Mark Selby has recovered to his best. For a player who has won 13 crowns in five years, this statement does sound a bit strange at first glance.
Text/ Rob Walker, The Sportsman
It's true that statistically he never stopped winning titles, but if you talk to people in snooker circles, the other party will definitely give such a conclusion: even if the "Leicester Joker" never really left the championship club, his aura at the top of snooker in the past two years is still inconceptibly dimmed.
In any case, he has held the world number one throne for nearly four years, winning three world championships in four seasons, and is unparalleled in a long period of time. But just as Judd Trump's dominance won't last forever, so will Selby, 37.
Outside of the UK, he won consecutive titles at the 2018 China Open and The Chinese Championships, but we tend to focus more on the "three major competitions", and after winning the Championships, British Championships and World Championships, Selby began to have a slightly abnormal early exit situation in these competitions. For some reason, his sense of championship in the UK is waning.
The victory or defeat of the snooker game is between millimeters, not that he will be demoted without continuing to win the three major championships, but that his magic has weakened slightly, but it has never disappeared. There are signs that he is returning to the championship track, and at the beginning of last season, he won two titles in two months, the English Open and the Scottish Open, keeping him in good shape for eight weeks, reminding others and reminding himself that Selby can still win the championship in England.
It was the second time he had won the tournament in England after more than two years. I don't think it's any accident that he and well-respected coach Chris Henry started working together. The multilingual, talented coach is charismatic and the opportunity to have a drink and chat with him during the tournament is a valuable thing. With him around, the players can be at peace and mind, which is why so many players are willing to work with him.
Selby didn't need someone to teach him how to score the ball, and I think he and Henry worked more to find a way to enjoy the game again, without having to worry about losing a certain game or losing a certain ball. Anyway, this worked, and although there were many battles and victories, at least the aura of the king had returned to brightness.
In fact, in the Tour, players spend a lot of time alone, and when they sit on the sidelines and watch the game, they have a lot of time to think about the ball that they haven't played, and the psychological pressure is much more than the onlookers think. Of course, every athlete knows it's about making money to get by, but once the situation isn't ideal, they may have nowhere to go.
I've been on the Snooker Tour for 14 years and know Mark Selby very well, and I have a lot of respect for him, both out of personal sentiment and professionalism, and he has a lion's heart. Listening to him tell his story, you will respect him even more. There are many things about his early life that we have not heard, and there may be some painful pasts that he never wanted to face.
However, in an interview at this year's Snooker Masters, he was very frank, revealing that he had planned to commit suicide after his father's death as a teenager, allowing us to briefly get into his heart and explore why he had such a strong psychology and snooker philosophy. Everything he learned during that period was integrated into his subconscious, and serving him in his career gave him advantages and foresight that were incomparable to others.
He never panicked or frustrated with a defeat, which is what Chris Henry has helped him rediscover over the past year and a half. You know, Selby is the one who fell behind 5-10 and eventually reversed Ronnie O'Sullivan to win the 2014 World Championships and prevent the Rockets from winning the World Championships three times in a row. When he lifted the championship trophy in tribute to his late father, legendary player Willie Thorne couldn't help but shed tears.
He performed well at the World Championships last summer, with Lianke Jordan Brown, Noppen Sankam and Neil Robertson losing to O'Sullivan in a fantastic semi-final tiebreaker to allow the Rockets to take revenge. Epic clashes.
Does Selby have any regrets this season? Apparently not. He defeated Martin Gould in the decider to win the European Masters and defended his title with a 9-3 victory over O'Sullivan in the Scottish Open final last December.
Entering 2021 he has not been able to continue to dominate the performance, has experienced several painful defeats, but it is also a kind of dormancy for Selby, and by the time of the most important world championship of the season, he will continue to be one of the most dangerous opponents.