If Ronnie O’Sullivan decides to play at the World Snooker Championship this year he will still be the favourite to win it, despite barely competing in 2025, reckons former Crucible champ Dennis Taylor.
The Rocket has withdrawn from a string of events this year, starting in high profile fashion at the Masters in January.
The 49-year-old did play at the very low-key Championship League in Leicester just before the Masters but, as he put it, ‘lost the plot’ and smashed his cue to pieces after showing serious frustration with how he was playing.
He then withdrew from the big event at Alexandra Palace, but did work for Eurosport in his punditry role, saying that he intended to be back playing again, just felt like he couldn’t at that time.
Since then he has pulled out of the German Masters, Welsh Open, World Open and World Grand Prix, which meant he has not been able to qualify for the upcoming Players Championship and Tour Championship.
The next tournament for him is now the World Championship in April, although it is not yet clear if he will play in Sheffield or not.
If he does choose to play at the Crucible then he will be bidding for a record eighth world title having barely played this year. He won the 2013 world title having had a whole season off and Taylor reckons he could very well pull off a stunning achievement again, if he wants to.
‘He’s done so much in the game, it would be a hell of a thing to do but the talent he has, you can’t put past him,’ Taylor told Betway.
‘If you look at this year, there are so many different winners so there is no reason why Ronnie can’t come back and win the world title. I wouldn’t be surprised but what an achievement it would be. Maybe that is a motivation in the back of his mind.
‘I believe there are still a lot of years left in Ronnie, it’s whether he can sort his problems away from the table out, that’s the thing. People are just guessing as to what the problem is, but I wouldn’t put it past him with the talent he has.
‘He’s head and shoulders above anyone who has played the game. The only thing is he won’t be match fit. He proved it the last time when he came back and won it so you can’t count it out.’
O’Sullivan did play a number of events in the first half of the season, but has not won a ranking title since January 2024 at the World Grand Prix.
Since then there have been some fine wins for the likes of Kyren Wilson (World Championship), Judd Trump (UK Championship) and Shaun Murphy (Masters), but Taylor still feels that O’Sullivan would be the frontrunner if he turns up in Shffield.
‘I would like to see Ronnie come back and win it,’ said the 1985 world champion. ‘Shaun Murphy has played unbelievable to win the Masters. Shaun is playing some of the best snooker he has ever played since winning the world title so I wouldn’t write his chances off.
‘It’s difficult to pick but if Ronnie plays, I’m still going to have him as favourite to win an eighth world title.’
Whether he will play remains the big question and it does not seem to be one that we will have an answer to imminently.
The Rocket announced this week that he will be on a snooker table in April, with fans in Riyadh able to watch him practice at his Saudi Arabian academy from 8-10 of that month.
The main stages of the World Championship begin on April 19, but whether he will be there is yet to be seen.
His fellow Eurosport pundit Neal Foulds told Sporting Life: ‘The truth is, nobody knows for sure, not even those closest to Ronnie, but I just can’t see him retiring yet.
‘The hope is that Ronnie is gearing up for one big push at the Crucible. He’s got himself a new cue, which was needed to after he smashed the last one to pieces, so fingers crossed he’ll play.’
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O’Sullivan has opted against playing in events a number of times over his career, so his current break from competitive play is not new.
He has pulled out of Masters and UK Championships before, but he has never chosen not to play the World Championship, appearing in every single edition of the event since his debut in 1993.
It would be a huge decision to turn down the Crucible for the first time, but if he does play then he will be a contender, as ever.
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