Ronnie O'Sullivan labels Luke Littler a 'freak' as he makes comparisons in snooker

O’Sullivan knows exactly what it’s like being a young British sporting prodigy tipped for the top.

Having turned professional the year after claiming the world under-21 championship title in Bangalore, India, O’Sullivan burst on to snooker’s top-flight in 1992, winning 74 of his first 76 matches - including a record 38 consecutive victories at one point.

At the end of his rookie season, the Englishman made his debut appearance at the Crucible Theatre for the 1993 World Snooker Championship having won 10 successive qualifying matches to get there. O’Sullivan has been an annual fixture on the sport’s grandest stage every year since.

During his second professional term came O’Sullivan’s big breakthrough, when as a 17-year-old he defeated reigning world champion and world number one Stephen Hendry in the final to win the 1993 UK Championship. He remains snooker’s youngest-ever winner of a ranking event title.

Fast forward over 30 years and ‘The Rocket’ is widely regarded as the greatest snooker player of all-time, with a record 41 ranking titles to his name, including seven world championship crowns.

The latest of O’Sullivan’s seven Crucible triumphs came in 2022. Since then, snooker’s blue riband spectacular has crowned four new champions in as many years; never before has that happened in its near 100-year history.

The last two winners have both come from China, with Zhao Xintong creating history in 2025 as the first Asian to lift the iconic trophy in Sheffield, followed by Wu Yize’s success over Shaun Murphy in a deciding frame final earlier this month.

Aged just 22-years-old, Wu - who before this year’s edition had never won a match at the Crucible - is the youngest non-British cueist in history to win the Championship.

Since the sport began, the UK has had a firm stronghold on snooker, but times are changing, with the Far East - more specifically China - now seemingly holding the cards and being the new powerhouse.

Five Chinese players are currently ranked inside the world’s top 16, and players from the country have broken record numbers at all three Triple Crown events this session. With a conveyor belt of young and emerging talents coming up through the amateur and professional ranks, the top of the sport could look very different in five to ten years time.

Ten of the current world’s top 16 are from the UK, but three of those are in their 50s, four are in their 40s, and three are in their 30s, with Chris Wakelin and Kyren Wilson both aged 34 being the youngest.

In comparison, three of China’s elite are in their twenties - Zhao, Wu, and Si Jiahui.

“He’s a freak isn’t he?” O’Sullivan recognises Littler’s phenomenal skill

An ongoing topic of debate has been about a worrying lack of young British snooker talents breaking through into the top echelons, and whether the sport needs a Luke Littler-type character.

Sporting sensation Littler reached the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship final as a 16-year-old before claiming back-to-back world titles on the Alexandra Palace stage in 2025 and 2026. Currently the runaway world number one, Littler - who is still only 19 - has already won almost every major title available to him on the Professional Darts Corporation circuit.

His success and personality has sparked a golden boom period for darts, with new audiences tuning in, and inspired youngsters taking to the oche. As a consequence, prize money in the professional game has risen to levels never seen before, with the winner of the world championship now collecting one million pounds.

Now 50-years-old, but still a serious contender for every tournament he competes in, O’Sullivan was recently asked on Pluto TV - whilst playing at the inaugural Snooker 900 Global Championship - whether British snooker could produce its equivalent to Littler in the near future.

Sports fan O’Sullivan is clearly a big admirer of Littler, and acknowledges how special a talent he is in the sporting world as a whole.

“He’s a freak isn’t he? He’s a bit like Usain Bolt” said the unprecedented 23-time Triple Crown event winner.

“It’s a bit hard to say is there going to be another one of him coming along (for snooker)...I don’t know any other sports - Tiger Woods when he came along, Stephen Hendry when he was doing it. You know, it’s so far and few between.”

In response to snooker youngsters who could challenge for honours, O’Sullivan replied: “I think there’s a lot of very, very good players now, I think Stan Moody could do really well - nice player.”

O’Sullivan recently labelled teenager Moody - who last month made his Crucible debut and is now into the world’s top 40 rankings - as a future world champion.

Replying to former world number three and snooker pundit Neal Foulds as to how unlikely it is that snooker could produce something like Littler in the near future, O’Sullivan didn’t completely dismiss the notion, although reiterated how unique the darting behemoth is.

“You may do, you know, it comes along and you just go ‘wow, amazing’, but I don’t think there’s anything...like if you look at Scottie Scheffler...he’s the best golfer, but is he a Luke Littler of his sport? No. Is he Usain Bolt? He’s just another very good player that can probably win a bit more under pressure a bit more consistent.

“You know, they’re all very much as good as each other really, but Luke Littler’s streets ahead of everybody else.”