Reason why Ronnie O’Sullivan isn’t playing at German Masters after third straight withdrawal

Ronnie O’Sullivan announced he would not be playing at the German Masters for the third successive year last week, with the snooker legend’s reasons for pulling out revealed

Ronnie O’Sullivan is missing the German Masters for the third consecutive year, citing medical reasons for his absence.

Only last week did the 49-year-old Rocket announce this decision, despite having been lined up to face Welsh rising star Dylan Emery in the opening round. Such a move follows O’Sullivan’s pattern of opting out of events on the WST circuit this term, notably having previously pulled out of the Championship League after four group games and the prestigious Masters due to exhaustion.

The seven-time world champion is no stranger to skipping the Tempodrom event in Berlin, which is slated to take place between today (January 27) and Sunday (February 2) this time around – so fans might not find the news entirely unexpected.

The World Snooker Tour confirmed the withdrawal in a statement: “Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from next week’s Machineseeker German Masters due to medical reasons.”

Earlier this month in Leicester, after losing four of his five Championship League group matches, O’Sullivan chose to sidestep his final group game against Ali Carter. He made the announcement just hours before he was pencilled in to take to the baize.

Later in January, with a match-up against the great John Higgins at the Masters looming, O’Sullivan again stepped down, revealing to Eurosport the reasons behind his decision to not compete at Alexandra Palace.

“Yeah, it was a nightmare decision to make,” O’Sullivan confessed. “You know, if you’d have asked me Sunday if was I ready to play, I probably would have been okay to play, but it’s such a massive tournament.

“I’ve obviously been on this three-week trip away playing, and I just think I exhausted myself. [There was] a lot of pressure while I was away, and I just think the build-up of all that kind of just got a bit too much, really. The right decision was not to play. It’s such a big tournament I felt whoever was going to come in should at least have a couple of days’ notice.”

Now, the icon won’t be seen again as snooker’s elite head to Germany, where Judd Trump is set to protect his hefty £100,000 prize won in 2024 – but, O’Sullivan isn’t the only one missing from the roster.

Chinese star Ding Junhui has surprisingly also backed out, with the reasoning behind his withdrawal unknown. His expected challenger, Ross Muir, now receives a bye into the last 32, just like O’Sullivan’s would-have-been adversary Emery.