Ronnie O’Sullivan pulls out of German Masters due to ‘medical reasons’

Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of next week’s German Masters due to ‘medical reasons’.

The Rocket, who also withdrew from the recent Masters tournament at Alexandra Palace in London, was due to face Dylan Emery in his opening match.

But Welshman Emery, 23, will receive a bye to the last 32 after O’Sullivan opted not to play in Berlin.

The German Masters runs from January 27th to February 2nd at the Tempodrom in the German capital.

O’Sullivan has won the German Masters twice during an extraordinary career that has produced a record eight Masters titles, a record eight UK Championships and a joint-record seven World Championships.

It is the third year in a row the 49-year-old has withdrawn from the event.

O’Sullivan was due to face long-term rival John Higgins in his first match of the Masters but pulled out shortly before the tournament got underway on medical grounds.

He was aiming to win a record-extending ninth title but missed the event entirely just a week after pulling out of the Championship League before his final group game.

The Rocket played four matches in the tournament, losing three of them, and whacked his cut against the table during his match with Robert Milkins.

O’Sullivan later said he withdrew from the Masters after ‘losing the plot’ during the Championship League.

‘It was a nightmare decision really to make,’ O’Sullivan told Eurosport.

‘If you had asked me on Sunday if I was ready to play, I’d probably have been OK. It is such a massive tournament.

‘I’ve obviously been on this three-week trip, away playing, and I think I just exhausted myself.

‘[There was] a lot of pressure while I was away and the build-up of all that kind of got too much.

‘I lost the plot on Thursday and snapped my cue so that’s unplayable, so I just knew at that moment in time, 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.’

In O’Sullivan’s absence, Shaun Murphy won the Masters – it was the second time he has lifted the trophy – with a 10-7 win in the final over world champion Kyren Wilson.

‘I can’t believe it – I’m in shock. If I’m totally honest I thought these days were gone,’ the 42-year-old told BBC Sport.

‘When I lost to Mark Selby in 2021 [in the world final] at the Crucible, I thought my days in the business end of these events had gone.

‘But everyone knows I’ve teamed up with Peter Ebdon and he’s helped me rediscover that self-belief, he’s helped remind me I used to be quite good at this. There’s still a bit of life in the old dog yet.

‘I must pay tribute to Kyren – he is a great world champion. He really took it to me and there was a stage a few frames ago when it was panic stations.’

Judd Trump is the reigning German Masters champion having beaten China’s Si Jiahui 10-5 in last year’s final.

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