Ronnie O’Sullivan has admitted he idolised six-time world champion Steve Davis as a child earlier than attempting to base his strategy on 15-time main golf winner Tiger Woods when he turned skilled.

Citing F1 icons Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna as different key inspirations, the world No. 1 informed reporters: “I wanted to grow up being like Steve Davis, he was my role model and my coach.

“He was world champion and the perfect participant on the planet, profitable each event and I simply needed to be like Steve Davis.

“I’d watch him all the time, but as you grow older, you start to look at other sports and other sports people.

“I believe Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. People like that. They weren’t simply good at their sport. They have been match and robust.

“They changed the way you look at yourself as a professional. Sometimes you can be lazy, but with Tiger Woods he was never lazy.

“He was working laborious within the health club being match and robust, consuming good, sleeping proper, no drink.

“Just being really focussed. So for me it is important to look for different role models.”

Davis received the world title six instances between 1981 and 1989 with O’Sullivan overtaking his fellow Essex icon’s haul to achieve seven alongside Stephen Hendry together with his 18-13 win over Judd Trump in final yr’s Crucible remaining.

O’Sullivan has lifted the Shanghai Masters 4 instances, together with the final thrice it has been staged between 2017 and 2019.

He will face Ali Carter or Dong Zihao in his opening match within the final 16 on Tuesday at 12:30pm (BST).

Meanwhile, four-time world champion John Higgins made a formidable begin to his Shanghai Masters marketing campaign by hitting a 141 break in a 6-0 whitewash win over Deng Haohui on Monday.

The current European Masters semi-finalist continued his spectacular scoring streak with different knocks of 64, 102, 91 and 59 to achieve the final 16 and a match with Kyren Wilson on Tuesday.

“It’s a beautiful city. One of the nicest cities in the world I’ve ever travelled to,” stated Higgins on World Snooker Tour. “It’s definitely great to be back.”

Former European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi ended Gary Wilson’s hopes with a 6-2 win within the first spherical.

Wilson rolled in 57 in claiming the primary body, however breaks of 65, 96, 90 and 71 helped Fan progress to a gathering with Mark Allen.