From April 16 to May 2, 2022, Beijing time, the world snooker championship will officially start. "Rockets" Ronnie O'Sullivan will be playing the most important event in snooker for the 30th consecutive year, when he will surpass Stephen Hendry in another milestone. As long as O'Sullivan can reach the quarter-finals, he will surpass Hendry to win the most games since the history of the 1977 World Championships. Hendry won 70 Crucible games and won seven world titles in the 27 years before he retired, making him a veritable king of Crucible. However, his Crucible win record is likely to be broken by O'Sullivan this year.
Hendry is a veritable king of the World Championships
Stephen Hendry is the veritable king of Crucible since the history of the 1977 World Snooker Championship. Hendry won 70 of 90 games between 1986 and 2012, and he appeared at the World Championships in the 27 years before he retired. He won the World Championships for five consecutive years from 1992 to 1996 and eventually became the greatest Crucible winner in snooker history with seven World Championships. Not only that, but he also won the highest gold medal in the history of the World Championships in 1999, and O'Sullivan, Hendry, Mark Williams and Higgins gathered in the crucible semi-finals. Even today, Hendry's Crucible seven-crown record is still unbroken.
O'Sullivan's World Championships are second to Hendry's
Although O'Sullivan's current achievements have surpassed Hendry,he still hasn't performed as well as Hendry at the Crucible World Championships. O'Sullivan won 69 of his 92 games from 1993 to 2021. World number two O'Sullivan has been in Crucible for 29 consecutive years and has won the trophy in 30 years in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2020. O'Sullivan has been very athletic since becoming a pro in 1992, and today he has broken Davis' record of 60 wins at the World Championships and is only one step away from Hendry's record of 70 wins. Higgins, the closest of his active players, currently has just 60 wins.
O'Sullivan is expected to break the Hendry record again
Since O'Sullivan entered the tour, his rivalry with Hendry has been ongoing. Shortly after O'Sullivan's transfer into the profession, he broke the longest winning streak record set and held by Hendry. Today, O'Sullivan also leads Hendry 38-36 in terms of ranking titles, Hendry 7-5 in The British Championship titles and Hendry 7-6 in masters. In terms of career winning percentage, O'Sullivan also led Hendry with 74.74%-68.54%. In terms of world championship hundreds, O'Sullivan led Hendry 184-156. In terms of career breaking 100, O'Sullivan led Hendry 1144-776. O'Sullivan first won at the age of 17, while Hendry won his first title at the age of 18. In fact, O'Sullivan is no longer far behind Hendry. Aside from trailing Hendry 6-7 at the World Championships and Trailing Hendry 6-9 in the world number one and Hendry 69-70 in the Crucible win, O'Sullivan has almost an absolute advantage over Hendry. And Hendry's record is likely to be running out of time after this year, and when you notice it, you'll understand why Hendry wants O'Sullivan to retire sooner rather than later.