Ronnie O’Sullivan exclusive on World Snooker Championship title rivals Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson

Ronnie O'Sullivan is the 4/1 favourite with bookmakers to land a record eighth world snooker title, but the defending champion does not pay attention to any of the pre-tournament hype swirling around Sheffield at this time of year. O'Sullivan has lifted the elite invitational Hong Kong Masters (6-4 against Marco Fu) and Champion of Champions (10-6 against Judd Trump) this season, but has toiled to make an impact in the ranking events with his best returns coming via quarter-final appearances at the UK Championship and Welsh Open.

Ad Not that he is putting much stock on a form guide, which suggests 2021 world finalists Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy head into the 47th staging of the sport's biggest tournament in peak potting condition after some glorious exploits in recent weeks. World ChampionshipRobertson hoping to learn from O'Sullivan as he pursues World Championship title8 MINUTES AGO Murphy ended a three-year title drought by lifting the Players Championship with a 10-4 win over Ali Carter and Tour Championship courtesy of a 10-7 victory against Kyren Wilson after narrowly losing the Welsh Open final to 9-7 Robert Milkins.

Selby added to his 9-6 final win over Luca Brecel at the English Open in December courtesy of a 22nd ranking title success last month at the WST Classic in his home city of Leicester with a 6-2 triumph against Chinese talent Pang Junxu. Murphy also denied Selby the chance to move above O'Sullivan as the world No.

1 before the Crucible with a gripping 10-9 win in the Tour Championship semi-finals. It was a tournament which saw O'Sullivan, Trump, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and John Higgins, with 16 world titles between them, fail to qualify via the sport's one-year ranking list.