Stephen Hendry weighs in on Ronnie O'Sullivan retirement as Scots snooker legend makes bold call

Stephen Hendry believes Ronnie O'Sullivan will return to action at the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.

The Rocket hasn't played competitively since kicking a table and snapping his cue during a frustrating Championship League campaign in early January, with rumours continuing to circle that the 49-year-old seven time world champion could be ready to quit snooker for good. However, Scots hero Stephen Hendry believes fans will finally get to see their man back in action when the tour heads back east for the World Grand Prix in March.

Speaking on his Snooker Club podcast, fellow seven-time world champ Hendry was asked whether he felt O'Sullivan would play in March and said: "He does like playing in China; he’s loved over there, and I’d be shocked if he didn’t play in Hong Kong. But I don’t know what to think about what’s going on really. Obviously smashing the cue has had an effect.

"But when he’s working at Eurosport I hear that he’s still on the practice table. Part of me thinks he’s just going to play in the World Championship. Is that the goal for this season? Is that the plan? I don’t know. The event suffers a little, there’s no doubt, if he’s not in it. It’s slightly impacted by him not being in it. I think if it was in the UK then he wouldn’t play. But the fact it’s in China and the fact he has a couple of weeks in China and is then onto Hong Kong means I think he will.

"I don’t know whether it’s just because it’s the UK, but I’ve been saying it for a while, I think that the competitive sort of juices are maybe not what they were. He maybe prefers playing exhibitions, doing a bit of punditry and having no expectations or pressure. Maybe he’s just got to that stage in his life where he doesn’t want to put the mental