The Rocket becomes the first player to play 100 matches at the Crucible when he takes on Luca Brecel in the quarter-finals, starting on Tuesday.
As the defending champion and world number one, the 47-year-old is not showing signs of slowing down yet and intends to rack up plenty more Crucible appearances before he hangs up his cue.
Hendry has since returned to the tour, but he initially retired in 2012, despite having just reached the World Championship quarter-finals, with a 147 on his way to the last eight.
O’Sullivan does not intend to repeat that move, and keep on plugging away on tour, even if he drops down the rankings.
‘I’ve played a lot of matches here,’ he said. ‘At some point it has to end but I hope it doesn’t end soon.
‘I hope when I’m not performing as well as I need to win tournaments, I can still come here and keep enjoying playing.
‘If I have to qualify, then so be it. Not do what Stephen Hendry did which was walk away a little bit earlier than he maybe should have done. You can keep playing, enjoying it, reinventing yourself, I don’t have to win tournaments to enjoy this game.
‘I love my practice more than my tournaments. That is a massive incentive for me to keep playing.’
O’Sullivan and Brecel meet in the quarter-finals, with the Rocket having first made the last eight at the Crucible one month after the Belgian Bullet was born in 1995.
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