Stephen Hendry believes Ronnie O’Sullivan will win a tournament this season despite the seven-time world champion’s recent struggles.
Hendry made the prediction on the latest episode of the Snooker Club podcast after O’Sullivan suffered another early exit at the China Open.
The 50-year-old was beaten 6-4 by Noppon Saengkham in the second round in Taiyuan, extending his wait for a ranking title to two-and-a-half years.
O’Sullivan’s most recent ranking success came at the World Grand Prix in early-2024, while he has now slipped to 14th in the world rankings.
The defeat was particularly disappointing for O’Sullivan himself, who was highly critical of his own performance afterwards.
“I’m just very poor,” a dejected O’Sullivan said in the post-match press conference. “Too many bad shots, bad frames, and silly mistakes.”
“I have been like this for four years so I’m used to it, but it’s frustrating. I don’t want to take anything away from Noppon.
“He played a really good match, he is cueing strong. I’m just a very poor snooker player at the moment, it’s as simple as that.”
However, Hendry believes O’Sullivan’s current problems do not necessarily mean that another title is beyond him.
“We’ve talked about it quite a lot with Ronnie, John [Higgins}, and Mark [Williams],” Hendry said on the Snooker Club podcast.
“All of a sudden, they’ll miss something that you can’t believe. It’s these little unforced errors and the easy shots that are costing them.”
“[But] I’m going to make a prediction. I think Ronnie will win a tournament this year. I think there will be a week where he’ll just hit form.
“We know that at his best he has produced unbelievable performances, and if he can string them together he will win a tournament.
“I don’t know which one, so it’s not the greatest of predictions. But I think he will win one, because he seems to be working his nuts off.
“He’s on the practice table all the time. He’s pounding the practice table.”
Hendry’s comments come despite O’Sullivan’s inconsistent form continuing for some time.
Indeed, the Scot offered a markedly different assessment of the Rocket only a few weeks ago on another podcast episode.
“He goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. He can suddenly look absolutely flawless and then go back to really struggling.”
“Ronnie’s game now is flashes of brilliance coupled with inconsistent form,” Hendry claimed.
The two views are not necessarily incompatible, though, and there has been evidence throughout the last couple of seasons to back up both of Hendry’s points.
While there have been plenty of early exits, O’Sullivan did enjoy a promising run at the World Open in March before losing to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in a high-quality final.
He showed glimpses of his best form in Yushan, while this time last year he also came within a frame of landing the lucrative Saudi Arabia Masters crown.
In May, he lived up to his favourite’s tag in the betting market by winning both the World Seniors Championship and the Snooker 900 Global Championship, albeit neither was classified as WST events.
Those strong performances have kept interest in the wider betting and online gaming markets high, with promotions such as an elitespin promo code also attracting attention from punters.
The problem for O’Sullivan, meanwhile, has been reproducing that kind of level on a more regular basis on the main tour.
His China Open defeat to Saengkham was another example, with O’Sullivan making the kind of errors that have become increasingly familiar during his recent struggles.
Saengkham went on to reach the final of the 2026/27 season’s second ranking event, ultimately losing 10-6 to Mark Selby in the title-deciding affair.
O’Sullivan will now have another opportunity to prove Hendry right at the upcoming Wuhan Open, where he has odds of 7/1 in the outright betting market.
The event begins on Sunday, with O’Sullivan scheduled to face Ashley Carty in his opening match in the last 64.
Featured photo credit: WST
Ronnie is “done”. Time to retire. He only succeeds in those tournaments with a limited/ non-ranking field. As ever with O’Sullivan, he is more conscious of how he is perceived by others and whether or not he is good enough to beat them. He isn’t.
I think that there has been a fundamental shift in the last few years personally: beforehand Ronnie O’Sullivan believed he could beat anyone if he turned up. I’m sure that he sometimes used to go quiet for a few frames in some matches to give his opponent some momentum, in order to boost his own motivation for example. He was proving his own superiority by gifting a handicap to his opponent. Or creating a more stimulating challenge match for himself. Whichever way you look at it. Now thought, the best players believe that if they turn up they will beat Ronnie O’Sullivan; and I don’t know if he disagrees with them in his own mind any more either.
Ronnie O’ Sullivan may not be a force on the table however snooker owes him a great deal for what he represents. Good or bad he is the face of snooker. No one fills seats better than Ronnie O’ Sullivan. The tournaments could double his tickets and fans would gladly pay. The media have profited time and time again because fans want to know everything about the G.O.A.T. He is admired so very much in China spreading the sport to a nation that has invested in to snooker like no other country.
Adding to that, he is giving so much back to the sport. The Snooker 900 has been a super platform for the future stars of the sport, a venue for the stars to play snooker in an alternative way that many enjoy.
He did not have to entertain the idea of playing in the World Seniors Championship but he did and encouraged other stars to take part. The entire Seniors tournament enjoyed exposure like never before all because of Ronnie.
I would love to see Ronnie not bombarded by questions and questions about his form and future and rather celebrate the best thing that has happened to this sport, Ronnie O’ Sullivan.
I know I am sounding like a broken record but the fact that Ronnie O’ Sullivan made history with a 153 break at the World Open and making 2 147s in a match are not the signs of a Jimmy White making a fool of himself. This man is still up to doing things 99% of the players cannot perform on the table.
100% agree with you, Len.