Anyone else feel as if Ronnie gives people chances to beat him?
It's almost as though he dares them to rise to his level.
Yes, but I don’t think it’s conscious.
I think he has to get himself fired up and in the zone, to compete (in the manner he wants to, i.e. fluently) and that often involves taking on shots he might miss, knowing if he gets a few in, he’s basically ‘calibrated’ himself and he should go onto win.
Sometimes of course that doesn’t work and his B game is now excellent anyway.
For me his peak game is still as amazing as ever, but he can’t maintain it for long periods generally, but his B and even C games are now so much better than they ever were, he’s still the man to beat.
If he was content to play his B game all the time he might even be better...but it’s not in his nature to accept less than perfection (but he is much better at it than he used to be).