Stephen Hendry on 'dangerous animal' Ronnie O'Sullivan's 'God-given talent' - 'No one comes close'

Updated 06/11/2022 at 22:50 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan's talent on the baize is such that "no one comes close" to the 'snooker GOAT', reckoned Stephen Hendry after O'Sullivan's 10-6 Champion of Champions final win over Judd Trump. Hendry, an incredible cueist himself, thinks O'Sullivan may have a "God-given talent", but that the 46-year-old has worked hard to maintain it during his long career.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan's talent means "no one comes close" to his snooker level, according to Stephen Hendry, who watched O'Sullivan win his fourth Champion of Champions title on Sunday night in Bolton.

O'Sullivan, despite a comeback from Judd Trump, put his opponent to the sword 10-6 during the event's final, with his showing in the last few frames as impressive as anything the 46-year-old has produced in recent years.

And Hendry, talking in the ITV Sport studio, waxed lyrical about O'Sullivan's ability to control the cue ball in comparison to an uncharacteristically labouring Trump.

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"It's a God-given talent that you've got inside, but you've got to work at it for hours and hours and years and years," Hendry said.

"His technique's getting better and better and better.

"The talent is there - that's the bedrock - but then you've got to put the work in to develop it and bring it out.

"No one comes close in the cue ball control department to Ronnie. When he's on it, he's head and shoulders above everyone else.

"Even when Judd was scoring heavily, he's hitting balls and having to recover sometimes. With Ronnie, it's just millimetre-perfect."

O'Sullivan spoke in the aftermath of his win about the mentality he approaches tournaments in now, specifically that winning or losing is not the be-all and end-all for him - something Hendry believes gives him an advantage.

"He's such a dangerous animal," Hendry said.

"Because I really believe him when he says he's out there and it doesn't bother him whether he wins or loses the tournament when he comes to the tournament.

"When he's on the table, of course he's trying to play his best, but to have that [lack of] pressure where if you lose, you're not that bothered about it, it's unbelievable.

"That just takes everything away."

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