Tuesday 1 December 2015 07:44, UK
Ronnie O'Sullivan has confirmed he will return to competitive snooker in the Masters at Alexandra Palace next month.
The former world No 1 has not played a World Snooker event since last April, when he was knocked out of the World Championship at the Crucible by eventual champion Stuart Bingham.
He recently bypassed the UK Championship in York, where he would have been defending champion, and said he was relaxed at no longer having the pressure of being the sport's "top man."
But he revealed his return on Twitter in a post that read: "Looking forward to playing the Masters."
O'Sullivan has won the sport's most famous non-ranking event on five occasions, most famously as a 19-year-old in 1995, and most recently in 2014 when he beat Mark Selby 10-4 in the final.
He has spent increasing amounts of time out of snooker in recent years, but said last month in a blog for Eurosport that he had not yet retired.
"I'm trying different things at the moment," the five-time world champion said.
"I don't want the pressure of being the top man in snooker any more. I feel that should be left to the new generation of players. I do want a place within the sport, and I'm trying to fathom what that place is."
