Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed Ali Carter was “not a nice person” during an expletive-laden rant after last year’s Masters.
It came after Carter accused him of “snotting all over the floor” as The Rocket claimed a 10-7 victory.
Now the pair will face off again in the first round of the World Championship.
Here’s the inside story of one of snooker’s biggest rivalries.
Still nothing official from The Rocket on whether he will play this weekend.
But SunSport understands O'Sullivan WILL play this weekend.
Ronnie is due to attend the traditional pre-tournament media day at the Crucible on Friday before his match against Ali Carter on Tuesday.
Hossein Vafaei is back at the Crucible – despite slamming the venue last year.
The Prince of Persia took aim at the South Yorkshire venue after suffering a 10-5 first-round loss to Judd Trump.
He said: “You want to go somewhere really nice as a player, as a media team.
“You walk around the Crucible and it smells really bad. As a player I’m honest, it’s just really bad. Everything’s so bad.
“You go to other venues in other countries and you see how nice they treat you. Everything is shiny.
“But here it’s completely different. If you ask me do I want to come back here again, I tell you ‘no way.'”
Mark Selby believes neither Ronnie O’Sullivan nor Ali Carter will be happy with their first-round draw.
The two rivals are set to meet in a repeat of last year’s ‘Snotgate’ Masters final.
Selby told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I don’t think either of them will be happy with that draw.
“It’s great that Ronnie is in the competition. We’ve not seen him since January, so it’s great.
“I want him to play and, as it stands, he’s playing which is good for the game.
“Carter is one of the toughest qualifiers to get drawn against. He’s played Ronnie in the world final and played in the Masters final a few years ago. It’s a horrible draw.”
Day 1 of the World Snooker Championship is less than 48 hours away.
Here’s how Saturday is shaping up after today’s draw –
10:00
14:30
19:00
The World Championship is almost upon us – and we’ve 16 first-round matches to look forward to.
This morning’s draw has thrown up some surprises, as well as some scores to settle.
