told us that he was always destined for stardom.

Speaking in an interview with CoventryLive in 2022, Frankish said: “Straight away you just knew he was head and shoulders above everyone else. He was really small and everyone would ask ‘who’s the little lad in the middle?’

I remember he played in central midfield in a cup final. We won 5-4 and he scored all five. He was always so confident, assured in his own ability and so driven.

“He was happy to take the ball anywhere on the pitch, was always scanning the pitch before he received the ball and when he did get it, was able to manipulate it to where it needed to go

“It was always evident he was going to be a really talented kid. A lot of kids his age involved with professional academies, as James was, were not allowed to play for their school teams.

“But James always wanted to play for us. He just loved to play and had great enthusiasm for the game.”