Jamie Clarke has opened up about his feelings after Ronnie O’Sullivan‘s last-minute withdrawal from their scheduled clash at the 2025 Welsh Open.
‘The Rocket’ was all set to go head-to-head with Clarke in the first round at Venue Cymru but pulled out just hours before the match was due to start. Many fans had made the journey to Llandudno hoping to catch a glimpse of the snooker legend in what would have been his return to the sport after a month away.
This marked the second consecutive year that O’Sullivan has backed out of the Welsh Open, citing the need for a break as his reason 12 months ago. Despite being geared up to take on the seven-time world champion, Clarke found a silver lining in advancing directly to the second round.
“Yeah I think there was [disappointment], when I got the phone call this morning,” he told the BBC (via the Daily Express). “Maybe 20% was disappointed because he’s coming towards the end of his career.
“You don’t get many chances to play Ronnie. He picks and chooses his events, and rightly so. I was probably more happy than not happy, but it would have been nice to play him.”
Despite moving on to the next round without playing, Clarke’s run was halted by Matthew Selt. The No 30 seed narrowly defeated him 4-3 after Clarke impressively fought back from three frames down to level the score.
O’Sullivan, 49, has sparked further concerns over his future in the sport after yet another premature exit. This withdrawal comes on the heels of the legend’s recent early exits from the Masters and German Masters in what’s been a tough start to 2025.
His last match was at the Championship League last month, where he sparked concern with his performance, including an incident where he smashed his cue against the table in frustration. With his next scheduled match not until February 23 at the World Open in China, fans are left wondering if he will bounce back.
This latest development has led some to speculate about O’Sullivan’s potential retirement. However, four-time world champion John Higgins remains optimistic and said of his rival.
“I think he’ll be back,” said the Wizard on Wishaw. O’Sullivan has hailed the Welsh Open as one of his favourite competitions in the past, but even that wasn’t enough to convince him to persevere this week.
Higgins continued: “I think he’s one of the sort of guys who will not want to turn up to an event and not be used to the new piece of equipment that he wants to use. I think he’ll be putting the hours in behind the scenes and getting himself ready for the last part of the season, without a doubt.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
