Mark Selby won the world title for the third time, but he says he is still far from the great elite camp of the snooker movement. The 33-year-old champion still humbly said: "Others may see me as one of the great players, but it's hard for me to identify with myself so much. I'm just a snooker player named Mark Selby. ”
Mark Selby fell behind 4-10 at one point in the final against four-time world champion John Higgins, but his subsequent performance penalized every mistake of his opponent, rewriting the score to a 16-12 lead in the final stage of Monday night' match. Higgins, also known for his "no words to give up", showed his tenacious side and chased the score to 15-16, and Selby refused to reverse in the final sets to win the final title 18-15.
Selby won the title in 2014, 2016 and 2017, making him the only person to successfully defend the world title after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Rockets Ronnie O'Sullivan.
'I never look at the historical record or think about whether I should be in the squad of great players. Mark Selby said after winning the championship, "I played snooker purely because of my love of the sport. ”
The win brought a £375,000 bonus check to the Lester Joker, bringing him a total prize money of £1 million this season. Five ranking titles are enough to witness Selby's extraordinary dominance in 2016/17, but he himself does not care.
"I did have a great season, winning 5 ranking titles including the World Championships. Everyone says the level is high now and no one can rule the sport. Of course, you can say that I did it, but I have never had such a season before, and it is extremely difficult to get through a season with such a performance again. ”
When he won the title last year, Selby's hometown home Leicester City shared the pride of "winning the title" with him on the same day, unbelievably winning the Premier League top spot, and the news can be said to have completely overshadowed Selby's world championship. "Completely eclipsed me, but I wasn't disappointed at all!" Selby recalled, "How many Times can a team like Leicester City win the Premier League? ”
"I'm more happy with them than jealous of stealing the limelight from me." Later I toured the King Power Stadium (Leicester City home) to show my World Championship trophy, which has been a lot of scenery for me. No one has taken the limelight with Selby this year, but the snooker athletes still feel sour, "Yes, but I don't think [when I show the trophy] I still can't get on the open-top bus." ”