World number one Ronnie O'Sullivan believes rival John Higgins has underachieved during his distinguished career.
Scotsman has 'underachieved' according to world number one
Ronnie O'Sullivan has hailed rival John Higgins as 'the best tactical player ever', but still believes the Scotsman has underachieved during his distinguished career.
Both Higgins and O'Sullivan have three World Championship titles to their name, and the former heads into the upcoming Grand Prix in Glasgow hoping to retain his title.
First up for the Wizard of Wishaw will be qualifier Mark Joyce as play gets underway at the nine-day tournament on Saturday.
Despite his underachieving claim, O'Sullivan believes Higgins is the sport's greatest tactician and is baffled as to why the 34-year-old has not won more world titles.
No weaknesses
"John is one of the all-time greats and I think he's actually underachieved in his career," he said.
"It sounds a strange thing to say, but it's because of how highly I rate him, and I know some of the other players would agree with that.
"He's the best tactical player ever - ahead of Steve Davis - plus he's a heavy break-builder, so he's got no weaknesses.
"Although he's won three world titles, his game is so well suited to the longer-frame tournaments that I would have expected him to win more.
"He's come into this season automatically feeling full of confidence because he's world champion. That's how I was last year and it's a beautiful feeling."
O'Sullivan has 22 ranking event titles to his name, against Higgins' total of 20, and begins his own Grand Prix title bid against Glasgow's Jamie Burnett next Tuesday.
