Ronnie O’Sullivan sets deadline over decision to play at World Snooker Championship

The seven-time world champion has played sparingly this year after pulling out of a number of events at late notice

Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of a number of ranking events this season (PA Wire)

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed that he will make a last-minute call on his participation in the World Snooker Championship.

A seven-time world champion, a 33rd consecutive appearance is looming for O’Sullivan at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre but the 49-year-old has played sparingly this year, withdrawing from several events to prioritise his health and well being.

The Rocket did not compete at The Masters, the last Triple Crown event, in January having made a first-round exit from the UK Championship late last year.

As he prepares to chase an eighth world title, potentially surpassing Stephen Hendry’s modern era record tally of seven, O’Sullivan has provided an updated on his status for the event, suggesting that he will make a decision on participating in the week before it begins on 19 April.

"I don't know yet," O’Sullivan admitted to TNT Sports about his World Championship participation. "I haven't made my mind up, I'll probably make a decision on maybe the 17th or 18th of April.

"I don't know when I'm due to play my first match, so I'm going to try and leave myself as much time as possible. "'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."

O’Sullivan won the first of his world titles in 2001 before drawing level with Henry’s collection with a seventh crown in 2022.

He already holds the most Triple Crown titles of any player with 23 across his career, and has spoken previously of a desire to match his tally of UK Championship and Masters trophies with an eighth World Championship win.

Ronnie O’Sullivan hopes to be able to play in Sheffield (PA Wire)

His last competitive outing on the baize came at the Championship League in January, when O’Sulliavan snapped a cue before withdrawing from a match with Ali Carter.

"It's been a real struggle," O'Sullivan said of his recent experiences within the sport. "I've tried to play my way through. I've had moments and glimpses where I thought, 'OK, this is OK'. But on the whole, probably three and a half years out of the last four have been pretty terrible for me, and that's kind of took its toll.

“I kind of got a bit tired. It kind of ground, ground me down to the point where I kind of lost the love for the game, and that's why, you know, in January, I snapped my cue just in, in temper, in frustration. I don't really want to feel like that, you know, so I've taken time out."I'm just gonna try and fix what I think is the problem before I come back to play serious snooker again."

Kyren Wilson will defend his title as the top seed in Sheffield later this month.