Ronnie O'Sullivan has dismissed suggestions that his No.1 status makes him the favourite to win the World Snooker Championship.
The Rocket heads into the tournament at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre this week as the leader in the rankings. The 46-year-old rose back to the top of the sport after reaching the semi-final of the Tour Championship, ousting Mark Selby who was absent from the tournament in Llandudno.
O'Sullivan's ranking position is also boosted by the World Grand Prix title he took in December, among other strong results. Despite returning to the top of the pile for the first time since 2019, he remains seeded second for the event as Selby keeps top seed as defending champion.
He revealed to The Sun that his immediate reaction to learning that he had risen back to the top of the rankings was to laugh. "I was a bit shocked when someone texted me about being world No 1. I thought they were winding me up. They sent me a picture that somebody had put it on Twitter," he said.
"I just started laughing. I thought it was quite funny. It was a bit like winning the world title in 2013 after taking a year out. I thought, 'How did that happen?' But I'll be honest with you, they're probably the two best achievements given the circumstances in my career."
The man from Essex will hope to become world champion for the seventh time in his long and successful career, but knows that it will be a tall order for him to do so. Instead, he is backing one of the other great players of his generation to wear the Crucible crown.
O'Sullivan believes Neil Robertson is in the best position to become world champion this year. The Aussie has been in lethal form of late, winning four tour titles already in 2022 including the Masters, and has the Rocket's backing to add another trophy to his collection.
"Am I the best player in the world? No, no, definitely not," he added. "Neil Robertson is by far the most consistent player, his strike rate is pretty incredible really. Virtually every tournament he's entered, he has either won or got to the final.
"Listen, he's the man to beat. I enjoy the challenge. I'd relish the chance of having a go at him in Sheffield at the World Championship. If I could beat him at some point, it'd probably go down as the best victory in my snooker career. At the moment he's playing some unbelievable snooker. He's probably the best player that I've ever played.
"If you just brought everybody's game at their peak and put them in one tournament — say Hendry, Davis, me, Higgins, Williams, Robertson, Selby, Trump or Ding — I'd say his game at the moment is probably as good as anyone has ever played."
