O'Sullivan won the pro–am Pink Ribbon tournament in July 2015, defeating Darryn Walker 4–2 in the final, but took a hiatus from the professional tour for almost eight months. He declined to defend his Champion of Champions and UK Championship titles, stating that he was suffering from debilitating insomnia, but he made his debut providing in-studio expert analysis during the UK Championship, alongside Jimmy White. He returned to professional competition in the qualifying rounds for the German Masters in December 2015, defeating Hamza Akbar 5–1 in the first round, but losing 3–5 to Stuart Carrington in the second round.