{"id":31122,"date":"2025-04-18T20:40:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T20:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31122\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T20:40:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T20:40:17","slug":"that-will-be-salty-ronnie-osullivan-lands-nemesis-in-world-snooker-championship-2025-draw-leaving-host-stunned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31122\/","title":{"rendered":"‘That will be salty’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan lands nemesis in World Snooker Championship 2025 draw leaving host stunned"},"content":{"rendered":"

RONNIE O\u2019SULLIVAN will face nemesis Ali Carter in a \u2018horrible draw\u2019 in the 2025 World Snooker Championship \u2013 his first match for more than three months.<\/strong><\/p>\n

SunSport understands the Rocket intends to play at the tournament for the 33rd successive time, despite having withdrawn from five ranking events this year on \u2018medical grounds\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan is aiming to win an eighth world titleCredit: Getty\"Judd<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Judd Trump, left, and Kyren Wilson are the favourites to win the tournamentCredit: Alamy\"Ali<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan faces nemesis Ali Carter in the first roundCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan, 49, is due to walk the green carpet outside the famous Sheffield theatre on Good Friday for the annual pre-Worlds media day and top-16 seeds group photograph.<\/p>\n

This is despite snapping his cue in half in January and deciding not to play in TV titles as he struggles with his technique amid a general displeasure over the quality of his game.<\/p>\n

But the sport\u2019s greatest cueist knows in round one, on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, he will have to play fellow Essex potter Carter with whom he shares a long and explosive history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan has known Carter since they were teenagers and has beaten his rival in two championship finals \u2013 he won 18-8 in 2008 and then 18-11 in 2012.<\/p>\n

Carter, the world No.18, enjoyed a rare victory in the second round of the 2018 Worlds but the two Englishmen were involved in a \u201cshoulder barge\u201d incident in the 19th frame.<\/p>\n

When O\u2019Sullivan<\/a> won a record-extending eighth Masters crown in January 2024, following a 10-7 victory over Carter, an x-rated war of words occurred in the respective post-match press conferences.<\/p>\n

Carter alleged O\u2019Sullivan cleared his nose<\/a> \u2013 like a long-distance runner might do \u2013 onto the carpet while sitting in his chair during the final frames.<\/p>\n

The Captain claimed the former world No.1 was \u201csnotting all over the floor\u201d and labelled it as \u201coutrageous behaviour from a top professional\u201d.<\/p>\n

BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

In response, O\u2019Sullivan launched a furious expletive-driven rant<\/a>, stuck up his middle finger in protest and stormed out of his press conference with family and friends trailing behind.<\/p>\n

A year later, O\u2019Sullivan admitted he had regrets over his part in the Snotgate row, admitting: \u201cMaybe I should have been more diplomatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snooker world champion Kyren Wilson goes to extreme lengths to break Crucible Curse in hilarious video<\/p>\n

This blockbuster pairing was the standout tie in Thursday morning\u2019s draw which was conducted at the BBC Radio 5 Live studios in Salford.<\/p>\n

Mark Selby<\/a>, the four-time world snooker<\/a> champion, watched it happen live and he replied: \u201cI don\u2019t think either of them will be happy with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that Ronnie is in the competition. We have not seen him since January. I wanted him to play. It seems he is playing and that is fantastic for the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarter is probably one of the toughest qualifiers to draw again. He has played Ronnie in two world finals and the Masters<\/a> final. Yeah, that\u2019s a horrible draw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Walker, the respected snooker MC, was involved in the draw and laughed when O’Sullivan v Carter was confirmed, saying “that will be salty”.<\/p>\n

The 2025 tournament, which starts on Easter Saturday, will involve a record 10 Chinese players and three debutants.<\/p>\n

Kyren Wilson<\/a> is the defending champion and will take on Lei Peifan in two sessions on the opening day in front of 980 fans.<\/p>\n

The Warrior is trying to break the Crucible Curse \u2013 no first-time winner has retained the crown in South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Qualifier Zhao Xintong, who has served a 20-month ban for match-fixing offences, is in the 32-man field as an amateur and opens up against the 2024 runner-up Jak Jones.<\/p>\n

Selby was drawn to face fellow Leicester ace Ben Woollaston while John Higgins<\/a>, the No.3 seed, battles \u2018giant-killer\u2019 Joe O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

Judd Trump<\/a>, the world No1, takes on China\u2019s Zhou Yuelong on the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday as he eyes collecting the \u00a3500,000 first prize pot on Monday May 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RONNIE O\u2019SULLIVAN will face nemesis Ali Carter in a \u2018horrible draw\u2019 in the 2025 World Snooker Championship \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[18515,18514,10380,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-31122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ronnie-osullivan","9":"tag-section-sportsnooker","10":"tag-snooker","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114360904870014605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}