Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan has compared himself to Lionel Messi and Roger Federer. Says Rafael Nadal and Novak are…

O’Sullivan has used the examples of fellow sporting heroes Messi and Federer to make the point that playing in a flamboyant and attractive way can be successful at the very highest level, albeit doing so does perhaps risk making it harder to achieve consistent glory.

“I have played a brand of snooker that is very difficult to play as an individual sportsman,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport in an interview ahead of the World Championship.

“Jimmy White played that brand and maybe it cost him winning the World Championship. I was able to stay true to that style of snooker and still win it six times. It is not easy.

“For someone like Lionel Messi, playing in a football team, I suppose he is just told to do what he is good at and they have other people covering for him where maybe he doesn’t want to run around and chase the ball.

“A little bit like Federer in tennis. Who is the greatest of all time? Statistically, you would say Nadal, but the way he did it, a lot of people would say Federer is the greatest of all time. So it depends on how you want to judge it, I suppose.

“It is a lot harder to win tournaments playing Federer’s style than Nadal. Nadal will break you down. Djokovic will break you down. They are like machines, but Federer is a bit of an artist.

“So playing that style in an individual sport is going to leave you open to being picked off or maybe worn down in many situations.

Looking ahead to the World Championship, O’Sullivan said it becomes harder and harder to succeed “because you carry that tag on your back” after having achieved so much success in the sport with other players desperate to claim a famous upset win.

“I think it is harder for me because obviously my past, my history in the game makes every match feel like a final to a lot of people who play me. So I have that to deal with, I suppose. Whereas a lot of the other players can slip under the radar a bit.

“But I’ve embraced that and found that that is what happens, you know. You have to deal with that, so it is probably a bit harder for me now to win tournaments because you carry that tag on your back, if you like.”

In the same interview, O’Sullivan lauded the “unbelievable talent” of rising star Zhao Xintong, who he said, “is amazing to watch”.