The 2021-2022 World Snooker Championships came to an end, and "Rocket" O'Sullivan played well in the final, finally defeating Trump 18:13 to win the World Championship for the seventh time in his career, equaling the "Emperor of Billiards" Hendry's seven-time World Championship record. After winning the World Championship, O'Sullivan's ranking championship reached 39 points, three points ahead of hendry in second place, and left the "wizard" Higgins far behind. When O'Sullivan won the World Championship two years ago, everyone thought that this was the last World Championship champion, but after two years O'Sullivan won the World Championship again, it has to be said that O'Sullivan, who has nearly half a hundred, is still one of the strongest players in Snooker today. As O'Sullivan's number of World Championship titles equals Hendry's, the question arises: is snooker's "all-time best" Hendry or O'Sullivan?
There has been no break in the discussion about hendry and O'Sullivan who is the "best in history", O'Sullivan is talented, claiming to be the strongest player in snooker history, hitting the ball fast and being called "rocket", O'Sullivan has too many achievements that are difficult for later people to achieve, won the World Youth Championship at the age of 15, won the "Three Majors" championship at the age of 17, scored 15 strokes and 147 points in his career, ranking first among all players, breaking the hundred to 1169, and he won 39 ranking championships. All of this is number one in history. Over the years, O'Sullivan has been compared with the "Emperor of Billiards" Hendry, Hendry is a very good player in the history of snooker, he has won 36 ranking championships in his career, 7 world championships and has remained for decades before being equalized by O'Sullivan, before O'Sullivan achieved great success, Hendry has always been considered the best player in snooker history, and the debate about who is greater than O'Sullivan has existed in recent years.
O'Sullivan's achievements are comparable to Hendry's, with O'Sullivan winning the ranking tournament 39 times, while Hendry won the ranking tournament 36 times, and O'Sullivan only surpassed Hendry last season. The two were equally similar in the number of "three major" titles, with Hendry winning a total of 18 "three majors" titles in his career, while O'Sullivan won the "three majors" 21 times, and the World Championships, masters and British Championships seven times each. Before O'Sullivan won the world championship for the seventh time, there were many fans and professionals who were more inclined to hendry as the "best player in history" of snooker, and their biggest reason was that Hendry's world championship champion was more than O'Sullivan, in fact, this view is not unreasonable, after all, the world championship champion is the highest honor in the field of snooker, and only players who can win the world championship are eligible to call the word "great", Hendry is the "synonym" of the snooker field in the nineties of the last century. The World Championships were almost "monopolized" by Hendry.
With the number of O'Sullivan World Championship champions equaling the "billiards emperor" Hendry, in the so-called "best in history" competition, O'Sullivan should be said to have led Hendry, due to different times, the number of snooker ranking matches in recent decades has increased a lot, it is difficult to distinguish between the ranking champions alone, after all, Hendry's era of ranking tournaments is very small, Hendry can get 36 ranking championships is the ceiling, and O'Sullivan ranking championships although more than Hendry, but not too convincing. However, with O'Sullivan's World Championship champion leveling Out Hendry, O'Sullivan's becoming the "best in history" is no longer much controversial, with his seven-lap "Grand Slam" two laps more than Hendry's five-lap Grand Slam. The main thing is that although O'Sullivan is nearly fifty years old, he still maintains a strong competitiveness, as long as the "Rockets" are willing to continue to play, the eighth and ninth world championships may not be a problem, let alone the ranking champion.
In fact, Hendry's talent is not lost to O'Sullivan, but Hendry's peak period is not very long, although Hendry announced his retirement at the age of 43, but in fact he declined quickly after the age of 30, Hendry's seven world championship titles were won before the age of 30, and O'Sullivan won 2 world championships before the age of 30, won 5 world championships after 30 years old, and won two world championships after 45 years old. Since O'Sullivan has maintained a peak state for a long time, although the current competition in the snooker field is fiercer than in the 1990s, the possibility of O'Sullivan continuing to achieve good results is still very large, and it is certain that O'Sullivan has become the "best in history", as "Wizard" Higgins said, O'Sullivan is the "best player in history" in snooker, which does not need to be discussed.