Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry will always dominate the debate about who is snooker's greatest player of all time but the Rocket admits he's just happy to be "in the conversation".
The six-time Crucible champion heads to Sheffield as the world number one for the fifth time - and 20 years after his first - after another fine season in which he won the World Grand Prix and also reached the European Masters final.
O'Sullivan will of course be widely fancied to equal Stephen Hendry's record haul of seven world titles, which he won during an awesome era of dominance between 1990 and 1999, but he already has the most career ranking titles and Triple Crowns.
However, even if he does become world champion 18 years after his maiden triumph, the 46-year-old won't be branding himself as snooker's GOAT.
"I do not regard myself as the greatest ever," O'Sullivan told Eurosport. "I think Stephen Hendry had a really good answer: as long as my name is in the conversation, you have to let other people decide that. All I have done is try to win and compete and play the way I want to play.
"I have played a brand of snooker that is very difficult to play as an individual sportsman," he added. "To play the way I play, it is not easy. Sometimes it is easier to win if you are more of a defensive, negative, counter-puncher sort of player.
"I come out and I probably attack the balls more, which leaves you open to being picked off a little bit more. I just enjoy playing.
"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.
"I was never big into records, but if people want to start talking about, 'is he a great, is he this...' I suppose you have to look at the record books and as far as World Championships, yes I am one behind Stephen Hendry. Not a bad place to be. I managed to do better in the other two majors and lots of other yardsticks if you want to throw them in as well."
"Like I say, it is not really for me to decide, it is for other people. All I can do is go out and try to do my best. I have tried to win every tournament; I have also tried to win the important tournaments. In the back of your head, you want to win the three majors - the Masters, the UK and the worlds - and I have managed to win a fair amount of them as well."
O'Sullivan added: "Snooker is not all I do now; it is part of what I do. I think if I was coming through snooker now - even in my prime - I still would not like to go through the grind of the tour.
"So I just take what I can from it: I take the good bits and try to leave the not-so-good bits out. I just like to keep the rustiness off and allow the snooker gods to maybe give me a tournament now and again these days. Whereas before, I would win quite a lot [of the tournaments] that I played in. In the last two years, I have not won so much, so maybe there is a sign there that I am not the player I was, even though I still feel like I play okay.
"Age catches up with you at some point, but I still enjoy and relish the challenge. I still enjoy getting my cue out. I still enjoy the lifestyle, and I make it work for me. I've had a great career and enjoyed it; it has been fantastic for me, so it is nice to have a plan and to see it through.
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