Ronnie O’Sullivan is hungry to win a record eighth World Snooker Championship before he hangs up his cue — and become the first player in their 50s to conquer the Crucible. The Rocket, who turns 50 in December, is already the oldest world champion after levelling Stephen Hendry’s longstanding haul of seven world titles aged 46 and 148 days in 2022. But he has no plans to retire just yet as he aims high for another two, or potentially three, World Championships.
Snooker’s biggest star was blown away by eventual winner Zhao Xintong, who became China’s first world champion, in the semi-finals last season. Already firmly established as the greatest player to grace the game, O’Sullivan boasts a record-laden CV with most major Triple Crown — World Championship, UK Championship and Masters — titles (23), most ranking trophies (41), most maximum 147 breaks (17) and is the only player to make over 1,300 century breaks.
When asked about an elusive eighth Crucible crown, the world No.4 admitted: “I’ve always said that there’s nothing left for me to achieve in snooker… but that’s all that’s left for me to achieve in snooker.
“I’m going to aim for another two or three world titles, knowing I won’t get three, I probably won’t get two but I might get one.
“I’m going to aim high and I always think if you aim well above what you want to achieve if you don’t reach it, you reach somewhere you think you’re happy with that.
“There’s no point saying I’d like to make the quarters of the worlds because that’s probably all I’d do. But if I say I want to win another two or three but I might win one. It’s about pushing my mind beyond the end line to make it possible.”
O’Sullivan is part of the famous Class of ’92 trio alongside Scottish legend John Higgins and Welsh great Mark Williams, who reached the final last season.
And the evergreen Rocket believes we will see one of them lift the treasured trophy in their 50s — but it has to be sooner rather than later.
“I think it can be done,” admitted O’Sullivan, who returns to action at the Xi’an Grand Prix on Tuesday. “It’s definitely possible. Williams was close this year reaching the final.
“I was close even though I wasn’t playing great, I didn’t have a good cue, I had problems with my tip, it was all over the place. I’m not making excuses.
“Now I can just play snooker for the next two or three years, there’s only one thing left that anyone talks about which is winning another world title.
“Any one of us could do it. But it probably has to be in the next two or three years because that’s probably all we have left at that level.”