Jimmy White gives update on close friend Ronnie O'Sullivan ahead of World Championship
Jimmy White has given a new update on his close friend Ronnie O'Sullivan ahead of the 2026 World Snooker Championship.
O'Sullivan, 50, will be looking to win his record-breaking eighth world crown at the Crucible Theatre.
'The Rocket' hasn't officially declared that he will compete at the tournament, which begins on April 18, having operated on a part-time schedule this season.
But barring any statement to the contrary, O'Sullivan is already listed in the main draw and will take on a Crucible qualifier.
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Six-time world finalist White is once again in the qualifying draw for the first round, though hasn't made the main tournament since back in 2007.
He will face young Chinese player Gao Yang, who is back on tour this year after a three-season absence.
Speaking to The Sun in the build-up to his match, White explained how he will tempt O'Sullivan to play at his new private snooker club ahead of the World Championship - and revealed what he thinks about the state of his close friend's game right now.
"O'Sullivan is going to come to my club and do a show for me. We also just produced a salt beef sandwich - that might entice him," he said.
"He's going to come and do an exhibition. He will come in and practice because the facilities there are top draw.
"I'm so pleased with his game at the moment as well. You have got to make him favourite to get his eighth world title.
"People are going, 'Well, he's 50 years old'. But he's the fittest guy on the circuit. He's super fit and he's playing some really fabulous stuff.
"He only just got beat in that last one in China [the World Open] by Thepchaiya [Un-Nooh], and he made that 153 [break]."
O'Sullivan has credited running - a hobby he took up during the early 2000s before suffering an injury - as helping to improve his overall fitness and wellbeing.
He took up running again during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
"Running allowed me to switch off and not even think about snooker," O'Sullivan wrote in his 2023 book, 'Unbreakable'.
"I am fine with having a match ahead of me to play at seven in the evening. I know that when I put my suit on, something inside me will say, 'Right, we're going to work. I will switch on. Now it's time to play'.
"All the hours until then are mine. Running, having breakfast with my running mates, in a coffee bar, eating good food. Before I found running I'd be down at the venue, practicing, hanging around the hotel, eating too much, hanging out with the other players.
"That all disappeared the day I bought my first pair of running shoes."
O'Sullivan has also declared his maiden entry into the World Seniors Championship, which starts two days after the main World Championship ends and is open to all players over the age of 40.
Fellow former champions Mark Williams and Stuart Bingham, and three-time women's champion Reanne Evans, will also make their debuts, along with Ali Carter, Matthew Stevens and Robert Milkins.
Four-time world seniors champion White, 2025 winner Alfie Burden and 1997 Crucible champion Ken Doherty will also be involved.
Topics: Ronnie OSullivan, Snooker, World Snooker Championship
Ryan Smart