Ronnie will still be top in swinging 60s
TRUMP BACKS ROCKET TO KEEP FIRING FOR YEARS
WORLD No.1 Judd Trump reckons Ronnie O’Sullivan is still improving – and can play until he is 60.
The Rocket walks out at the Crucible this morning to face debutant Mark Joyce as the defending and six-time world champion.
World No.2 O’Sullivan, 45, can equal Stephen Hendry’s record of seven world titles with another success this year. The Juddernaut has won five of his last six meetings with O’Sullivan including four finals.
And the 2019 champion Trump, 31, is the tournament favourite this time.
But the respect from Trump for O’Sullivan, above, is even stronger now than it was even as a star-gazing teenager plotting a career in the sport.
Trump said: “You get people sat at home saying Ronnie is not as good as he used to be.
“I played Ronnie when I first turned professional at 18-19 years old and he was nowhere the standard that he is now. Players would get on top of him and he’d throw his toys out of the pram, he wasn’t anywhere near the consistent level he is now.
“The will to win he has now, never giving up, has survived the years and he knows himself much better. Fitness is important as you get older, and he is running 40 miles a week. “I genuinely think he could play until 60, or even older. I’d like to just be doing what he is doing at 45!
“I am starting to get some longevity and have been in the top eight now for 10 years. The next 10 years for me will define my career. Ronnie has already done what he needs to do. The same with John Higgins and Mark Williams.” Trump reckons that even if Higgins has claims for being the best player, no one will ever replace O’Sullivan as top dog in the affections of the public.
He added: “Everyone will always say Ronnie is the greatest, no matter if I beat every record he has got, just because of his style of play. To me, I don’t know if he is actually the best, if you swap John Higgins’s style around with Ronnie, would people still say the same? Probably not.
“It’s just the manner in which he does it. For me, John and Ronnie at their very best are far ahead of anyone.”