Due to health concerns, Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the Scottish Open.
The 48-year-old world number one was supposed to play Liam Graham in the first round.
With a medical excuse, Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from the BetVictor Scottish Open.
The 48-year-old world No. 1 was supposed to play Liam Graham in the opening round, but Graham will now get a bye after the latter won a record-breaking ninth UK Championship championship in York earlier this month.
O’Sullivan has won the Scottish Open twice, defeating Mark Williams two years after losing to John Higgins in the 1998 championship match.
2020 saw him finish second against Mark Selby, falling short in the decider 9–5.
O’Sullivan, the seven-time world champion, became the youngest and oldest winner of the competition when he defeated Ding Junhui 10-7 in the UK Championship final. However, O’Sullivan has been dealing with personal problems lately.
After competing in the International Championship in China, he said he was “mentally feeling a bit drained and stressed” and withdrew from the Champion of Champions competition in November.
Following the UK Championship, O’Sullivan said that he had no idea how long he would be a competitor.
“I’m not sure [how long I’ll go on],” stated O’Sullivan, who plans to go for his seventh Masters victory in January. “I’m not exactly sure how to quantify it.
“I believe I will carry on as long as my sponsors continue to help me and I don’t stop touring.” It would be good to have a wildcard from World Snooker to continue playing if I were to slip off the circuit, but you never know—they may give me a knockback as usual.
“I just keep playing,” I’ll play for as long as they want me to. I’m not sure what’s going through their minds right now, but they wrote me a letter the other week asking me to think about my future on the tour.
