Mark Selby's style of play is not the most ornamental, he does not pursue a wide-open, aggressive style of play, and does not often create scenes that make fans bloody and lively. But because of that – as the critics have argued – does he not deserve the title of "4-time World Champion"? I think that view is a manifestation of ignorance, meanness and unreasonableness.
Jealousy is the praise of the mediocre to the able. Many people online, of course, hiding under the skin of anonymity, seem to be full of resentment and even anger at Selby, who came from a poor family and rose to the top of professional snooker through his unremitting efforts. What did these critics achieve in real life as Selby made history for himself?
The key words in Selby's successful life are hard work, unkind persistence, and the spirit of never giving up. These should be appreciated qualities, not "stains" of condemnation and insults.
Even the media was sometimes reluctant to praise him. An article in Eurosport says snooker will have a hard time opening up new markets with Selby becoming world champion.
That's a problem, because when Selby won the title for the first, second, and third time, Snooker didn't look like he was going to die. In fact, just two weeks after the end of this year's World Championships, the official announcement of the addition of the Turkish Masters was announced.
Selby came from a working-class family in Leicester. His father, David, was keen to beat snooker, but struggled to make ends meet. When Selby's mother left them, David struggled alone. Snooker provided an outlet for Selby to escape from the stressful family life.
Malcolm Thorne runs Leicester's Willy Thorne Club, yes, the legendary willy Thorne, who is Willie's older brother. Malcolm saw the potential of Selby and, when the family could not afford to pay for the Selby platform, let him practice for free, as long as he helped clean and maintain the tablecloth.
Snooker became Selby's refuge, an oasis of tranquility in a difficult world. Selby practiced non-stop for hours on end, developing a strong tenacity that continues to this day and is an important part of his style of play, which was evident when he competed in junior events.
Selby switched careers at the age of 16, but the good times were short-lived, and soon after, his father died, and the young Selby moved to a friend's house. He was almost helpless, and in an interview during this year's Masters, he told BBC reporter Rob Walker that for a while after his father's death, he was so depressed that he wanted to commit suicide.
It was snooker again who saved him. He began to reap some results, although still relatively young.
He went abroad for the first time at the age of 18 to play a professional tournament, the 2002 China Open, held in Shanghai. Confused by the jet lag, he planned to call a taxi to the venue at 1:30 a.m., unaware that it was pitch black outside.
However, this is also the first time he has shown his strength and potential in a major competition, making people realize that this young man can win a place in the snooker world in the future. Selby beat Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan at the China Open that year to reach the semifinals.
He also showed his grounded side in that game, where he played friendly with Chinese fans in the snooker experience area of the venue, shortening the distance between players and fans.
In 2003, Selby reached the final of the Scottish Open, and although he lost 7-9 to David Gray, the runner-up result was still gratifying. However, the dawn of victory was far from coming, and Selby's progress came to a standstill.
In 2005, he qualified for the first time to qualify for the World Championships, but lost to John Higgins in the first round. A year later, he beat Higgins in the same round; by the third year, he had met Higgins in the final.
Higgins led 12-4 after the first matchday of the final, but Selby, 23, ignited a steely will. The last two games of the afternoon court on the second match of the final were postponed to ensure that a proper break was allowed for the late matches.
Higgins eventually won 18-13 before arriving at 1 a.m., but Selby's performance also proved to the world that he deserved enough attention on the biggest stage.
The following year, he won the Welsh Open, his first ranking title. In the final, he won four consecutive sets behind Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-8 and won 9-8. Soon after, he completed his stunning achievement of winning the Masters for the first time, winning all three of the first three rounds of the Tiebreakers, thus raising his new fame as a Master of The Deciders.
More champions followed, including two Masters and one British Championship. In 2014, Selby finally fulfilled his childhood dream of becoming a world champion.
In the semi-finals, he won a 17-15 tie against Neil Robertson. On the first day of the final, he trailed O'Sullivan by as many as five innings twice.
Selby was exhausted but determined, remembering his father's advice before his death, telling himself not to give up, and he struggled to win the last two sets of the night. The next night, Selby was refreshed like a different person, he gritted his teeth, fought back, and finally sealed the victory by clearing the stage, defeating the powerful O'Sullivan 18-14.
This ushered in a period of "domination" for Selby, who remained world number one for four consecutive years, during which time he won two more world titles and one British Championship.
He reacted badly when he fell out of the world number one in 2019. When he has time to think about it, his confidence in controlling the situation of the game is often not enough. He often asks players and other interested parties for advice and finds ways to improve.
Even so, his form was only slightly sluggish, with more titles continuing to be credited.
Six years later, he played O'Sullivan again at the 2020 World Championships. This time in the semi-finals, when he was won three sets in a row by O'Sullivan with his unique genius, quirky and powerful playing style with two match points at 16-14, and this perfect opportunity to reach the final was destroyed.
Selby and O'Sullivan were never best friends; they were quite harmonious, but as the game came to an end, their friendship seemed to have really come to an end. Selby complained that some of O'Sullivan's playing options didn't respect him or the game itself. O'Sullivan responded that Selby might "never get out of" that defeat.
Selby's eventual success in "coming out" is also thanks to technical coach Chris Henry, who believes in the power of positive thinking. Selby did not let negative thoughts breed and ushered in the 2020/21 season with a good attitude, winning the first event of the season, the European Masters.
At the 2021 World Championships, his positive mindset was evident, and he beat Curt Maflin 10-1 and received high praise from the next two World Championship losers , Mark Allen and Mark Williams.
It was only in the semi-finals against Stuart Bingham that Selby showed the so-called "grinding king" side, but that seemed to be against him. The third stage of the game was arguably a tug-of-war, but Selby was played 6-2 by Bingham, who did a few necessary snookers in the final innings of the third stage at 11:30pm but did not win praise.
At one point in the fourth stage of the game, Selby harvested an earth-shattering fainting and reacted dramatically in surprise. Because the game took so long, the referee had to move the remaining innings to after the late game. The "fifth stage" finally came to an end, and after Selby won 17-15, Bingham accused him of "playing tricks" because he had "slowed down" the pace of the game, although their respective average shot times did not differ much.
The decent Bingham retracted comments the following week, explaining that he had misspoken because he was so disappointed that he had not made it to the final.
Yes, Selby can indeed think long before he figures out how to fight— lost in his own mind. Most notorious is his "long test" of over 6 minutes at the 2019 Northern Ireland Open.
However, Selby is not the only one who can "take long tests", and whether a player plays too long or not should have been decided by the referee. In that semi-final, referee Ben Williams did remind Selby at some point in time, a move that was widely praised.
Selby's average playing time last season was 24.65 seconds, ranking 75th out of 125 players.
His ability to score consecutive points is also often overlooked. Last season, he scored 63 in the 100, ranking fourth on the single-season 100 list, and the total number of career 100s reached 693, ranking sixth in history.
In fact, it is not a bad thing to be jokingly called "Grinding King" often, which should not always be regarded as an insult. Blocking offense is a skill that many players don't have, you need to win 71 innings to become a world champion, and no one can win just by breaking a hundred.
Selby's most noteworthy qualities are his extraordinary concentration, and no matter how intense or trivial the situation is, he is the one who is most at ease.
Moreover, he purely liked snooker. If snooker saved his life, it wouldn't be an exaggeration. The reason he sometimes bites the bullet as if it were a matter of life and death is because, in a way, it is true for Selby.
He enjoyed the tour and treated every player equally. In a sense, he found a sense of home in his time with players, officials, the media and other staff.
As long as Selby wins one ranking title in the upcoming season, he can tie Hendry's record of winning at least one ranking championship in 11 consecutive seasons, which will prove that he qualifies to be called one of the "bests of all time". If he can achieve another good result at the World Championships, then his status in the snooker "gods" will also improve.
Selby's story is about the kind that changes his life against the sky and can make a blockbuster movie.
In snooker, there are a lot of players in the snooker world who are more radiant, more eye-catching, and more adept at entertaining the masses — and may they always be prosperous — but anyone who looks down on Selby's achievements can be said to have ignored the diversity of his playing style.
Everyone has their own opinion, and everyone can decide whether or not to listen to other people's opinions. People still have very different views of Selby, but his achievements speak for themselves.