Ronnie O'Sullivan insists he is NOT snooker's GOAT, as the seven-time world champion names two players ahead of him in the debate

Ronnie O'Sullivan believes he is not the greatest player to ever pick up a snooker cue.

O'Sullivan, 48, is a seven-time world champion, and is considered by many to be the biggest talent the sport has seen thanks to his incredible break-building and ability to play with both hands.

But O'Sullivan, who is aiming for an eighth world crown at this year's tournament which began on Saturday, still feels he should not be seen as the best ever, and has named two players he views as ahead of him in the conversation for now. 

'I don’t regard myself as the greatest. I’m one of them, maybe,' he told the BBC.

'You’ve got [Stephen] Hendry, [Steve] Davis, and my hat’s in the ring with them. I’ve had a different career to them.

'They did it over a ten-year period, whereas I’ve sort of gone off track, got myself together, back off track, then got myself back together. I’ve had to go on longer to get what I’ve got.

'I was a bit all over the show at times with stuff going on off the table and that can affect how you perform on it.

'Hendry and Davis pretty much had everything fitted around them to be focused on snooker and I didn’t have that.'

O'Sullivan and Hendry are currently level on seven world titles each, while Davis is one further back on six.

All of Davis' triumphs came in the 1980s, while Hendry dominated the 90s, but O'Sullivan's success has been spread across a longer period as he won his first title in 2001 and his most recent one in 2022.

O'Sullivan doesn't believe his longevity should give him the edge over the duo, though.

He insists that he is not too concerned how he is viewed in the GOAT conversation, but hinted that by managing his schedule he could continue to play for years to come, giving himself the best chance to break every record in the game.

'As a kid I would have been desperate to be up there with those guys,' he continued.

'But when you get there you see it as a bit of an anti-climax and it’s not as great as you thought it would be.

'I love playing. I get to travel pretty much wherever I want to go to play snooker and take time off when I want to.

'I’m my own boss, and they’re the most important things. You want to win because competitiveness has been in me. I have to have that approach no matter what.

'Whether that makes me the greatest or not, I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter.'

O'Sullivan will look to complete the Triple Crown for the first time in his career at the Crucible after winning the UK Championship and The Masters earlier this season.

His opening round match against Jackson Page began on Wednesday, and O'Sullivan made a fine start as he won the opening six frames.