Stephen Hendry believe that Ronnie O’Sullivan will be the first of snooker’s legendary class of 92 to hang up his cue.
Seven time world champion Hendry discussed the future of three of the sport’s veterans, O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and Wizard of Wishaw John Higgins with Williams on his Cue Tips YouTube channel – and the pair both felt that icon O’Sullivan would be the first to call it a day with snooker, having previously hinted at retirement.
Williams asked: “It’ll be interesting to see who gives up the first between me, Higgins and O’Sullivan. Who will finish first? It won’t be me, I’m not finished yet.” Hendry replied: “I think it’ll be Ronnie. And not because of anything to do with his standard of play or anything. Because he’s earning so much money now I don’t know whether the competitive spirit is still there.” Williams added: “I think it could be him because I don’t think he can deal with losing all the time.”
Earlier this month O’Sullivan snubbed the Scottish Open at the last minute, disappointing fans who hoped to catch the 49-year-old in action at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank, saying that he ‘couldn’t be bothered’. The star commented: “I’m not being harsh. It’s really difficult when you go to a leisure centre and you’ve got 50-100 people all standing outside, you’ve got to get through that, play a best of seven, then you’re not sure when you’re going to be on. They say you could be on at 8.30 but you get on at 11. It’s a nine-hour journey from my house to Edinburgh. You weigh it all up and think you can’t be bothered.”
O’Sullivan’s profile allows him to travel to China for lucrative exhibitions and he has his own academy out in Saudi Arabia where he competed in the Riyadh Masters last week, and the Rocket commented: “In Saudi Arabia, the events we’ve had here, it’s been brilliant. Food, dressing rooms, shower rooms, loads of practice tables, courtesy cards, it was amazing. Same in China. It’s so much easier if you’ve got 128 players and only three or four practice tables you can’t even get a knock.”
However he said he plans to keep competing for at least another decade, after finding a new lease of life under coach Lee Walker after a tough 2024. O’Sullivan added: “I said to Lee just keep me going for 10 years, keep me enjoying it for 10 years. If I can enjoy it and not get many results I’ll take that, because I’ve had a lot of good results over my career. I don’t have anything to prove.”