As ever, much focus will be on whether Ronnie O’ Sullivan can add to his two World Championship titles and place him alongside Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis as the only players to have won three or more world crowns since snooker’s blue riband event moved to the premier theatre in the Steel City.

In recent seasons, the man dubbed ‘The Rocket’ has complained that the World Championship draw has been fixed and it is easy to see why he might think that given that he has drawn the trickiest unseeded players in the first round draw, such as Ding Junhui last year and Stephen Maguire three years ago.

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O’ Sullivan can have no such complaints this year however as the draw has been very kind to him.

The good news for O’ Sullivan is that the players who are most effective at employing this kind of tactic, Ebdon, Selby, Ken Doherty and his conqueror from last year, John Higgins, are all in the other half of the draw and so he cannot meet any of them until the final, by which time it is likely that whoever emerges from that half of the draw will have played a lot of frames.

The only real grinder in his half of the draw is 2006 champion Graeme Dott but given Dott’s poor form over the past season and a half, it is unlikely he will still be in the tournament by the time their scheduled quarter final takes place.

The biggest threats in the bottom half come in the shape of Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire, but O’ Sullivan has never lost to Murphy and has lost only 3 of his 9 previous matches against Maguire. This can be explained by the fact that both players just play their own attacking game and do not mess with the Rocket’s mind by slowing him down.

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While O’ Sullivan as ever will remain the biggest draw card, there are some fascinating match-ups elsewhere. None more so than for the defending champion, John Higgins who belatedly claimed his second world title last year, nine years after his first.

Defending champions have a dire recent record at The Crucible. You have to go back to Stephen Hendry in 1996 for the last player to successfully defend their title.

And when you consider that Higgins begins the defence of his trophy against the twice former finalist, Matthew Stevens, you do wonder whether there is a jinx on the defending champion.

Welshman Stevens has experienced a couple of barren seasons which has seen him slip out of the top 16 and face qualifying for all ranking tournaments.

But he is a player to be written off at your peril and he produces his best snooker in the longer match formats and relishes match play situations against the best opponents.

From that perspective, this is the worst draw Higgins could have got, given that he has had a quiet season by his high standards while Stevens will be keen to prove he can still compete with the best knowing that an extended run in the tournament could ensure he is back in the elite for next season. This promises to be a fantastic match and one that could go right to the wire.

The revelation of the snooker season has been the man dubbed ‘The Jester from Leicester’, Mark Selby. Selby shot to prominence in this event last season when, as an unseeded player, he reached the final before losing 18-13 to Higgins, despite a spirited comeback.

That appearance guaranteed Selby a top 16 place for this season and he has shown he was no flash in the pan by winning the coveted Masters tournament at Wembley at the first time of asking and then following it up with his first ranking tournament success in the Welsh Open a month later, defeating O’ Sullivan in the final.

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Selby has become the force he has for a number of reasons but primarily, the major change in his game has seen him become an accomplished break builder and he is among the best long potters in the game. His safety play has always been his strong suit and he is a tremendous competitor who relishes taking on the big names over long matches.

He may have been a figure of humour initially with his clowning around on and off the table, but the Jester is now a major contender who is to be taken seriously. I expect Selby to win his opening match against Jimmy White’s conqueror Mark King without too many alarms. A possible second round meet-up with Crucible specialist Peter Ebdon promises to be an attritional affair and that maybe represents Selby’s biggest barrier to reaching the final.

That said, Ebdon’s second round place should not be taken for granted as his opening match pairs him against Jamie Cope, a promising young English player who reached the quarter finals of the UK Championship earlier in the season.

Cope is one of a few promising newcomers who would be dubbed amongst the ‘next generation’ of talent, along with Ulsterman Mark Allen. The 21 year old landed a plumb first round draw against seven times world champion Stephen Hendry.

But Allen will not be phased having already defeated Hendry in the UK Championship and having accounted for another former world champion in Ken Doherty last year.

Hendry is no longer the invincible force of old and tends to only play in fits and starts these days and so Allen should fancy his chances of sending the Scotsman packing early if he capitalises when he gets amongst the balls. Allen, along with Murphy and Maguire will pose the greatest threat to O’ Sullivan in the bottom half of the draw but a likely second round meeting with Maguire is not ideal.

This year’s tournament sees three representatives from China, as well as representatives from Hong Kong and Australia in the draw. Two of these players go head to head in the first round with China’s Ding Junhui facing Marco Fu of Hong Kong.

This promises to be a fascinating match simply because of the mercurial nature of both players. Ding is a precocious talent on his day and some of his potting and safety play can be awesome when he is in the mood. But at times his shot selection is rather naïve and he can allow setbacks to get to him, as shown by his capitulation in the Masters final last season.

Fu has been to the semi finals here before and is enjoying a renaissance this season having won the Grand Prix tournament early in the campaign. He also defeated Ding in their last meeting, at Wembley in January and so he prove to be a tough opponent for his close friend.

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While there is potential for some epic battles to be fought out in the top half of the draw featuring marathon match specialists like Doherty, Stevens, Ebdon, Higgins, Fu and Selby, the one beneficiary in that section of the draw could be Neil Robertson.

The 24 year old Aussie enjoyed his breakthrough season last campaign by claiming two ranking tournaments and ending the season named as Player of the Year. But he has endured snooker’s equivalent this season of what would be called ‘second season syndrome’ in the Premier League or ‘that difficult second album’ in the music press by failing to get past the quarter final of any tournament.

Robertson has not played badly though all season and sometimes luck has deserted him at crucial moments in matches, while on other occasions he has been made to pay for a slow start. That will be less of an issue over longer matches and he should, in theory, have the easiest passage of any player in his half of the draw to the quarter finals.

First round opponent Nigel Bond has a wealth of experience and is the second oldest player in the tournament this year but if Robertson scores heavy then he will not be able to live with him and the same principle should apply in the following round. This would take Robertson through to a probable quarter final against Selby or Ebdon, with Robertson likely to approach that match much fresher.

In recent seasons, the World Championship has not necessarily been won by the form player over the season but by the player who has peaked at the right time.

John Higgins had not won a ranking tournament for over a year when triumphing here last May while the two previous champions Shaun Murphy and Graeme Dott were winning their first ever ranking tournaments when landing the spoils.

A couple of early shocks and the draw could open up for a livewire outsider. The draw conjures up many possibilities and I, for one, cannot wait for the action to unravel.

The action starts on Saturday 19 April when John Higgins starts the defence of his crown, with the final being played on Monday 5 May. First round draw (seeds in bold):

Ken Doherty (Ire) v Liang Wenbo (Chn)

John Higgins (Sco) v Matthew Stevens (Wal)

Allister Carter (Eng) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)

Ding Junhui (Chn) v Marco Fu (HK)

Mark Selby (Eng) v Mark King (Eng)

Peter Ebdon (Eng) v Jamie Cope (Eng)

Neil Robertson (Aus) v Nigel Bond (Eng)

Steve Davis (Eng) v Stuart Bingham (Eng)

Ryan Day (Wal) v Michael Judge (Ire)

Ronnie O’ Sullivan (Eng) v Liu Chuang (Chn)

Mark Williams (Wal) v Mark Davis (Eng)

Graeme Dott (Sco) v Joe Perry (Eng)

Shaun Murphy (Eng) v Dave Harold (Eng)

Stephen Lee (Eng) v Joe Swail (NI)

Stephen Hendry (Sco) v Mark Allen (NI)

Stephen Maguire (Sco) v Anthony Hamilton (Eng)


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