Ronnie O’Sullivan fell at the first hurdle at the UK Championship (Picture: Getty Images)
Stephen Hendry is confident Ronnie O’Sullivan will win either the upcoming Riyadh Season Snooker Championship, Masters or even both, despite his recent struggles for results.
The Rocket was beaten in the opening round of the UK Championship by Barry Hawkins on Saturday, which came after he fell at the first hurdle at the Champion of Champions earlier this month against Xiao Guodong.
The 48-year-old won five events last season, but his form appears to have dropped off and is yet to reach a final yet this campaign.
However, Hendry has no concerns about O’Sullivan’s title-winning credentials and reckons he will have a trophy in his hands by the end of January.
The Riyadh Season Snooker Championship is coming up from 18-20 December, followed by the Masters at Alexandra Palace from 12-19 January, with the Scot fancying the Rocket to win one or both.
‘I don’t think it gets any easier to be able to switch on playing under pressure. I don’t think that gets easier as you get older,’ Hendry said on WST’s Snooker Club podcast.
‘Ronnie will definitely play in Saudi, obviously that’s a huge event and then the Masters. These are events, if he doesn’t get up for every tournament these days, these are events that he will be up for.
O’Sullivan is searching for his best form(Picture: Getty Images)
‘I think he came to the UK [Championship] and looked up for it. The frustration he showed at 4-2 when he missed an easy ball, shows he wanted to win.
‘I think there’s no problem with the desire in these big events and he’s working hard on his game.
‘I think he’ll win either Saudi Arabia or the Masters. He could win both!
‘He’s got huge involvement over there [Saudi Arabia] now with his academy. He’ll be really up for that one. The Masters is his backyard, he’s won eight of those, the crowd love him. He’ll be up for that.
‘I think he’ll definitely win one of those events, he could win both of them but I think he’ll win one of them.’
O’Sullivan will head to both Riyadh and London as one of the favourites despite his recent form struggles, and will be the defending champion at both events.
Barry Hawkins impressed on his way to beating the Rocket (Picture: Getty Images)
The seven-time world champion was philosophical after his 6-4 defeat to Hawkins on Saturday, praising the hawk as the better player on the day.
‘I just think Barry played a good match and deserved his win, so I have to give all credit to him,’ he said.
‘He played well, looked strong and took his chances. I’m all right about it and I’m pretty much used to it. You just have to roll with it. It is what it is.
‘I’m just enjoying playing, that’s the important thing. I try to not look back on it and on to whatever the next event is.’