O’Sullivan and Vafaei insist the beef is behind them but Trump is not so sure

It was not quite a war of words, but there was an exchange of unpleasantries between the pair at the World Championship in April ahead of their second round clash.

A year earlier Vafaei had memorably said it was time for the Rocket to retire from snooker, claiming he is bad for the sport, something that O’Sullivan had not forgotten by this year’s event as he told the Iranian not to ‘rattle his cage’.

The Prince of Persia hit back, saying O’Sullivan is ‘such a nice person when he’s sleeping’ and their meeting in the last 16 became an unmissable contest.

The game itself was not a classic as the Rocket resoundingly enjoyed the last laugh with a dominant 13-2 victory and Vafaei does not intend on rattling his cage again.

After setting up a meeting with O’Sullivan in the UK Championship semi-finals, a philosophical Vafaei said of their rivalry: ‘Past is past, as you get older you know in this world you don’t have to take anything seriously.

‘We all go one day so it’s better to respect and make each other smile and this is the most important thing. Just be positive, be good with each other, respect each other, this is the only thing I can do. I don’t have the heart to disrespect my hero, but sometimes in any family they have arguments, we are like a family.

‘The match with Ronnie, it helped me a lot to control myself. I took the risk and that risk gave me lots of lessons and made me improve and control myself.’

O’Sullivan has moved on, not blaming Vafaei for spicing things up and admitting that he has done plenty worse in the past.

‘I didn’t really think we fell out before that, hopefully not because I like Hossein. Hopefully it’s all good,’ said the Rocket.

‘Sometimes you do things and you think it was the right thing to do at the time and maybe afterwards you think, maybe don’t do that again. I’ve done loads of things like that in my career, regretted stuff when you think about it afterwards, you learn from it.

‘I’ve done worse, a lot worse. I like Hossein, he’s a fiery character, he don’t take no nonsense, that’s just his character and I like that in someone, he’s his own person.’

The beef appeared to be binned straight after their Crucible match as they left the arena arm-in-arm and Vafaei says O’Sullivan had some kind words for him.

‘He told me, “You can win this tournament [the World Championship], keep going, you can win this.” Lots more things, but it was more private,’ said Vafaei.

The world number 18 says he has learned his lesson and probably won’t unleash trash talk ahead of a game again in the future…unless someone decides to rattle his cage first.

‘No. Why should I do that?’ Vafaei said. ‘Well…if somebody does that against me I’m going to do that even worse, because sometimes you’ve got to show the people how bad you can be to respect your kindness.’

Judd Trump is into the semi-finals on the other side of the draw, where he faces Ding Junhui, and he is not so sure the Rocket has entirely put Vafaei’s comments behind him.

‘I just want Hossein to turn up really,’ Trump said of the first semi-final. ‘Hossein’s such a nice guy and obviously after that little spat in the World Championship, even though they’ll make out it’s forgotten, I know Ronnie will never forget something like that. When someone speaks about him he’ll want to punish him every single time now.

‘It’s just what Ronnie turns up. I think if Hossein plays his game, his style of play is amazing and the crowd are starting to warm to him. He’s so natural, so relaxed, he gives back to the crowd, gets involved. I think he’s great for snooker, I’d like to see him get higher up the rankings, I think he deserves it. I want 6-5, either way, I don’t care which way.’

O’Sullivan beat Zhou Yuelong 6-5 and Vafaei downed Zhang Anda 6-4 to make the semi-finals and set-up the meeting between the two in the final four.

Both are expecting a tough test in the semis, Vafaei because O’Sullivan is the GOAT, while the Rocket is well aware that the Prince of Persia is in very impressive form.

‘Ronnie O’Sullivan is Ronnie O’Sullivan, he’s the greatest of all time,’ said Vafaei. ‘He’s such a pleasure to share the table with him again. He’s always going to be tough playing against your hero. It’s hard to beat your hero, you don’t have the heart to respect or disrespect, it’s hard.

‘Today I made three centuries. If I keep playing like that no one can stop me.

‘I’m hitting the ball better than anyone this week. I take my chances, I score heavy, that’s going to be very dangerous for any opponent.’

The Rocket added: ‘I don’t usually need someone to bring out the best in me, but I do know that I’ll have to play well to have a chance of winning.

‘I think he’s a fantastic player and he’s got that killer instinct as well. Not scared of anyone, goes out there and attacks the game. That’s an unbelievable win today. Anyone that’s beating Anda at the moment, that’s a proper win. I’ve played him twice this year and he’s played unbelievable snooker.’

O’Sullivan and Vafaei meet at 1pm on Saturday 2 December in the UK Championship semi-finals, before Trump faces Ding at 7pm.

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