Ronnie O’Sullivan: ‘It’s not right’ – Liam Graham slams ‘disrespectful’ Rocket for late Scottish Open forfeit

Ronnie O’Sullivan has come under fire for his late withdrawal from the Scottish Open, with his supposed first-round opponent Liam Graham labelling the world No. 1’s actions “disrespectful”.

Scotland’s Graham, 19, said O’Sullivan’s forfeit was “not surprising”.

“At the end of the day I want to play the best players in the world and I was really looking forward to it. I had a lot of people coming to watch and it’s really disappointing for them.

“It’s not surprising given the things he does. I found out when I got to the venue this morning. I didn’t have much prior warning, I think he pulled out very late.

“I would have stayed at home and all the people who have travelled to watch me would have come another day as well.”

Following the disappointment, Graham has received a bye and will face Ben Mertens in the second round.

“It’s been a tough start to the season for me, I haven’t really had anywhere to practice,” Graham admitted ahead of his opening match in Edinburgh. “I need the ranking points from this event and hopefully I can have a good run.

“I haven’t really had anywhere proper to practice as a base. But I’ve only really got myself settled now at Parklands Country Club in Glasgow.”

“I’m looking forward to a break,” he said. “I think I have to monitor my schedule a lot, and I just think prevention is better than cure and I don’t want to get to the point where I hit a bad spot.

“So, I think for me, it’ll be try to enjoy this tournament, then probably miss Scotland and then go to Macau for Christmas for a big event.

“I’m looking forward to that. I want to be ready for that, it’s an important event.”

O’Sullivan has missed six events so far this season and has only featured in two events outside of China – the English Open and the UK Championship – the latter which he won.