According to Will Jennings, Ronnie O’Sullivan believes that only one player can claim to be the greatest snooker player of all time. Ronnie O’Sullivan has repeatedly said that he fought the best players in the world and proved that he is the best. Many wonders if O’Sullivan will be able to match Stephen Hendry, who won seven world titles and officially become in his forties the best snooker player he has ever known.
Six-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan delivered his verdict on the GOAT debate last year, suggesting that Stephen Hendry could be considered the best player ever to play snooker. According to new research, six-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has lost ground to John Higgins for the most excellent snooker title in history. John Higgins scored an impressive 10-3 victory to secure the Players Championship and doom six-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan to a fourth consecutive final defeat. At 58, Higgins finally won in the Crucible, lifting the 2019 World Senior title. He’s undeniably the best player of the past decade, winning four world titles, most notably beating O’Sullivan in 2014 final.
Yes, the 44-year-old is still short of Stephen Hendry’s seven-crown record. Steve Davis is also the only snooker player awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In the 1980s, when snooker was at its peak, with millions of viewers on BBC TV, Davies was the man to beat. A reliable and ruthless player, Davis won six world titles in the 1970s. Steve Davis won his six world titles at six different venues, the last being at the Crucible in 1978. Jimmy White won two Grand Slam titles during his whirlwind career, but the world title put him off.
By winning the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, O’Sullivan secured his 37th record major snooker title. Widely regarded as one of the most talented and acclaimed players in the sport’s history, he holds the record for most professional snooker titles with 38. At the 1997 World Championships, he had his first breakthrough in professional competition. Compiled in 5 minutes and 8 seconds, it remains the fastest competitive maximum in snooker history, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2020, he became the second-oldest player, after Ray Reardon in 1978, to win a world title in the modern era of snooker.
Alan McManus believes that Ronnie O’Sullivan is the greatest snooker player of all time. Still, the achievements of Stephen Hendries cannot be forgotten and are unlikely to be repeated. Former World No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan has insisted that the snooker establishment is guilty of not playing for ten years, even though the famous players could rival any previous greats. In 2021, O’Sullivan stated that most snooker players had wasted their lives in a podcast interview. During the 2020 World Snooker Championship, O’Sullivan publicly criticised the standards of new players entering snooker, stating that he would have noted that he would not support his children if they decided to become snooker players and said that if he could live his sports career again, he would play golf or Formula One instead.
