This was to be expected … unfortunately. Ronnie hasn’t played in the German Masters for years.
At least, this time, he did it well ahead of the start of the tournament.
Here is the announcement by WST:
O’SULLIVAN WITHDRAWS FROM MACHINESEEKER GERMAN MASTERS
Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from next week’s Machineseeker German Masters due to medical reasons.
O’Sullivan was due to play Dylan Emery in his opening match. Emery will now receive a bye to the last 32.
The event runs from January 27th to February 2nd at the Tempodrom in Berlin.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I’m a Ronnie fan, but what he’s doing with this (withdraws), the way he uses these, is disrespectful to snooker. It’s a shame the WST doesn’t have the power/legal opportunity to suspend him… he would deserve it. We take a breath, and he graciously withdraws. Pathetic.
Or maybe he’s become a fortune-teller and already knows he’ll be very sick by Tuesday
Ronnie and Selby have recently discussed the topic of mental health in snooker. Ronnie is bipolar, he’s got ups and downs since his teenage years. Plus, I don’t think that the split with Laila at the start of the season has helped. If he feels he can’t cope, it’s better to withdraw rather than getting to a repeat of the incident at the UK championship in 2006. I know it’s disappointing, but at least this time, the announcement didn’t come last minute. And yes, he will probably do exhibitions. They don’t bring the same pression, nowhere near …
Without the full facts and context, we shouldn’t judge.
And also, as Murphy recently reminded fans, players are not obliged to play. One of the problems is that because of the qualifiers system being the way it is, they have to enter weeks ahead of the event, unless they are certain that they will not play.
Every option is open for him:
But let me reiterate. I know he has mental health issues, his childhood was anightmare, full of alcohol and drugs. But is this how the remaining parts of the season is going to be now?
We don’t know, and probably himself doesn’t know either which is why he will not take any radical decision.
Of course it’s a remarkable clairvoyance that he will have a medical reason on Tuesday when he was supposed to play, but not over the weekend when he is supposed to play an exhibition in Finland. I know, a tournament is mentally more taxing so on so forth, but I wonder when WST has enough and if it can do anything about it.