Snooker legends queued up to hail Ronnie O’Sullivan on Monday night – including Stephen Hendry through slightly gritted teeth.
The Rocket equalled the Scot’s most cherished record of seven Betfred World Championship titles with an 18-13 win over Judd Trump.
With all the 46-year-old’s many other records achievements over an incredible 30-year span O’Sullivan is now seen as the greatest player of all time.
Hendry, 53, saw his record matched and it could easily yet be beaten. And he reckons we may never see O’Sullivan’s like again.
Hendry said: “It is an honour to share that record with Ronnie. He has taken snooker to new heights and I'm actually surprised it's taken so long to win seven.
"I am sure he won't be happy until he's got eight. He's a winning machine. He says he's not bothered about records, but he will want eight.
"It's been an astounding performance the way he's dominated this tournament.
“I’m not saying I am liking it being equalled – but I am fine! The whole tournament the way Ronnie has played - totally focused - I had come to terms with the fact it would happen.
“What we have learned about Ronnie is that he is a better player – a much better player – than 20 years ago.
“There has been no one like him, and we will probably never see anyone again who has got that cue ball control. He has taken the game to a new level.
“You only have to look at the centuries he has got, well over 1,100 in his career. It is incredible and as a snooker player it is beautiful to watch, and you appreciate just how good he is.
“To be able to play to this standard, to still be better than the so-called up-and coming players that everyone talks about and still dominate the game at his age is just phenomenal.”
Six-time world champion Steve Davis, 64, said: “Winning his seven world titles over a span of 21 years…he is playing in a field of players far stronger than the one I did in the 1980s.
“So it may have been inevitable it would take longer for Ronnie. But the longevity he has shown is incredible, remarkable. I couldn’t do that, and neither could Stephen Hendry.”
Three-time world champion Mark Williams, along with O'Sullivan part of the famous ‘Class of 1992’, is glad everyone else now shares the opinion he has held for years.
He said: “O'Sullivan is the best player in the world by a country mile. He's so far in front of everyone – Trump, Selby, myself, Higgins – there's no comparison, he's the number one.
“He's the greatest ever, and he didn’t even have to win seven world championships to be called the greatest.
“I've played him all my life and what he's doing now, with the era of the players he's in, he's still going on at 46 and it's not even a contest.
“There used to be a good argument between Hendry and O'Sullivan, but I don't think there's any argument now.”
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