“RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has pulled out of the Masters for medical reasons. For the second year running, the biggest name in snooker will not be involved in the Triple Crown event in London. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the Masters Credit: PA The Rocket was due to”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
For the second year running, the biggest name in snooker will not be involved in the Triple Crown event in London.
Thank you!
Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the MastersCredit: PA 
The Rocket was due to face Neil Robertson in round oneCredit: PA Less than 48 hours before the 2026 tournament starts on Sunday afternoon, it has been announced that the Rocket will not be taking part.
O’Sullivan, 50, was due to face Australian Neil Robertson on Wednesday evening in the final match of round one.
His place in the draw will now be taken by Chris Wakelin – the newly-crowned Scottish Open champion – who has been sitting in reserve.
O’Sullivan, who is now based in Dubai, had been practising in Ireland by facing two pros at an Irish pub.
Yet it appears he is not ready to go straight back into top-level competition.
It means he has only played one game in the UK – at the UK Championship in York last November – since he lost in the Crucible semi-finals to Zhao Xintong.
Sources close to O’Sullivan say he has been ill recently and felt physically drained – though he is okay and on the mend.
SunSport understands he has not taken this decision lightly and he is gutted he is missing one of his favourite events – but he wanted to be fair to paying fans and let them know as soon as he could.
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Twelve months ago, O’Sullivan decided not to play the prestigious tournament, which is classed as his ‘home slam’.
That is because he was in a bad place mentally and had snapped his cue in half at the Championship League in Leicester the week before.
O’Sullivan, now eighth in the world rankings, has lifted the Paul Hunter Trophy a record eight times.
The first occasion was in 1995 at Wembley Conference Centre, and then the last instance was two years ago.
The nearest challenger in the record books is six-time Masters champion Stephen Hendry.
Wakelin, 33, was 17th at the cut-off point for the event but will now have the chance to play in front of more than 2,000 fans, the biggest crowd in Britain.
The Rugby potter will earn at least £25,000 for being in the Last 16 and should he go all the way and win, he would earn £350,000 in prize money.
The tournament in North London runs from January 11-18.
BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year.
The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each.
- 1969 – John Spencer
- 1970 – Ray Reardon
- 1971 – John Spencer
- 1972 – Alex Higgins
- 1973 – Ray Reardon (2)
- 1974 – Ray Reardon (3)
- 1975 – Ray Reardon (4)
- 1976 – Ray Reardon (5)
- 1977 – John Spencer (2)
- 1978 – Ray Reardon (6)
- 1979 – Terry Griffiths
- 1980 – Cliff Thorburn
- 1981 – Steve Davis
- 1982 – Alex Higgins (2)
- 1983 – Steve Davis (2)
- 1984 – Steve Davis (3)
- 1985 – Dennis Taylor
- 1986 – Joe Johnson
- 1987 – Steve Davis (4)
- 1988 – Steve Davis (5)
- 1989 – Steve Davis (6)
- 1990 – Stephen Hendry
- 1991 – John Parrott
- 1992 – Stephen Hendry (2)
- 1993 – Stephen Hendry (3)
- 1994 – Stephen Hendry (4)
- 1995 – Stephen Hendry (5)
- 1996 – Stephen Hendry (6)
- 1997 – Ken Doherty
- 1998 – John Higgins
- 1999 – Stephen Hendry (7)
- 2000 – Mark Williams
- 2001 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 2002 – Peter Ebdon
- 2003 – Mark Williams (2)
- 2004 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
- 2005 – Shaun Murphy
- 2006 – Graeme Dott
- 2007 – John Higgins (2)
- 2008 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (3)
- 2009 – John Higgins (3)
- 2010 – Neil Robertson
- 2011 – John Higgins (4)
- 2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (4)
- 2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (5)
- 2014 – Mark Selby
- 2015 – Stuart Bingham
- 2016 – Mark Selby (2)
- 2017 – Mark Selby (3)
- 2018 – Mark Williams (3)
- 2019 – Judd Trump
- 2020 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (6)
- 2021 – Mark Selby (4)
- 2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (7)
- 2023 – Luca Brecel
- 2024 – Kyren Wilson
- 2025 – Zhao Xintong
Most World Titles (modern era)
- 7 – Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 6 – Ray Reardon, Steve Davis
- 4 – John Higgins, Mark Selby
- 3 – John Spencer, Mark Williams
- 2 – Alex Higgins