World No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan announced on Monday morning that he will not be competing in the Scottish Open. This occurred only a few hours before his Edinburgh Meadowbank Sports Centre first-round matchup with Liam Graham. With O’Sullivan out, Graham will now have a bye into the second round. The main event is scheduled to end on December 17.
This was thirty years after his first victory at the age of seventeen, making him the youngest and oldest champion of this tournament, respectively.
O’Sullivan, though, has faced difficulties off the table and pulled out of the Champion of Champions competition in November.
After competing in the International Championship in China, he was “mentally feeling a bit drained and stressed”.
He went into further depth about the reasons for that withdrawal in an interview with Eurosport.
“A lot of it is prevention rather than cure,” he stated. I don’t want to find myself thinking, “I overdid it again,” at that point.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, the top player in the world, declared on Monday morning that he would not be participating in the Scottish Open. This happened only a few hours prior to his first-round battle with Liam Graham at Edinburgh Meadowbank Sports Centre. Graham will now advance to the second round with a bye after O’Sullivan is eliminated. December 17 is when the main event is supposed to conclude.
Liam Graham was scheduled to fight the world number one, but Graham has been given a bye.
After defeating John Higgins and Mark Williams in the 1998 and 2000 championship matches, respectively, O’Sullivan has won the tournament twice.
In 2020, he finished second as well, falling to Mark Selby 9–5.
After defeating Ding Junhui 10-7 in the championship match, the seven-time world champion recently won the UK Championship.