Ronnie O'Sullivan endures back-to-back trophyless seasons for the first time

O’Sullivan’s hopes of a modern-era record-breaking eighth World Championship title were dashed last month when fellow ‘Class of 92’ graduate John Higgins ousted him 13-12 in the last 16 at the Crucible.

It is over two years since O’Sullivan last lifted a trophy on the World Snooker Tour; that came at the Riyadh Season Championship in March 2024. His wait for a ranking title stretches back further to January 2024 when he won the World Grand Prix in Leicester.

Those two accolades were part of an incredible 2023/24 campaign during which he collected five titles, including his eighth UK Championship and Masters crowns. But since then, it has been a dry spell for The Rocket.

The 2024/25 campaign was a frustrating one for O’Sullivan. A few weeks after losing in the opening round of his UK title defence, he snapped his cue in anger at the behind-closed-doors Championship League Invitational. That tournament visit was meant to be a warm-up for his upcoming Masters defence, but because of his equipment ‘malfunction’ he withdrew from the Alexandra Palace extravaganza and a string of other events in the subsequent months.

His return came at the 2025 World Snooker Championship over three months later. Despite cue issues and a lack of competitive action, O’Sullivan reached the semi-finals in Sheffield, but was soundly defeated by eventual champion Zhao Xintong with a session to spare.

Heading into this season, O’Sullivan’s top 16 status was under threat with the prize he earned from two years before coming off his rolling rankings total.

Whilst this term hasn’t yielded silverware for the now 50-year-old, snooker’s greatest player of all time has produced a couple of signature, and historic moments.

At the 2025 Saudi Arabia Masters in August, he compiled two maximum 147 breaks during his semi-final win over Chris Wakelin. It was the first time in professional snooker history that multiple maximums had been fashioned within the same session of a match.

The record 41-time ranking event winner won that tie to make the final, but having battled back from 7-2 down, he was denied the title by Neil Robertson in a deciding frame.

The £200,000 runners-up prize money O’Sullivan pocketed (he also won a bonus of over £180,000 for his double maximum, but that didn’t get added to his ranking total) massively eased any ranking concerns he may have had.

In March, O’Sullivan appeared in another ranking final, this time the World Open in Yushan, China. En route to the title match, the Englishman compiled a world record break of 153 in the first frame of his quarter-final win over Ryan Day - an effort made possible due to receiving a free ball with all 15 reds still on the table. Only once before in top tier action had a break of more than 147 been made - that was by Jamie Burnett who registered a 148 at the 2004 UK Championship qualifiers.

However, despite his heroics from earlier in the event, O’Sullivan was stopped by an inspired Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the final who constructed a maximum 147 break in the closing stages.

These two final outings were easily O’Sullivan’s highlights of the season having reached the quarter-finals of only one other ranking event.

His playing schedule this 2025/26 campaign has been particularly light, only appearing twice on home soil at the UK and World Championships. This is likely down to being a resident of Dubai and having restrictions on how many days he can work in Britain.

As a consequence, O’Sullivan has opted out of several events on the calendar including all four Home Nations Series stops, the British Open, the Masters, and the final two Players Series legs of the term, the Players and Tour Championships.

O'Sullivan's rollercoaster professional career of more than three decades has had spells of inactivity and difficult results, but he always managed to win at least one professional title of some description every season from his rookie campaign in 1992/93 to 2019/20.

The 2020/21 season - that was exclusively held in the UK due to the Covid-19 pandemic - was the first term when O'Sullivan went without an accolade, despite making five ranking finals.

The following season saw him bounce back with victories at the World Grand Prix, and his record-equalling seventh Crucible crown at the World Championship.

Triumphs at the Hong Kong Masters and Champion of Champions arrived in the 2022/23 campaign, before the aforementioned five-title haul of 23/24. But since then, he hasn’t added to his bulging professional career CV.

What’s next for O’Sullivan on the table?

It may not be long until we see O’Sullivan back in action, albeit away from the official professional circuit.

He has entered and is in the draw for the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship which takes place at the Crucible just days after the professional version has finished, between May 6-10.

Following a recent change to eligibility rules, O’Sullivan will be making his debut at this level, and is due to face the winner of the preliminary round match between Ken Doherty and Gerard Greene, in the last 16.

After that tournament, he is also in the line-up for the inaugural Global Pluto TV Snooker 900 Championship, an unique event played at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading. That competition will be played to timed ‘Snooker 900’ rules, the same format he played under a few weeks ago when he won The John Virgo Trophy at Goffs in Kildare, Ireland.