Mark Selby feared career was over but is now eyeing fifth world title

02/17/2025 03:51 PM

Mark Selby genuinely felt his career could be at an end just months ago, but after landing his third title of the season things are looking very rosy again for the Jester from Leicester.

The 41-year-old beat Stephen Maguire to win the Welsh Open on Sunday night, taking his career tally to a monumental 24 rankings titles – just six players in the history of snooker have more.

Selby’s triumph in Llandudno comes after a brilliant win at the British Open in September and a defence of his Championship League Invitational title just earlier this month.

It is quite the turnaround from April last year when Selby was beaten in the first round of the World Championship by debutant Joe O’Connor and said retirement was a possibility.

The four-time world champion has spoken about his struggles with mental health in the past and ahead of the Crucible last year his snooker was making it worse, so much so that quitting the game was a genuine consideration.

Speaking after his Welsh Open glory on Sunday, Selby said: ‘If you had asked me then, after that game, would I be carry on playing? I would have probably said no.

‘If you had put me on the spot, to let me make a decision there and then, I would have probably never played again.

‘But you know, I had a bit of summer away, I spoke to friends and family. I said, I am not really enjoying it, I cannot keep putting myself through it if I am going to be feeling like that. Because it's just making me even more ill.

‘They were saying, why don't you have a bit of time out. You have the summer anyway. Don't even go anywhere near the table. I spoke to the doctor a couple of times and he said to me, look, whenever you feel like that, just pick and choose. I know you want to play in everything but you need to start putting yourself first.

‘That is what I thought I would do. After the summer, I felt a little bit better, I was practising a little bit, speaking with the doctor, changed a few things, and seemed to be in a better place.

‘That is not to say that from now until the end of the season, I might play in everything. That could easily turn. If I am in that position again like I was a couple of weeks before the Worlds, whether it's the World Championship or Players Championships, Hong Kong, I definitely won't compete. It's not healthy.’

The world number three may be ready to sit out any event if he feels he has to, he is also feeling very good about his game after two titles this month.

Attention is going to swiftly turn to the World Championship again, with the highlight of every season now just a couple of months away and the four-time champ set to head to Sheffield as one of the favourites.

‘I'll go there confident, I can't not,’ Selby said of his upcoming trip to the iconic South Yorkshire theatre.

‘This season so far, even when I've not done well in some of the tournaments and I've gone out early doors in the last 32 or last 16, I still feel like I've played okay.

‘There haven't been many matches where I can single out a really poor performance. Against [Jack] Lisowski in the UK I felt like I played good and he played great. Xiao Guodong in the Champions of Champions in the semis, I felt like I played good and he played great.

‘I knew it was there. It was just about getting that momentum and stringing some wins together. I hadn't been doing that since September in the British Open. This week it all sort of came together.

‘I feel like my back up game is sort of somewhere near where I want it to be. I feel like in the last couple of seasons it's not been as good as it was in past years.

‘That might have been because of how I was mentally and I possibly wasn't up for the fight because of how I was feeling.

‘At the moment I feel in a bit of a better place and I'm enjoying the challenge out there hence why I'm probably playing a bit better.’

Selby is still a fierce competitor and undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever to pick up a snooker cue, but his priorities have changed since facing down his mental health struggles and trophies have slipped down the pecking order.

‘From where I was, I'm just happy to be in a half decent place mentally,’ he said. ‘Health is wealth. It doesn't matter how much money you've got in the bank, you could have all the money in the world, but if you're not enjoying life and not in a good place it means nothing.

‘I feel like I'm in a bit better place and that's all that matters to me. I'm happy with that. If I win tournaments along the way then great, if I don't as long as I can stay how I am at the moment and slowly improve I'll always be happy with that.’