Ronnie O’Sullivan has added the World Open to his rising record of withdrawals, it was introduced by the World Snooker Tour on Tuesday.
Medical causes had been once more cited because the trigger behind the Rocket’s refusal to play in subsequent week’s rating occasion in Yushan.
The world quantity 4 was as a result of face Stuart Carrington in a held-over qualifying fixture however will now get replaced by beginner top-up Daniel Womersley.
O’Sullivan has solely performed one occasion in 2025 to date – at Championship League Snooker in January the place he misplaced 4 out of the 5 video games he contested earlier than pulling out of the competitors.
The 49 year-old was so disgusted along with his kind on the Mattioli Area in Leicester that he snapped his cue in half and threw it within the bin.
Since then, O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the Masters – the place he was the defending champion – along with the German Masters and the Welsh Open.
Certainly, the Englishman hasn’t participated in a rating match since shedding to Barry Hawkins within the first spherical of the UK Championship in November.
In complete, O’Sullivan has now withdrawn from 9 occasions on the calendar through the 2024/25 snooker season.
He’s subsequent as a result of compete on the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong in the beginning of March, the place he has been drawn to face Si Jiahui within the opening spherical.
The reigning World Grand Prix champion, O’Sullivan will need to have a superb run in Hong Kong if he’s to safe qualification for the Gamers Championship off the one-year rating record.
If he continues his streak of withdrawals, nonetheless, the earliest followers could have a chance to see him play once more could transpire to be the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
It begs the query whether or not we are going to truly witness Ronnie O’Sullivan again in motion throughout this marketing campaign in any respect.
The seven-time world champion famously took the vast majority of the 2012/13 time period off earlier than returning to the Crucible to efficiently defend his world crown.
Proper all through his illustrious profession, O’Sullivan has ceaselessly flirted with the potential of even quitting the game.
“It’s a wierd one,” fellow seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry mentioned on the Snooker Membership WST podcast.
“It’s a disappointing one for the followers and for me – I like watching him play.”
“I’m hesitant to say it, however it might be a disgrace if we by no means see him play once more in a serious match. I don’t know what his plans are.”
O’Sullivan, who received 5 large trophies throughout a prolific 2023/24 season, has lengthy struggled with psychological well being issues which seem to have been a consider his prolonged interval away from the sport of late.
“I realise loads of individuals who purchased tickets to some current snooker occasions could have been pissed off after I withdrew,” Ronnie O’Sullivan wrote on X following his last-minute withdrawal from the Welsh Open final week.
“I simply wished to apologize to these of you who’ve been dissatisfied with me having to tug out of these tournaments.”
“I’ve been attempting to prioritise my well being and well-being, which typically means making last-minute selections to not play.
“It’s by no means a simple determination and I hate letting folks down. I’m doing what I can to get again to my greatest, and I’m grateful for all of your help and understanding.”
It’s honest to say that opinion on O’Sullivan throughout social media has been divided, with many supportive of the previous world primary however others rising exceedingly weary from the regularity of his no-shows.
What’s sure is that, whereas snooker goes on and there are many different tales to comply with, each single occasion misses O’Sullivan when he’s not there.
His actions could frustrate folks, however he undoubtedly stays the sport’s most essential box-office star who can consistently entice a wider viewers.
It might be unhappy if he had been to be absent for the rest of the marketing campaign, which is wanting like an more and more possible chance.
It might be devastating for the game if his withdrawals had been to remodel into one thing extra everlasting.
Featured picture credit score: WST
