Considered by many as the most naturally talented player in the history of the game, it came as little surprise that, on Monday night, Ronnie O'Sullivan, won the World Snooker Championship for the third time.

Like so many children of the 1980s, when snooker was booming both from a spectator and participation standpoint, a ten-year-old, sports-loving Essex boy became entranced. His hobby quickly became a passion, an obsession and, at 16, his profession.

He received unconditional support from his parents. Ronnie senior's lineage goes back to the fighting O'Sullivans, titlewinning boxers from Ireland. His mother Maria is the daughter of an Italian who owned an ice-cream business. As a result,Ronnie and his sister grew up in a relatively affluent, loving environment.

One of British sport's most enigmatic figures, O'Sullivan has been described as snooker's Mozart. He too was a child prodigy, winning a pro-am against high-quality senior opposition when aged 12 and at 15 making his first maximum 147 break in competition. Only three months into his professional career, in September 1992, his father, to whom he remains extremely close, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. He is due for release in 2010. Although shaken to the core, O'Sullivan has since won 20 world-ranking events, compiled nine maximum breaks, a record, and amassed career prize-money of £5.8 million.

Yet it is a measure of his talent that he is regarded as an underachiever. Known as “The Rocket”, O'Sullivan has placed greater store on panache than prizes. Following in the footsteps of Alex “Hurricane” Higgins and Jimmy “Whirlwind” White, he is adored by fans for his swift play, attacking philosophy, unpredictable form and desire not merely to succeed but to entertain.

In common with Higgins, the self-styled “people's champion” of the 1970s, and White, who has maintained his huge popularity, O'Sullivan is also rebellious and the answer to a tabloid writer's prayers. He has often threatened to retire, assaulted an official at the 1996 World Championship, spent time in the Priory suffering from depression, was stripped of the Irish Masters title in 1998 when traces of cannabis were found in a drug test and, in December 2006, walked out mid-match at the UK Championship. Yet, in recent times, O'Sullivan has subdued his demons and, by his own admission, enjoyed mental stability. It helps that he is now a father of three.

His victory at the Crucible has inevitably been hyped. Asked whether he could emulate the likes of Roger Federer or Tiger Woods by dominating his sport, O'Sullivan laughed out loud. At 32, he is not finished yet, but veteran status looms. His latest win installed him as the oldest champion at the Crucible since 1986, the year when snooker first captured his imagination.