Ronnie O’Sullivan won’t just be playing for the whopping £2.3million when he takes to the stage at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters later this month.

O’Sullivan is among the star-studded cast taking part in the tournament, which boasts a prize fund on par with the World Championship.

A total of 144 players will have taken part by the time the multi-million-pound winning prize has been handed out, with O’Sullivan fancied to take the lot.

However, the astonishing prize isn’t the only motive for the Rocket heading into the Middle Eastern contest, with O’Sullivan also eyeing up the No.1 spot in the world.

Victory in Riyadh will see O’Sullivan climb back to the top of the word rankings only a few weeks into the 2024/25 season.

O’Sullivan currently finds himself down in fourth after tailing off a touch towards the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

Familiar foe Judd Trump tops the rankings heading into the Saudi Arabian Masters, with the ever-reliable Mark Allen in second and reigning world champion Kyren Wilson in third.

O’Sullivan’s chances could be boosted by the fact he has gone on record and admitted he really enjoys competitions that are hosted in Saudi Arabia.

While the high temperatures and late nights might not be for all snooker players, O’Sullivan believes he’s well suited to the Saudi events: “I like the late nights. In the evening, the atmosphere just gets warmer and warmer,” he told Sky Sports earlier this year.

“Snooker is really an evening sport, in the mornings it’s hard to get going, so when we were playing at 2.30am or 3am I was thinking ‘this is fantastic’.

“There was a full crowd there, the crowd were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and the facilities as a player are important.

“Everything was easy for the players and when you’re in that sort of environment, you naturally play well and enjoy just being there.”

O’Sullivan has a couple more days until he gets his competition underway, with the top 16 seeds not in action until 5 September.

Should he be successful in his round-five clash against an undecided qualifier, O’Sullivan will likely take on world No.12 Zhang Anda (China) in the last 16.

Beyond that, it’s likely his quarter-final opponents will be one of Tom Ford or Luca Brecel, with the duo on course for a last-16 meeting of their own.