There are few players who command the respect of their fellow competitors like . The seven-time world champion has transcended the sport during his career that has spanned over three decades and is still on the hunt for more records.

The Rocket has confirmed he intends to compete at this year's , having competed at every single one since making his Crucible debut in 1993. Should he taste victory in Sheffield this year, he'll pull clear of Stephen Hendry on seven titles each and join the likes of John Pulman and Fred Davis with eight.

But according to the 49-year-old, there's a snooker star who, at their peak, was a better all-round player. Speaking during a pre-tournament preview with TNT Sports, O'Sullivan explained: "John was probably the best all-round player that's ever played the game, yeah, without a doubt. Technically unbelievable, break-building fantastic, safety... probably been no one better, bottle - tonnes of it.

"My only thing, if you're going to criticise someone, I just think he wasn't aggressive enough. I think he would've won a lot more if he had just been more aggressive. But I don't think John is built like that, I think his mindset is, 'I just want to shut up shop', and he can keep you out for hours and hours."

Higgins is a four-time world champion himself, with his last having come in 2011. When quizzed on what words of advice he'd give the Scot if he was in his camp, O'Sullivan added: "But John didn't really see the game like that. Whereas if I'm playing well I think, 'I don't care if I miss', because I'm going to put so much pressure on them, eventually they're just going to crack and I'll just keep going.

"I just think if I was in John's corner I'd say, 'push the boat out a little bit, put more fear into your opponent'. The thing when I got [Ray] Reardon, I needed that, and it's the opposite with John, he should've had someone like Stephen Hendry going, 'You know what John, you don't need to play safe, you don't need to be that good in that department, just go for a few more'.

"I was at one end, he was at the other end, and I think I need to go that way and I think John would've done probably a little bit better if he'd have gone that way, but he still had an amazing career."

. The tournament gets underway on Saturday morning, with defending champion Kyren Wilson up first against Lei Peifan.