John Higgins has admitted he expects to see Ronnie O’Sullivan at the World Snooker Championship, although he’d prefer not to.
The Rocket has been absent from competitive action since January, but has suggested he will make a late decision on whether he competes at the Crucible later this week.
Getty – ContributorHiggins and O’Sullivan boast a combined 11 World Championship titles between them[/caption]
With the tournament kicking off on Saturday, O’Sullivan has indicated he will likely make the call on Thursday or Friday.
But while the public may be in the dark over the seven-time world champion’s participation, long-time rival Higgins is in no doubt he will compete at the sport’s showpiece event.
Not only that, the Scot believes O’Sullivan could triumph at this year’s tournament, having also won the 2013 World Championship after taking another lengthy break from snooker.
Speaking to the Sporting Life, Higgins said: “I think he will be there, I’ve got a feeling.
“I think he’ll be holding on to try and [have] the same thoughts he had when he took the year out and he came back and won it.
“I think he’ll be trying to take the positives. Although he’s not had a year out, he’s obviously had a good chunk of the season out. I’m sure he’ll be there, yeah.
“He can win it because he’s Ronnie. I would never ever rule that man out from winning anything, not at all.”
He added: “If he plays, he’s going to be a massive danger to everyone, without a doubt.”
Despite warning of O’Sullivan’s threat should he compete in Sheffield, Higgins’ recent form will leave him fancying his own chances.
The Wizard of Wishaw heads into the World Championship off the back of victory in the Tour Championship earlier this month, where he beat Mark Selby 10-8 in the final.
GettyO’Sullivan will be targeting an eighth world title, should he compete at the World Championship[/caption]
GettyHiggins beat Joe O’Connor in the final of the World Open to return to winning ways[/caption]
Prior to that, he claimed his first ranking title in four years when he won the World Open in Yushan last month.
Even with his strong displays of late, Higgins admitted he would rather not see his chances of a first Crucible win since 2011 dented by the appearance of his major rival.
He said: “I’ve got to be brutally honest, I’d rather Ronnie doesn’t turn up from a selfish point of view, because you know how strong a player he can be.
“That’s me being brutally honest. I think you’d be lying if you said you want him there, I think you’d be a bit of a liar.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful. I’ve got enough players to be worried about without adding Ronnie to the list.”
O’Sullivan’s last competitive appearance came at the Championship League in January, where he controversially snapped his cue in a moment of rage during a shock defeat to Chris Wakelin.
Since then, he has withdrawn from nine tournaments, including the Masters, citing ‘medical grounds’ as the reason behind this.
Despite plenty of media attention surrounding his ongoing absence from the sport however, Higgins claimed he has been far less aware of this.
The 49-year-old continued: “I’ll be honest, I’ve not actually noticed he’s [not been there] at these last events.
“The Grand Prix, the Players and the Tour Championship, obviously he wasn’t in them. I’ve not really missed him.
“I’m maybe different from the paying public. I don’t know, it’s a funny one. The best people to be asking about it is the paying public and the viewing public back at home.
“It’s as if we’ll have to get used to him not being there maybe sooner rather than later, with the noises he’s making, where he might not be playing much in the next couple of years and might just be doing his exhibitions and things.”
The 2025 World Snooker Championship main draw gets underway on Saturday and runs through to the final on May 5, with Kyren Wilson bidding to defend his first ever title he won last year.
