RONNIE O’Sullivan never worried arch-rival John Higgins would rediscover his winning touch.

But that’s not the reason the Rocket has decided not to defend his Betway UK Championship crown in York this week.

O’Sullivan has opted for a spot alongside fellow crowd favourite Jimmy White in the commentary box, while Wishaw cueman Higgins is battling out for a fourth UK crown at the Barbican Centre.

Higgins went 29 months without a ranking title but is the player to beat having already won three major titles this calendar year.

O'Sullivan believes the on-song Scot is finally back on track.

“I was very surprised that John had that prolonged slump in the first place, so it is absolutely no shock to see him roar back this year,” revealed O’Sullivan.

“I remember playing him in Bulgaria in 2013, in the semis of a PTC [Players Tour Championship tournament] if I remember right when he was supposed to be in the doldrums.

“And he never missed a ball for four frames. I said to him afterwards, ‘I don’t know how you ever lose mate, because the game can’t be played any better than that’.

“I think the public know what a great player he is, but within snooker his reputation is even bigger if anything.

“If you got 50 top players in a room and asked them who was the most complete snooker player, probably 40 of them would say John Higgins.

“That is a big compliment and it is no surprise he is winning again because, simply put, if he is playing well then there is only one winner.”

Higgins cruised to an emphatic win over Northern Ireland amateur Leo Fernandez 6-1 on Tuesday in his first round match at snooker’s second most prestigious major ranking tournament.

And next up is an intriguing second round showdown with promising Chinese cueman Tian Pengfei this afternoon.

“John was 25-1 to win at the Crucible next year a couple of weeks ago, but those odds were always going to get slashed,” added five-time UK winner O’Sullivan.

“The Worlds is different though because you have to maintain it [your form] over 17 days.

“You do pick up battle scars there, but I wouldn’t want to bet against him winning either at the UK, or in Sheffield next May.

“He has won those three titles this year in Wales, Australia and China, that is three out of the last seven which is a great strike rate.

“And it is good to see because he is a snooker heavyweight. It is like seeing [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal or [Novak] Djokovic coming back to form in tennis, they are all-time greats.

“He will always have that fire in his belly, but it only comes out when you start performing to a high level and what you are capable of. If you are not, it can be demoralising and that happened to John.

“The fire comes from the buzz of dominating the table, and John has that back. For the next year or 18 months he is going to be a handful for all of them.

“And that is good because you have young players who think they should be dominating the game – Ding [Junhui], Judd [Trump], [Mark] Selby, and [Shaun]Murphy.

“And you have this 40-year-old who is showing them how the game should be played.”

O’Sullivan stressed: “They could all learn from him and watch him. I know I have, watched Higgins and [Stephen] Hendry.

“I thought these are the two greatest players I have seen and I want to learn from them in some way.

“It’s like seeing a class old boxer coming out and showing his skills, George Foreman did that a few times. Little things John does show he is special.

“Going back a bit, when John and Mark Williams had both won a world title and I hadn’t, I found that hard to take – I just wanted one badly.

“Now, if John was to go on and match or overtake me on world titles, I would be the first to shake his hand and say, ‘It’s about time with your talent’.”