Ronnie O’Sullivan will be looking to etch a place in history as the most successful snooker player of the modern era in 2023. O’Sullivan will be bidding to break his tie with Stephen Hendry for World Championship wins to claim his seventh crown at The Crucible in the competition in March. O’Sullivan joined the legendary Scot with his seventh triumph in 2022 when he defeated Judd Trump in the final.
The 46-year-old has been in outstanding form over the last three years and is the leading contender in the betting odds to win the event for a successive year. However, he was the favourite in the snooker UK Championship odds and failed to deliver at the event at the York Barbican as he lost out in the quarter-finals to Ding Junhui in a 6-0 hammering, including three frames where he failed to score a point.
O’Sullivan at the peak of his powers remains the standout player on the tour and will be a threat until he decides to call time on his career. The only issue he appears to have is motivation. There are times when his casual style of play can seem like complacency, but it has been his method of success over a 30-year career at the top of the sport. When locked in and focused not even the best players on the tour can live with O’Sullivan as Trump can attest to after his 18-13 defeat in the final in 2022.
The Englishman has been hit and miss at the World Championship. Either he has produced a scintillating run to the final or been eliminated in the early stages over the last 10 years. There is not much middle ground, and perhaps no player in the game has epitomised the sublime to the ridiculous more than O’Sullivan. If he passes Hendry he will have cemented his legacy as the best player of the modern era, although there will always be a tinge of what could have been despite his brilliance and numerous victories.
Hendry at the peak of his powers in the 1990s was a relentless machine at The Crucible. When it came to the World Championship there was nothing that was going to stop the Scot from his charge for the crown. Hendry won five of his seven championships in successive years, and only Joe Davis and Fred Davis managed a better record in the history of the World Championship. With all due respect to both players, Hendry was facing a much wider field of competition than the two Englishmen in the era where only three victories were required to reach the final.
Whereas Hendry was dominated over a short period, O’Sullivan’s titles have come in spurts over the last 20 years. It is a testament to his longevity that Hendry would dream of, and the striking fact that there is only a seven-year age difference between the two men. Hendry made his last great effort at the World Championship in 2012 at the age of 42, suffering a 13-2 hammering at the hands of Stephen Maguire. O’Sullivan has not been affected by his age and seems to take delight in putting upstarts in their place.
His quirky nature has allowed him to remain ageless around the table, keeping up with the trends in the sport, while still possessing the clinical edge to close out titles. It is why he will go down as one of the best players ever to grace the game, and perhaps even the best in the modern era.
