Stephen Hendry makes bold Ronnie O’Sullivan retirement claim and suggests something’s gone from seven-time world champ
STEPHEN HENDRY has made a bold claim about when Ronnie O’Sullivan will retire from snooker.
Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan, 49, turned professional during the 1992/93 season along with fellow legends John Higgins and Mark Williams.
The trio, who are all still competing at the highest level, are often referred to as the “Class of 92” and have 14 world titles between them.
And Hendry believes it will be O’Sullivan who hangs up his cue before Williams.
Speaking on Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips, Hendry told Williams: “Who’s going to pull the trigger first and say that’s it, that’s enough? I think it will be Ronnie.
“Not because of anything to do with standard of play or anything.
“He’s earning so much money now, I don’t know if the competitive spirit is still there, I don’t know.”
O’Sullivan recently pulled out of the Scottish Open, before he jetted off to Saudi Arabia for the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship where he reached the semi-finals.
His next competitive snooker tournament will be the Masters where he will face Higgins in the first round on January 12.
Speaking about 2025, he said: “I get back to the UK on maybe January 3 or 4,
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“I’d been in Saudi Arabia. I will be in Macau for a week. Then in China for 3-4 days before coming home. It’s probably not an ideal situation.
“Before the last Masters, I did so well in winning the Shanghai Masters and the UK Championship. I had played a lot of snooker.
“But at the moment I’ve hardly played any matches since August. It is what it is.
“Take the long view, it might not happen this year, or next year.
“Just keep on playing, enjoying it, having fun and see what happens.
“I don’t really have a New Year’s resolution. Maybe it’s just to stay healthy and be happy, I suppose.
“I’m in the gym a lot. I hadn’t run for a year, I just started running a couple of months ago because my knees were a bit battered.
“So I’m doing a little bit of running, a lot of gym work, keeping fit because I think it’s good for my mind and stuff like that.”