Ronnie O'Sullivan mystery continues after World Snooker Championship draw

Ronnie O'Sullivan has discovered his first-round opponent at the World Snooker Championship - despite not publically confirming his entry to the tournament. The seven-time world champion will face at The Crucible next week, but has teased that a final decision on his participation could still come in the next 48 hours.

O'Sullivan has yet to make an official statement as he prepares to face an opponent he has twice . Should he now withdraw, Carter would be given a bye into the second round of the tournament.

The Rocket last played in January when Championship League Invitational defeat . Since then O'Sullivan has pulled out of several events as part of an extended hiatus.

The 49-year-old, who has seven titles to his name, most notably pulled out of the Masters but provided some hope of attending the world championship. On a recent trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, O'Sullivan .

O'Sullivan recently admitted that his decision could come on the eve of the event. "I haven’t made my mind up, I’ll probably make a decision on maybe the 17th or 18th of April," he said.

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"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."

Even O'Sullivan's manager, Jason Francis, was left in the dark until the last moment. Speaking earlier this month, Francis revealed: "He seems to have a cue that he’s happy with. He is hitting balls. But he’s said nothing different to me than he’s said to everyone else.

"He will decide, last minute, whether he wants to go. The only thing I’ve said is that, if you’re going to go, then you have to go and give it everything.

"This is the World Championship. But if you don’t feel right, and if it's mental health or anxiety, bear in mind I’ve been party to see this. It's not just something that affects Ronnie."

Going into Thursday morning's draw 1997 world champion, Ken Doherty hoped the superstar would be present, so as not to let down hopeful fans. “It would be really disappointing if Ronnie pulled out at this late stage,” he admitted.

"Obviously with everything that would happen with the draw it would be disappointing to see that. You’ll have fans who have bought tickets to see him play and they would be disappointed. If he was going to pull out he probably should have pulled out before the draw for the qualifiers was made."

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John Higgins meanwhile was devastatingly honest on his stance. The Scot would be happy to not have to contend with the Rocket.

"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," he said. "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."

World Snooker Championship draw in full

Judd Trump vs Zhou Yuelong

Zhang Anda vs Pang Junxu

Shaun Murphy vs Dan Wells

Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Ali Carter

Ding Junhui vs Zak Surety

Mark Allen vs Fan Zhengyi

Jak Jones vs Zhao Xintong

John Higgins vs Joe O'Connor

Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin

Xiao Guodong vs Matt Selt

Mark Williams vs Wu Yize

Barry Hawkins vs Hossein Vafaei

Mark Selby vs Ben Woollaston

Kyren Wilson vs Lei Peifan

Luca Brecel vs Ryan Day

Si Jiahui vs David Gilbert