Ronnie O’Sullivan may be a 7/2 favourite for next year’s World Championship but the legendary cue-man says he feels like a “numpty”.

The 42-year-old has rarely been seen on the green baize this season, dropping to 132nd in the one-year snooker world rankings. He is yet to play a ranking event this term and is way down on the list, although the sport’s official world rankings are calculated over a two-year period.

‘The Rocket’ did travel to the Far East for the Shanghai Masters and duly won the tournament, beating Barry Hawkins 11-9 in the final but he has been conspicuous by his absence in other big events.

The five-time world champion has made a habit of cutting his schedule to try and peak at certain times of the year and he took to Twitter to suggest he could soon be entering the record books once again.

He tweeted: “Will I be the lowest ranked player in history if I win my next event? I’m sure someone has the record books out there, be nice to make some more history.”

O’Sullivan has never been short of a word or two, aiming his ire at certain players over the years, but after slipping so far down the one-year standings, he agreed with a Twitter follower that he needs to take a look at himself.

“Yeah mate I suppose I have to class myself as a numpty now,” he added on social media.

‘The Essex Exocet’, who is third in the official rankings, is priced at 16/5 with Dafabet to win the UK Championship.