John Higgins believes Ronnie O'Sullivan will play at the World Championship, but admits that he'd rather see the seven-time Crucible winner withdraw.
O'Sullivan, who has been out of competitive action for more than three months, has suggested he'll decide at the last minute whether he'll be in Sheffield.
The Essex man has indicated he'll likely make the call on Thursday or Friday, ahead of the tournament starting on Saturday.
Higgins, four times a world champion, seems in no doubt that O'Sullivan will compete in the sport's biggest event.
And he also thinks O'Sullivan is very capable of repeating his trick of 2013, when he won the World Championship having taken nearly the whole of the season off.
WATCH: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP VERDICTS!
"I think he will be there, I've got a feeling," Higgins told Sporting Life.
"I think he'll be holding on to try and (have) the same thoughts he had when he took the year out and he came back and won it.
"I think he'll be trying to take the positives. Although he's not had a year out, he's obviously had a good chunk of the season out. I'm sure he'll be there, yeah.
"He can win it because he's Ronnie. I would never ever rule that man out from winning anything, not at all.
"If he plays, he's going to be a massive danger to everyone, without a doubt."
Higgins has himself enjoyed a golden period just weeks before his 50th birthday. He won his first ranking tournament in four years with success at the World Open in Yushan last month.
And he followed that up with a glorious Tour Championship triumph in Manchester, coming from 8-5 behind to beat Mark Selby 10-8 in the final.
Now comes the most demanding test of all, the Crucible marathon, which Higgins last won in 2011.
The Scot is candid enough just days ahead of the tournament to say he'd rather O'Sullivan was absent, as that would mean one major rival - and perhaps the most threatening of all - that he won't have to worry about.
"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," Higgins 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."
O'Sullivan, 49, was last in action in the Championship League in January. He pulled out of the Masters just a few days before the tournament on medical grounds and has also withdrawn from a number of events since then.
Although O'Sullivan clearly remains the sport's most famous figure and its main box office attraction, Higgins says he hasn't really noticed his absence during recent tournaments.
"I'll be honest, I've not actually noticed he's (not been there) at these last events," Higgins added. "The Grand Prix, the Players and the Tour Championship, obviously he wasn't in them. I've not really missed him.
"I'm maybe different from the paying public. I don't know, it's a funny one. The best people to be asking about it is the paying public and the viewing public back at home.
"It's as if we'll have to get used to him not being there maybe sooner rather than later, with the noises he's making, where he might not be playing much in the next couple of years and might just be doing his exhibitions and things.
"I think, if you're asking a fellow player, all we're interested in basically is ourselves and to get yourself ready, you're not caring about the opposition."
If O'Sullivan does withdraw, it will be the first time he's missed the tournament in his professional career. He last won the event in 2022, when he equalled Stephen Hendry's record in the modern era of seven Crucible triumphs.
The World Championship begins on Saturday morning, with Kyren Wilson trying to defend the title he won for the first time 12 months ago.
Related snooker links
- Richard Mann's World Championship outright preview
- World Championship: Top 16 player profiles
- Where are the young snooker players
- Perfect Snooker Player
- Snooker's GOAT: O'Sullivan by the numbers
- O'Sullivan's Triple Crown timeline
- Watch all the Crucible 147 breaks
- Should the worlds stay at the Crucible?
- History of 147 breaks
- Ronnie O'Sullivan's 147 breaks
- O'Sullivan: One of a kind
- History of snooker's number ones
- Best players never to win a world title
- Crucible memories: Ronnie's finest hour
- Crucible memories: Higgins denies Trump
- Crucible memories: White a People's Champion
- Crucible memories: Johnson stuns Davis
- Crucible memories: Foulds' dream debut
