O’Sullivan needs to address his “personal issues.” The world champion had originally planned to take a six-month break.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, the world champion, will miss the remainder of the snooker season after giving up on his hopes to rejoin the circuit.
The 36-year-old will not be making a comeback until the early part of the following season, according to World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn, who revealed on Tuesday that he has “personal issues which he needs to resolve”.
After winning his fourth global title in May, O’Sullivan declared he would take a six-month break from the game. He did, however, return to compete in a low-key Players Tour Championship tournament in September. Citing illness, O’Sullivan withdrew from last week’s International Championship.
In a statement, World Snooker announced: “World Snooker has been informed that Ronnie O’Sullivan does not intend to compete on the World Snooker Tour for the remainder of the 2012-13 season.”
“After speaking with Ronnie, I have decided that he will not be playing for the remainder of this season and will withdraw from any events he has entered,” Hearn stated. We want the best for him in the future, and he needs to work through some personal challenges.”
Throughout his career, O’Sullivan has issued numerous retirement warnings but has never followed through on them.
Before defeating Ali Carter to win his most recent global championship, O’Sullivan hinted that it might be time to retire from the game.
However, he had second thoughts in August after reaching a deadlock on agreeing to participate again this season.
It might have been a mistake to sign up, he admitted ahead of the International Championship, a new event in Chengdu that reflects the rise of snooker in the far east and pays prize money comparable to the UK Championship.
It appears that O’Sullivan was not overstating things, and the sport will have to make due without its most well-known figure for the foreseeable future. This is just six months after the retirement of seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, another prominent figure.
O’Sullivan’s manager, Django Fung, hinted that his player might be considering retirement.
“At the moment, he wants to take a break from snooker to assess his feelings, his ability to handle his personal life, his ability to attempt new things, and his ability to
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