Ronnie O’Sullivan has spoken out for the first time since withdrawing from the 2025 Masters – saying he had “exhausted” himself.
The Rocket was due to defend the title he won a year ago at the Alexandra Palace in London but pulled out of his scheduled first-round match with John Higgins on Friday.
O’Sullivan had been expected to challenge for a record-extending ninth Masters crown, but the 49 year-old opted to skip the event citing medical grounds.
The world number three was in the Eurosport studio on Monday evening where he shed some light on the reasons behind his decision.
“Yeah, it was a nightmare decision really to make,” Ronnie O’Sullivan told Eurosport ahead of the match between Mark Selby and Ali Carter.
“If you had asked me on Sunday if I was ready to play, I probably would have been okay to play. But it’s such a massive tournament.”
“I’ve been on a three-week trip away playing, and I just think I exhausted myself. There was a lot of pressure while I was away.
“I just think that the build-up of all that kind of just got a bit too much really. So yeah, I lost the plot on Thursday and snapped my cue.
“That’s unplayable, so I just knew at that moment in time the right decision was to not play.
“It’s such a big tournament that I knew whoever was going to come in should at least have a couple of days notice.”
After taking part in various exhibition and invitation events across the Christmas and New Year period, O’Sullivan participated in Group 3 of Championship League Snooker on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
But the Englishman cut a disgruntled figure and was visibly upset during his round-robin defeat to Robert Milkins, where he rattled his cue off the side of the table before apologising to his opponent.
O’Sullivan duly pulled out of the event before his last league encounter, having lost four of the five games he had played up until that point.
A day later, it was announced that he would be withdrawing from this year’s edition of the Masters as well.
It represents the sixth tournament that O’Sullivan has withdrawn from during a difficult 2024/25 snooker season in which he has failed to reach any finals.
The seven-time world champion will additionally have to make a change to using a different cue upon his return to the baize.
O’Sullivan snapped his cue in half following his premature exit at the Championship League last week in Leicester.
“Well, it was in a bin – one of them wheelie bins,” he said. “But my mate said that you can’t leave that here, so he kind of got it out and brought it with us.”
“But no, I’ve got a couple of other cues that I’ve got to start practicing with, because obviously there are some tournaments coming up.
“I’m going to continue to play, so I need to get used to the cue now.
“This is an unbelievable tournament. It’s the top 16, the best players in the world, an amazing crowd.
“I’ve won this tournament many times, I’ve been in like 14 finals. I’d love to come here and play again, and hopefully I’d be lucky enough to win the trophy again – that’d be great.”
Neil Robertson was the beneficiary of O’Sullivan’s absence from the 2025 Masters draw, with the Australian coming in as a late replacement to compete on Sunday.
The 2012 and 2022 champion made the most of his opportunity, reeling off the last five frames to pip John Higgins 6-5 in a memorable opening tie this year.
Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui are the two other players through to the quarter-finals so far following respective defeats of Gary Wilson and Mark Williams.
Featured photo credit: Eurosport
