Ronnie O’Sullivan: Mark Selby a massive favourite for World Snooker Championship glory at the Crucible
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Updated 27/04/2023 at 20:27 GMT
With Ronnie O’Sullivan crashing out of the 2023 World Snooker Championship to Luca Brecel, Mark Selby has assumed the tag of favourite for Crucible glory in Sheffield. Seven-time champion O'Sullivan is convinced Selby will succeed him and add a fifth world crown to his trophy cabinet as he does not feel his rivals have the game to break him down over long matches.
Selby is ‘about as big a favourite you can get’ for World Championship glory, says O’Sullivan
Ronnie O’Sullivan thinks Mark Selby is in line to land a fifth World Championship crown, as he feels none of the other semi-finalists have the tools to break him down.
Selby’s career looked on the wane last season, as he admitted to a battle with his mental health and produced a string of below-par performances.
There were positive signs at the start of the 2022/23 season with runs to the quarter-finals of the British Open, Scottish Open and Northern Ireland Open.
He then returned to the winner’s circle at the English Open - his first title since the 2021 World Championship - and added the WST Classic to his trophy cabinet in the weeks before his return to the Crucible.
Selby’s game is suited to the attritional nature of the Crucible, and with O’Sullivan exiting at the quarter-final stage has assumed the tag of favourite.
Mark Allen is Selby’s opponent in the semi-finals, while Luca Brecel and Si Jiahui are in the other half of the draw.
O’Sullivan feels the Leicester native will have too much Crucible nous for the other three, as he knows how to manage his game and get out of bad sessions relatively unscathed.
“You come to Sheffield and you have a range,” O’Sullivan said in the Eurosport studio. “You can’t play brilliantly every match, all the time. There is a range. If your bad is here and your good is here, you are going to drop at some point, but it’s about keeping it in that range.
“It can buy you some time, a 4-4, a 5-3. And then when you play well, if you can go 6-2, 7-1, you are looking at a lead. That is how you look at your range.“
O’Sullivan feels Selby’s consistency will stand him in good stead in his bid for a fifth world crown.
He said: “In these four-session games, people are up close watching you and can see if you are not on it and you think ‘that’s my chance’. That is where these matches can turn.
“That's the thing with Selby this season, and this tournament in particular, he has been very consistent.
“When you have that behind you, it is such a lovely place to be.
“For me, he is about as big a favourite as you can get in this tournament. I just can’t see anyone breaking him down.”
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