Ronnie O’Sullivan withdraws from British Open due to medical reasons after claiming fifth Shanghai Masters victory

Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the British Open for medical reasons.

The 47-year-old has made 14 appearances at the tournament during his career, winning just once back in 1994, despite having reached the final on three occasions.

But the world No. 1 will not make his 15th appearance at the 2023 event, which is set to begin on September 25.

The Englishman had been due to face world No. 28 Jimmy Robertson in the first round on Monday, but following his withdrawal, O’Sullivan was replaced by 27-year-old Steven Hallworth.

After O’Sullivan took the first frame Brecel, who clinched his first World Championship at the Crucible earlier this year, struck back with a total clearance of 134 to claim the second.

The Englishman went on to lead the morning session taking a 6-4 advantage, before Brecel pulled the score back to 7-7 with O’Sullivan conceding several errors.

Despite the comeback, O’Sullivan would show why he is one of the greatest players of all time, pulling ahead to secure the £210,000 prize pot.

“I’m not really bothered about trophies,” he told reporters, in a striking interview. “I’ve sold quite a few of them – I don’t want any memorabilia left by the time I’m 70 or 80.

“I’m preparing for death – part of that is I don’t want no snooker stuff – waistcoats, cues. It’s all going to go.”

O’Sullivan also branded his road to victory against Brecel a ‘struggle’.

He said: “I tried not to lose it out of frustration. It was one of those tournaments. I was well below par, but in moments I played alright when I had to. I wasn’t on autopilot, everything was a bit of a struggle from start to finish.

“When you are in the sweet spot and hitting the ball well it feels like an easy game. It feels like you can do what you want on the table. When you aren’t, you get scared of even coming to the table. It is frightening.

“This game can be so difficult some days and others it can be so easy. I’ve gone two or three years without feeling that I’d missed a ball. I was flying.

“There were some balls out there that I was missing and I was laughing to myself.”