Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the upcoming Masters, citing medical grounds for the decision.
The announcement comes just days away from the tournament opener, which would have seen reigning champion O’Sullivan kickstart the competition against John Higgins on Sunday.
The seven-time world champion claimed a record eighth Masters title last January after defeating Ali Carter 10-7 at Alexandra Palace, in a clash that preceded a fiery war of words between the two.
However, a statement from the World Snooker Tour has declared that he will now be absent from the Masters on health grounds, to be replaced by 17th seed Neil Robertson, who only narrowly missed the 16-man cut.
‘Neil Robertson has replaced Ronnie O’Sullivan in the draw for the upcoming Johnstone’s Paint Masters,’ the statement began.
‘Last year’s champion O’Sullivan was due to face John Higgins in the opening match on Sunday afternoon, but has withdrawn on medical grounds.
Ronnie O’sullivan has withdrawn from the Masters on medical grounds, a statement has said
‘Higgins will now face Robertson, who was ranked in 17th position at the seeding cutoff after the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.
‘The Johnstone’s Paint Masters runs from January 12th to 19th at Alexandra Palace in London.’
It follows an extraordinary week for The Rocket in which he also pulled out of the Champions League event after a number of strange gestures in his penultimate group match.
The snooker legend lost three of his four matches on Wednesday and appeared to have issues with the tip of his cue on numerous occasions, and at several points the seven-time world champion’s emotions seemed to get the better of him.
He could be seen whacking his cue on the table after missing a pot. O’Sullivan swiftly apologised to the referee and his opponent after the incident.
Later, he fired a white ball into a group of reds, allowing opponent Robert Milkins to clinch a 3-2 victory.
In another notable incident, after failing a routine pot of the blue, O’Sullivan appeared to perform a lewd gesture by spreading his squat legs, sticking his tongue out and moving his cue back and forth from his waist.
The Rocket was due to play Ali Carter in his final group match on Thursday afternoon but he chose to withdraw from the competition.
Commentator Dave Hendon explained: ‘Ronnie O’Sullivan we saw earlier was clearly getting frustrated against Robert Milkins. He has made the decision to withdraw from the tournament so he won’t be playing his last match against Ali Carter.
‘It means all the matches he was involved in was voided, so he’s on zero (points).
‘Effectively now it’s a six-man group. Still the top four will go through [to the semi-finals] and only one player aside from O’Sullivan will be relegated.’
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