Ronnie O'Sullivan: Why snooker GOAT could face nightmare draw in record World Championship title chase

ByEurosport

Updated 04/04/2024 at 21:34 GMT

The 12-man Tour Championship in Manchester next week is the penultimate event of the season before the 48th World Championship gets underway in Sheffield (April 20 - May 6). Only three of the final seedings are known ahead of the Crucible with defending champion Luca Brecel the top seed, Mark Selby seeded fifth and Robert Milkins the 16th seed in what could prove to be a crucial final top-16 list.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan's second seeding at the World Championship may prove to be more trouble than its worth in his quest to create snooker history at the Crucible next month.

The world No. 1 is set to go into the 48th staging of the sport's biggest event in Sheffield in the bottom half of the draw unless results dictate otherwise at the Tour Championship in Manchester (April 1-7), the penultimate ranking event of the campaign.

Luca Brecel will have top billing at the Crucible as the defending champion, but it is not yet clear what half of the World Championship last-32 draw would provide better prospects of a run to the winning line for O'Sullivan ahead of the Tour Championship, a tournament Brecel failed to qualify for.

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Trump is Tour top seed with O'Sullivan the second seed. They are both guaranteed £30,000 from starting their respective title bids in the quarter-finals in Manchester Central, which involves the top 12 players on the sport's one-year money list.

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Trump knows he will return to world No. 1 for the first time since 2021 if he claims the £150,000 first prize, or if he reaches the final and O'Sullivan loses in the semi-finals or before.

O'Sullivan has held the top spot since his 18-13 Crucible final win against Trump two years ago and will retain his place at the summit if he secures the Tour trophy or goes further in Manchester than the 2019 world champion.

The UK and Masters champion will also remain world No. 1 before Sheffield if Trump fails to reach the final which would see him seeded second at the Crucible.

Champion of Champions winner Mark Allen could yet muscle in on the final Crucible seedings if he wins the Tour Championship and Trump fails to reach the final in Manchester.

Such a scenario could see the Antrim man claim the Crucible third seeding, leaving Trump as fourth seed, potentially impacting the starting grid for the Crucible.

Allen is seeded to face Trump in the best-of-19 frame Tour semi-finals if both men progress that far.

As the provisional rankings stand, O'Sullivan and Trump are on a collision course to meet in the semi-finals in Sheffield as the undisputed form horses in the sport in claiming 10 major titles between them this term.

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O'Sullivan is seeded to meet Barry Hawkins in the second round, a figure he defeated 18-12 in the 2013 world final with Hawkins completing a dramatic 13-12 success over the Rocket in the second round in 2016.

The 41-time ranking event winner would also be in line to take on 2005 world champion and three-time Crucible finalist Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals.

If he landed 2010 world champion and fifth favourite for the tournament Neil Robertson as a qualifier in the draw for the first round, or if the Australian icon comes out near him in the draw, it would potentially be a minefield for O'Sullivan to negotiate.

Alongside Brecel, Mark Selby as fifth seed and Robert Milkins at 16th seed are the only other seedings set in stone for the Crucible with the Tour Championship finalising the crucial order of the seedings amid several permutations.

O'Sullivan has won the world title in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020 and 2022. He needs one more triumph to overtake Stephen Hendry as the most prolific world champion of the modern era.

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First round: Neil Robertson (unseeded)
Second round: Barry Hawkins (15th seed)
Quarter-finals: Shaun Murphy (seventh seed)
Semi-finals: Judd Trump (third seed)
Final: Luca Brecel, Mark Allen or Mark Selby (top seed, fourth seed or fifth seed)