Eight looks like being the magic number for Ronnie
Stephen Hendry reckons Ronnie O’sullivan will take some stopping in his quest to win a record eighth World Championship this month.
The Rocket levelled his old rival on seven Crucible crowns when he beat Judd Trump 18-13 two years ago.
And world No. 1 O’sullivan has pocketed five big titles this season and heads to the sport’s spiritual Sheffield home as the overwhelming favourite to once again lift the iconic trophy.
It would be a third world title in five years for the evergreen 48-year-old after a barren six-year spell on the game’s grandest stage.
And it would be extra special as O’sullivan is bidding to win all three of the sport’s Triple Crown Majors in the same season for the first time in his illustrious 32-year career.
The mercurial cueman scooped eighth titles at both the UK Championship and Masters this term and would create the perfect symmetry on his major CV by conquering the Crucible again.
“No one can cope with him,” admitted Scottish legend Hendry (inset).
“He’s going to be a dangerous animal at the Crucible. He’s going for that eighth world title.
“He’s won all of these tournaments this season, but he’s had two or three standout performances. Ding Junhui in the semis of the Players Championship stands out for me as the best performance I’ve ever seen on a snooker table. It was just flawless. He still has these performances.
“Ding Junhui at the UK final from 7-7 to 10-7, Ali Carter, the same, in the Masters from 7-7 taking three frames-in-a-row. “When he sees that winning line he just races for it. When he gets to that final hurdle, no one can touch him.
“He gets to that stage at the end of the match you just know he’s not going to miss, no matter how difficult the pot is. He surges to the line.
“Ronnie goes into complete auto-pilot. ‘The winning line’s there and no one’s going to stop me,’ that’s what he thinks.” O’sullivan revealed he has reunited with renowned sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters ahead of his Crucible charge.
Peters was the man who stopped O’sullivan quitting the sport back in 2012 and the rest is consigned to the annuls of history.
He won back-to-back world titles in 2012 and 2013, despite not playing in between, and amazingly would have missed out on four of his seven world crowns had he turned his back on the sport.
Peters was also famously in his corner as he navigated the pressure to equal Hendry’s long-standing record haul back in 2022.
“I think he wants to put everything in place that he can do to get him as good as he can be for the Crucible,” added Hendry.
“Listen, Ronnie’s taken the sport to another level. In terms of cueball control, scoring, match play it’s incredible.
“As long as I’m in the conversation I’m happy. If people are talking about me in the same breath then I’ve done a good job.
“Ronnie’s skipped some events this season. But he’s turned up to most of the big ones this season and won them.
“I tend to think he needs to do it either next year or the year after or he won’t.”