Make no mistake about it, Ronnie O’Sullivan is the finest snooker player to have ever graced the hallowed green baize.
There will be those who champion the claims of fellow great Stephen Hendry, but, by in large, the common perception is that the Rocket, at the peak of his powers, was the better of the two.
As we all know, the pair are tied on seven World Snooker Championship titles apiece, and O'Sullivan has made no secret of the fact that he would love to secure that elusive eighth to strengthen his credentials of being regarded as the undoubted greatest of all-time.
The big question is whether he will manage to fulfil that dream before he calls time on his illustrious and distinguished playing career.
Truth be told, I’ve changed my opinion on this on so many occasions over the past couple of years; I've even been at loggerheads with my own thoughts far too often in the weeks leading into this year's showpiece too!
Even now, despite the influx of new players from both home and abroad, O'Sullivan, for me, remains the best player on the planet.
He will dispute this as he often likes to play down his qualities, but regardless of his recent claims that he has ‘lots to work on’ and that his ‘best days are well and truly behind him’, he remains the sport's most dominant force.
The seven-time Crucible king is still in possession of that same mesmerising ‘A-game’ that has left all of us cue-sport enthusiasts purring on so many occasions over the last 30 odd years.
He isn't quite able to hit those same heights quite as often as he did in the past, but there's no doubt in my mind that that wonderful game is still at his disposal.
Cast your minds back just a couple of weeks ago, to the World Open in China when he etched his name yet deeper into the sport’s history books with that sensational 153 against Ryan Day; the largest break ever made in competitive action.
It was captivating to watch and and helped ignite a stunning session of snooker in which the Londoner reeled off another couple of centuries, a 95 and 62 en-route to a resounding 5-0 whitewash.
It was concrete proof of the fact that he hasn't lost that air of invincibility that he has long possessed.
What he has lost however is the ability to sustain that level of performance for a sustained period, something which is absolutely key when it comes to winning the World Snooker Championship.
O'Sullivan is now 50 years old and, naturally, everything that once upon a time came so effortlessly to him, begins to feel a little harder and a tad more challenging, especially when he is still having to work so hard to overcome the mental demons he has courageously fought for the past few years too.
He’s openly admitted to the fact that he has been forced to battle as hard, if not harder, off the table than he probably has on the green baize across all three and a bit decades of his distinguished career.
I think it’s fair to say that snooker together with his desire for ultimate perfection in the sport has put him through the ringer!
Still, despite the ‘pain’ and ‘agony’ he has spoken of so often in the past, he remains snooker's figurehead, and a player who absolutely still possesses the qualities to claim plenty of more ranking event wins, even if his last triumph came over two years ago!
Whilst I do believe that he will add to his 41 ranking event successes, I am utterly convinced that his days of coming through well over two weeks of arduous action in Sheffield and reigning supreme are over.
Anybody who has seen his documentary will remember how much his most recent triumph at the Crucible in 2022 took out of him; he was mentally, emotionally and physically drained.
Now he’s back for his latest crack at the title four years on from that, where father time will have undoubtedly taken its toll yet further.
By his own admission, the Rocket is feeling as good as he has done for a long time, and according to those close to him, really fancies his chances of coming up trumps in Sheffield in a couple of weeks time.
From the outside looking in, he does look in great nick and certainly has the bug for the game again having tinkered with his tournament schedule and undertaken a somewhat different approach to his preparations for the biggest event of them all.
But there are now frailties to his game that weren't there five or six years ago, and the vast majority of them stem from the fact that hie simply just getting older.
It pains me to write it, but the Rocket no longer possesses the longevity to last 17 days of action.
That was evident 12 months ago when he totally ran out of steam in his heavy defeat at the hands of Zhao Xintong in the semi-finals and it will be evident once more this time around too.
His route to the final this year is treacherous - John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Xintong and potentially Judd Trump all lie in wait across each of the next four rounds, and that's presuming he avoids the banana skin in round one against He Guoqiang, who comfortably defeat Jack Liwoski in qualifying.
Ronnie O'Sullivan for me should rightly be revered as the greatest snooker player of all time, but his undoubted desire for World Championship win number eight will continue to evade him right up until the day comes that he puts away his cue for good.
