Ronnie O’Sullivan exclusive on World Snooker Championship title rivals Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson

Updated 11/04/2023 at 08:26 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan will chase a record eighth world title at the Crucible, but admits it is tough to pick a winner from the sport's leading men. O'Sullivan agrees Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson are strong contenders for the crown, but also feels it would be foolish to write off John Higgins, despite his recent struggles. "You can't really look too much into form," he told Eurosport.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan is the 4/1 favourite with bookmakers to land a record eighth world snooker title, but the defending champion does not pay attention to any of the pre-tournament hype swirling around Sheffield at this time of year.

O'Sullivan has lifted the elite invitational Hong Kong Masters (6-4 against Marco Fu) and Champion of Champions (10-6 against Judd Trump) this season, but has toiled to make an impact in the ranking events with his best returns coming via quarter-final appearances at the UK Championship and Welsh Open.

Not that he is putting much stock on a form guide, which suggests 2021 world finalists Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy head into the 47th staging of the sport's biggest tournament in peak potting condition after some glorious exploits in recent weeks.

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Murphy ended a three-year title drought by lifting the Players Championship with a 10-4 win over Ali Carter and Tour Championship courtesy of a 10-7 victory against Kyren Wilson after narrowly losing the Welsh Open final to 9-7 Robert Milkins.

Selby added to his 9-6 final win over Luca Brecel at the English Open in December courtesy of a 22nd ranking title success last month at the WST Classic in his home city of Leicester with a 6-2 triumph against Chinese talent Pang Junxu.

Murphy also denied Selby the chance to move above O'Sullivan as the world No. 1 before the Crucible with a gripping 10-9 win in the Tour Championship semi-finals.

It was a tournament which saw O'Sullivan, Trump, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and John Higgins, with 16 world titles between them, fail to qualify via the sport's one-year ranking list.

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"There are so many good players around like Murphy, Judd, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Mark Allen and Ding Junhui," said O'Sullivan, who lifted his seventh world title with an epic 18-13 win over 2019 champion Trump last year.

"They're such good players and you see Shaun Murphy beat Mark Selby in the last tournament. He also beat him in the tournament before.

"Everyone's kind of beating each other. So it's really difficult to say this one, that one. There’s some really, really fantastic players. Selby’s done great – he’s won a lot of tournaments. He's definitely up there.

"But this is the World Championship, this is a different test and there's a lot of snooker to be played in Sheffield."

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Despite the usual pre-Crucible theatre talk, O'Sullivan believes it is impossible to call with any great certainty who could emerge clutching the sport's most coveted trophy on May Day as he prepares for a record 31st straight year competing at the blue-chip event.

The British sporting icon is also adamant it would be foolish to dismiss the chances of former world champions Robertson and Higgins based on their failure to win a ranking tournament in this particular campaign.

The old adage that form is temporary but class is permanent is perhaps never truer in professional sport than during the momentous, momentum-shifting moments of snooker inside the unique Crucible hothouse, a venue where O'Sullivan has matched Stephen Hendry's 1990s trophy haul with stylish victories in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020 and 2022.

"I think a lot can be looked into before the event and you think: 'this guy's in form'. But I think, come the quarter-final stage, you can start to see who is really looking dangerous," O'Sullivan told Eurosport.

"I don't think Neil Robertson has won a tournament this year, and you would be thinking he hasn't had a good season, but if he is still in there at the quarter-finals, would you back against him? Probably not.

"So form certainly doesn't matter when you look at the type of player who might be lurking around in the second week of the World Championship.

"If Neil Robertson is playing well, and he's in the quarter-finals, are you going to go: 'oh, he hasn't won a tournament'? You are probably going to think: 'he's looking good, it's going to take a good man to stop him'.

"The same can be said for John Higgins. If John Higgins is in the quarters or the semis, would you back against him? Probably not.

"He hasn't had a great season, and has probably had a worse season out of anybody, but you wouldn't want to write him off. So you can't really look too much into form when it comes to the World Championship.

"It is a different tournament altogether."