Ronnie O'Sullivan can win 10 World Snooker Championship titles, says Jimmy White, as Hossein Vafaei clash looms

ByRob Hemingway

Updated 19/04/2023 at 15:32 GMT

Many of snooker's legendary figures have established long careers in the sport, and Jimmy White has backed "super-fit" Ronnie O'Sullivan to have "at least another five or six years at the very top". O'Sullivan, who will face Hossein Vafaei in a much-anticipated grudge match beginning on Friday, won his seventh title last year, and is going in search of a record eighth this year.

Ronnie O'Sullivan can win 10 World Snooker Championship titles and play for "at least" five or six more years at the top level, says Jimmy White.

O'Sullivan, who starts his second-round grudge match with Hossein Vafaei on Friday, saw off Pang Junxu in his opener as he eyes a record eighth Crucible crown to move one ahead of Stephen Hendry.

White is unsure if the form O'Sullivan displayed in his first-round encounter was good enough to win another world title, but he nonetheless backed him to do so in the years to come.

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Speaking alongside Alan McManus on Eurosport, White said: "I definitely think he [O'Sullivan] will win eight, I think he can possibly win 10, because he's super fit.

"On his first-round performance here, I'm not too sure if it'll be this year, unless he comes back on Friday and produces the stuff that he needs to to win it.

"With O'Sullivan, he has that love-hate relationship with the game.

"But he works really hard and he's a bit of a perfectionist, and when he's at top form, he's sort of unplayable, so he will keep striving for that.

"I think for sure he's got at least another five or six years at the very top."

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White, who knows O'Sullivan well, expanded on his friend's "hunger levels" as he discussed with McManus the prospect of The Rocket carrying on in the game.

"I think he doesn't know he needs it [snooker]," White said. "He talks about that he has other things in his life, and I get that.

"He's working with Damien Hirst doing a bit of painting, [he's] really enjoying that.

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"But that buzz of performing, and now and again he has the cue ball dancing like no one else in the world.

"And that's a big thing to let go. I can't see him doing that any time soon."

McManus suggested O'Sullivan's potential longevity alone would win him another world title.

"He's not going to go 10 years of [getting] beaten in the quarters, [last] 16, semis - he's going to get the job done at some stage."

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