Phil Haigh
Published December 1, 2025 8:00pm
Updated December 1, 2025 8:11pm
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Ronnie O’Sullivan feels there are three tiers to the top players in snooker (Picture: Getty Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan has ranked his snooker rivals into three tiers, insisting he is in the third if those levels in quality.
It has been something of a trophy drought for the Rocket, not winning a trophy since March 2024 and without a ranking title since January last year.
The 49-year-old has still produced some stunning performances, including his two 147s in a semi-final win at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, but he has struggled for consistency.
O’Sullivan reckons two players stand out as the best on the planet right now, and they are the men who occupy numbers one and two in the world rankings: Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson.
The Rocket was responding to the unpredictable season so far, which has seen 11 different winners from 11 tournaments, although, surprisingly, Trump is not one of them.
‘I think it would be nice to have a dominant player, but I just think now the standard is so high in snooker, I just think it won’t happen,’ said O’Sullivan. ‘I don’t think there’s any player that’s head and shoulders above.
‘I think you’ve probably got, at the moment, you’ve got three tiers. You’ve got Judd and Kyren, they’re probably the best two players in the world.
Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson were certainly the best two players of last season (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Maybe put Neil [Robertson] and [Mark] Selby in there because they’ve had good seasons, but really Judd and Kyren are probably the best two.
‘And then you’ve got, Neil, Selby, [Mark] Williams, possibly [John] Higgins, who else is there? I think that’s your second tier.
‘Then you’ve got your third tier, which would probably be me, [Barry] Hawkins, Ding [Junhui]. Maybe put [Shaun] Murphy in the second tier at the moment, he’s been doing well, he’s looking strong.
Masters champion Shaun Murphy won the British Open in September (Picture: Getty Images)
‘So, yeah, I think there are levels, you know, where you say, well, these are probably better than these, and these are probably better than these. But there’s not a lot in it, is there, really?’
On world champion Zhao Xintong, O’Sullivan is a big fan of his game, but feels he needs to be consistent over a period of time to climb up his tiers.
‘Zhao, I’d probably put him in the third tier with me, probably somewhere like that,’ said O’Sullivan. ‘I wouldn’t put him in…definitely not in Judd and Kyren’s level at the moment.
Zhao Xintong won the World Championship in style in May (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Would you put him in Selby’s and that? He hasn’t done it enough consistently, I suppose. I think he needs to have a good two, three years consistently performing at the highest level for that to happen.
‘It’s not easy to do, but he’s definitely got the talent to do it. But, yeah, he needs to have a good run of tournaments.’
Top 16 in the World Rankings
- Judd Trump
- Kyren Wilson
- Neil Robertson
- Mark Williams
- Ronnie O’Sullivan
- John Higgins
- Mark Allen
- Ding Junhui
- Shaun Murphy
- Zhao Xintong
- Mark Selby
- Xiao Guodong
- Wu Yize
- Barry Hawkins
- Gary Wilson
- Si Jiahui
O’Sullivan revealed earlier this month that he worked with Wu Yize ahead of his International Championship win and tipped him as a young player who could go on to dominate in a way that no one is now.
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‘I was just telling him certain areas of his game that I think he needs to improve on if he wants to be a winner.
‘If he wants to rely on playing brilliant and winning, then carry on doing what you’re doing, but if you want to be able to play OK and win, then there’s certain things that are just non-negotiable, you know? And I explained to him from my observations and what I thought they were.
‘That was the same when I worked with Ray Reardon, you know, he taught me a side of the game which I never really thought was that important. But having taken it on I started to appreciate the benefits that come of it.
‘You’ve got to be able to steady the ship sometimes and play your way back into a match and I think someone like Wu Yize, if he’s able to do that, he could become a dominant player in the sport. He’s that good.’
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