Jimmy White has backed Ronnie O'Sullivan to win more major tournaments before he retires from snooker.
Despite being 46, 'The Rocket' is showing no signs of slowing down, currently ranked the No 1 player in the world having captured his seventh world title earlier this year. That levelled the all-time record set by Stephen Hendry, and took his number of Triple Crown titles to an unprecedented 21.
And the iconic player has again reminded the world of his supreme talent this week, racking up a century break in the Scottish Open against Bai Langning. He took just three minutes and 34 seconds, only three seconds outside the record for the quickest ever, set by Maltese legend Tony Drago.
That's despite his recent claims at the UK Championship, where O'Sullivan frequently claimed he no longer enjoyed the sport before he was whitewashed 6-0 in the quarter finals by Ding Junhu. But pundit White has brushed aside fears over his future, and believes the star has big targets set.
“Now and again in sport, like John McEnroe or Seve Ballesteros, we have those who do it a little bit different,” White said on Eurosport. “In our sport, we’ve got Ronnie O’Sullivan.
"We watch because now and again O’Sullivan does something different that nobody else does, he produces some sort of magic. He’s still trying for perfection. For me, I don’t buy that he doesn’t want to win all these tournaments.
“I think he wants to win 10 World Championship, 10 Masters and 10 UK Championship [titles]. I think that target is possible because he’s fit and is that good.”
O'Sullivan recently issued a damming assessment of his rivals in the game, arguing "I don't think anyone has it" when it comes to handling pressure matches. His comments were criticised by the likes of Shaun Murphy, who labelled him a 'bad ambassador' for snooker.
O'Sullivan is again in action in Edinburgh on Tuesday afternoon, when he takes on Ben Woollaston. The tournament is back in Scotland this year after being played in Llandudno in 2021 due to Covid-19.
