Ronnie will rocket past my records
STEPHEN HENDRY fears that a rejuvenated Ronnie O’Sullivan may now snatch all his remaining records. The Rocket made more history by winning a sixth UK Championship in York on Sunday when he beat Shaun Murphy 10-5. He drew level with Hendry on 18 victories in snooker’s ‘majors’, the UK, World Championship and Masters. O’Sullivan, 42, enjoying a blistering spell of form this season with three titles in two months, also matched Steve Davis’s record tally of six UK wins.
Hendry could always console himself that two of his cherished records might lie out of O’Sullivan’s reach – his seven world titles, and 36 ranking-event successes.
But with O’Sullivan now on 31 ranking titles after his recent surge and also on five world titles, Hendry concedes that all bets are off.
O’Sullivan has long since overtaken Hendry’s records for century breaks (916 to 775) and 147 maximum breaks (13 to 11). And he set a new Masters mark of seven titles earlier this year.
Hendry said: “Only a couple of months ago Ronnie was only on 28 ranking titles, so it shows exactly how quickly things can change when he gets on a roll. I have resigned myself to the fact that he is going to beat my ranking titles record.
“The way he is pacing himself, playing in more events but still leaving out some of the smaller ones, and putting in hot streaks like this one – it is almost inevitable that he will do it.
“If he plays in three quarters of the 18-20 ranking events over the next three seasons – and I think that is likely – considering how good he is, he should overtake it,” he said.