Ronnie O’Sullivan has been told he can expect Judd Trump to go on and ‘eclipse’ one record held by the Rocket.
It’s been a dismal couple of weeks for O’Sullivan, who crashed out of the English Open in the first round.
Commenting after the defeat against He Guoqiang, the seven-time world champion cast doubt on his future in snooker, hinting a retirement could be just around the corner.
Talking to The Sun, O’Sullivan said: “I’m absolutely useless, that’s why.
“Forget about the Worlds. I’m not even bothered to be honest with you, if I’m going to play rubbish I might as well play left-handed.
“Play left-handed and enjoy it, but be useless, or play right-handed, be useless and not enjoy it. I haven’t got long, I’m not going to deny it, I’m not playing well enough, there’s no point in even worrying about it – I’ve just accepted it now which is quite a nice place to be really.”
But O’Sullivan has since been told by fellow snooker ace John Higgins that Trump will likely overtake him in the list of most century breaks completed at the table.
Higgins himself became the second player behind O’Sullivan to reach four digits for century breaks this week when he hit his 1000th during a narrow defeat against Mark Allen.
Commenting after the loss, Higgins admitted it was a proud milestone to have hit, but conceded Trump will likely not only overtake him but also O’Sullivan.
The Scot said: “It’s a good achievement. I’ve played this game for so long to get to that milestone. You have to be proud of that.
“I’m really proud. To be honest, I wanted to get there before Judd. I thought that I have a 14-year head start on him.
“It is good to be second to Ronnie O’Sullivan, the best ever. Judd will obviously go on and probably eclipse Ronnie’s century record.”
Trump is closing in on 1,000 century breaks, having taken his tally to just under that figure before being dumped out of the English Open by world No.40 Wu Yize.
Granted, it will likely take Trump a good couple of years to come close to O’Sullivan’s record, which currently sits at 1,272 centuries across his three-decade-long career.
But it’s another timely reminder for O’Sullivan that the changing of the snooker guard might’ve already taken place.
