Ronnie O'Sullivan given exemption from long-standing World Snooker rule ahead of World Championship
Ronnie O'Sullivan is set to make his first appearance at this year's World Snooker Championship and he could look a little different than his opponent.
O'Sullivan launches his latest quest for a record-breaking eighth world title on Tuesday when he takes on Ali Carter in the first session of their first round match.
It wasn't certain that 'The Rocket' would play in the 2025 championship, with health issues overshadowing his season.
He's been out of action since snapping his cue at an event in January and confirmed his World Championship participation just days before it began.
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"Because it is the World Championship and the last tournament [of the season] I thought I need to try and break that cycle," he told BBC Sport.
"Call it stage fright, I just haven't had the [will] to go and compete. Call it lost my bottle. You sometimes lose your nerve. Just to come here is an achievement for me.
"The kind of nerves I have [been] feeling off and on for the last two years have not been good nerves."
Players competing at Sheffield's famous Crucible theatre are looking as sharp as ever.
Their attire is governed by World Snooker's strict dress code, which has come in for increasing criticism in recent years.
2019 world champion Judd Trump has repeatedly aired his frustration at the sport's refusal to modernise.
O'Sullivan will likely step onto the Crucible floor in compliant footwear but he has played some events in black trainers despite the dress code mandating smart shoes for players in World Snooker competition.
He has suffered in the past from plantar fasciitis, which is tissue inflammation along the bottom of the foot between the heel bone and toes, and was granted a footwear exemption on medical grounds.
"The easiest way to explain it is it's like a bruise on your heel." O'Sullivan told Eurosport last year.
"So when you put your foot down, it's really sore. Leather-soled shoes just absolutely batter my feet to pieces.
"I've had to resort to getting some really big old soles on them, just to sort of give my foot a rest, basically."
'The Rocket' won his seventh world title at the Crucible in 2022.
Carter has twice reached the final of the World Championship, losing to O'Sullivan on both occasions.
Topics: Snooker, World Snooker Championship, Ronnie OSullivan
Chris Nee