The 2025 edition of the World Snooker Championship could be without the sport’s biggest star, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan has been crowned champion at The Crucible seven times across his glorious career, but the chances of an eighth are looking slim.
The 49-year-old is one of Britain’s greatest sportspeople, but he has been mainly absent this season.
The last time O’Sullivan played competitively was in January in the Championship League.
As a result, he is down in 31st on the one-year list, meaning he missed out on the chance to compete at The Players and Tour Championships.
And with the World Snooker Championship fast approaching, O’Sullivan could be absent.
Is Ronnie O’Sullivan playing in the World Snooker Championship?
As it stands, it is unclear if O’Sullivan will be at The Crucible this year.
He admitted earlier this year that the decision would be left to the last minute.
He said: “I haven’t made my mind up, I’ll probably make a decision on maybe the 17th or 18th of April.
“I’d love to be able to go there and play, I’d love to be able to have the confidence to be able to get my cue out and go and play snooker.
“I just need to give myself as much time as possible to see where I’m at with it, and see whether it’s something I’m going to be able to do.”
But O’Sullivan doesn’t feel like his game is in a good place at all.
He said: “I would be happy to win a match. If I turn up at Sheffield and I win a match, I would go ‘that’s a huge victory for me’. It really would be.
“I know I’ve got the talent and I know that it’s there but it’s just finding it. I haven’t found it for three or four years.
“I had a spell in 2022 from January until the world championship where I won it and beat Judd Trump in the final and felt great.
“Other than that, the last four years have been so appalling I’m not sure what to expect really.
“In 2013, I know I hadn’t picked a cue up for nine months but the minute I did pick my cue up I felt like I couldn’t miss.
“On the practice table I felt like I was hitting the balls as sweet as ever. My confidence was there.
“This is completely different. If I was to be honest, I’d ask myself this question . . . where would I rank myself on performance compared to where everyone else is at the moment?
“I’d probably say I’d be lucky if I made the top 32. There are so many good players around and the standard is very, very good.
“So, I need to be good to be able to compete with the top guys.”
Despite his fall down the world rankings, O’Sullivan doesn’t have to qualify to be at The Crucible, so he can leave it until the last moment to decide.
The draw for the first round takes place on Thursday, April 17, so he would have had to decide by then.
World Snooker Championship: Date and how to follow
The 2025 World Snooker Championship will begin on April 19 and will run until May 5.
The tournament will be held at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Morning sessions are scheduled to begin at 10am each day, with afternoon sessions starting at 2:30pm and evening sessions at 7pm.
The final will begin at 1pm on Sunday, May 4 and Monday, May 5, with the evening sessions for the final beginning at 7pm.
Fans will be able to watch the action live and free-to-air across the BBC and on iPlayer.
talkSPORT will also have live coverage of the action.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
