Barry Hearn is unconcerned if Ronnie O’Sullivan chooses not to play snooker in future, but says it is nice to have him around and hopes he is still competing at 60.
The 50-year-old remains the sport’s biggest star, despite playing in far fewer tournaments than most players over the last two seasons.
The Rocket has chosen to play a reduced schedule, although not an entirely sparse one, competing in eight ranking events and two more non-ranking tournaments over this campaign.
He has had something of a dry spell in terms of titles, though, with his last ranking triumph coming in January 2024 at the World Grand Prix.
O’Sullivan was looking very good early in his World Championship campaign last month, but fell 13-12 in the second round to John Higgins in a classic contest.
After the match he said he will remain not ‘both feet’ in snooker and will decide on which tournaments he plays in based on whether he is offered an appearance fee or not.
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Matchroom president Hearn is more than happy for the Rocket to only play when he wants, saying it is never crucial for an event to have him in the draw.
‘It’s just nice. It’s not important, it just nice because if it’s important, it means you can’t deal without him and that’s not the case,’ Hearn said of O’Sullivan’s presence in Sheffield this year. ‘We have so much talent in this game.
‘But Ronnie is a legend. How important was Tiger Woods in golf? Very few players ever brought about the commercial advantages that Tiger did, but their time comes and I’m just hoping that Ronnie’s this enigma that will be playing when he’s 60. Occasionally, when he feels like it and good luck to him.
‘Let him play when he wants, and the day he wants to play, the doors will always be open.
‘I want him to do that [only compete when he wants] because I want him to be happy. If he’s not happy, he’s not the same person, he’s not the same player.
‘He’s quite happy, I think, I hope. But the game has to be strong enough to survive big names, as any sport has over the years, and we will adjust, and we will create other big names.
‘Will they get to the stature of Ronnie O’Sullivan? I personally doubt it, but who knows? I don’t know what the future is there. If I knew what the future was, I’d be backing every horse in yesterday’s race.’
With the Class of 92 all still in the world’s top 16 in their 50s, Hearn says it is a good thing for snooker to have the iconic figures playing for so long.
‘Mark Williams is still there, John Higgins is still there. Ronnie, the great Ronnie. These people are legends,’ he said.
‘I mean, what other sport’s got 50-year-olds playing at the standard they’re playing, taking on the teenagers and coming through strong?’
Higgins is going stronger than any of them at the Crucible this year, taking on Shaun Murphy in the semi-finals as he bids for a fifth world title just shy of his 51st birthday.
On the other side of the draw, Mark Allen and Wu Yize are both hoping to make their first Crucible finals.