I watched Ronnie O’Sullivan exit World Champs – it’s clear what he must do now | Other | Sport

Ronnie O’Sullivan needs to play more tournament snooker if he wants to win the World Championship again. O’Sullivan showed enough during his two matches at this year’s World Championship that he still has the game – and the touches of genius – to go all the way in the sport’s biggest event.

There are those who believe this was O’Sullivan’s last proper chance of Crucible glory. I don’t see it that way at all. I think O’Sullivan has at least four or five more good chances to win an eighth world title. But he needs more matchplay snooker under his belt. O’Sullivan played 10 matches in 2026 before the World Championship. That just doesn’t cut it.

Everyone refers back to O’Sullivan taking almost the whole of the 2012-13 season off and winning the World Championship, but he was in his 30s then. It’s a whole different ball game now, with O’Sullivan into his 50s.

Even the greatest player of them all needs to be out there in the heat of battle. It’s something that just can’t be replicated in practice.

O’Sullivan played some fine snooker against John Higgins in their epic second-round encounter, but was found wanting when it really mattered in the final session as he fell to a 13-12 defeat.

It felt like the Scot was performing from recent memory. At the Tour Championship in Manchester, Higgins beat Mark Williams 10-8 and then Mark Selby 10-8. Victories over fellow greats in multi-session matches. No wonder he’s so battle-hardened.

Contrast that to O’Sullivan, who pulled out of the Tour Championship and played only two multi-session matches all season (interestingly, he lost them both too) before the Crucible marathon.

O’Sullivan has been playing down reports over recent days that he moved to Dubai last year – and also spends a lot of time in Ireland – for tax purposes. What can’t be denied is that he has only rarely been in the UK over the course of this season.

O’Sullivan’s problem is that the majority of tournaments are still played here. So he’s got some decisions to make.

His legacy in this sport is of course already secure. He is widely considered to be the finest player of all time. But the icons of sport always want more, and O’Sullivan himself has said that his one major remaining ambition is to win an eighth world crown.

That would put him above Stephen Hendry, who won seven world titles in the 1990s and was seen as the greatest before O’Sullivan took his mantle.

I have no doubt that O’Sullivan will still pick and choose his events in the 2026-27 season, and he is perfectly entitled to do that.

But I don’t believe these sporadic appearances serve him well when it comes to battling it out with so many outstanding players in Sheffield.

So come on Ronnie. You just need to play more tournament snooker, it’s as simple as that. You know it makes sense.