According to the latest news from the British media on October 27, 2021, six-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed that there are two levels of snooker elite players, and at the same time, he also identified the big names suitable for each level. The 45-year-old, who holds six world titles, is at Second Division with legends John Higgins and Mark Williams, while he says Trump, Selby and Robertson are all in First Division. O'Sullivan compares himself, Higgins and Williams to tennis superstars Federer and Nadal, who are still able to compete at the top of the world level despite being no longer at the peak of their careers.
O'Sullivan: Elite players are divided into two levels
O'Sullivan said in an interview ahead of the England Open: "I'm probably going to narrow down the elite players to two divisions right now. I think you'd say Selby, Trump, maybe Robertson, you could say the three of them are the strongest players. I suppose in addition to that, you could say me, John Higgins, and Mark Williams, but we belong to different levels only because of our age. Because at my age, if I win a race, or at least devote myself to it, it will take me three or four days to get back to being able to play again. Maybe seven or eight years ago, I could have won the world championship and then the next day I would wake up and think, 'I can win again'. ”
O'Sullivan: Age has slowed us to recover
In O'Sullivan's view, as he and Higgins and Mark Williams recovered more and more slowly as they grew older. O'Sullivan said, "You know, as you get older, you don't have the ability to focus or be sustainable. So I think the three of them are at their peak, and once you get to 43, 44, it gets really bad. We're not bad because we're from that particular era, when 70 percent of people like Federer and Nadal were still competitive enough. I think that's where we are right now, but I don't know how long that can go on. For us, we're getting back to form more and more slowly, which means we don't have enough energy to face too many games. That's the objective fact, and there's not so much we can do now. ”
O'Sullivan: The world championship is still the most important
O'Sullivan said in an interview: "I think I might divide it into two levels: Selby, Trump, Robertson are in the first tier, but that's only because of their age, not because of their ability to play, because they're able to concentrate and recover much better than me, Williams or Higgins in game after game." In addition to this, O'Sullivan also made his opinion on the events that were very important to him and made it very clear that the World Championships are still the pinnacle, more valuable than the five mediocre events he had in mind. O'Sullivan said: "The three major competitions are the top three events and this is where the pressure is greatest. Top players usually thrive here, they never change, a bit like the Big Four Pro Golf Masters, you can judge Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods by the number of majors. I think Trump and Selby will definitely swap places at the World Championships and I know he'll do that. Because world championships are games that everyone wants to win. I'd probably win one world championship instead of winning five mediocre tournament titles, because there's only one world championship and no championship can replace it. ”