Mark Selby
 Mark Selby at World Series of Snooker, Warsaw, 2008 |
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| Born | 19 June 1983 Leicester, England |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  England |
| Nickname | The Jester from Leicester, Mark the Shark |
| Professional | 1999– |
| Highest ranking | 1 |
| Current ranking | 1 |
| Career winnings | UK£798,975[1] |
| Highest break | 147 (2009 Jiangsu Classic) |
| Century breaks | 214 |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 2 |
| Minor-ranking | 2 |
| Non-ranking | 3 |
Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983, Leicester, England) is an English professional snooker and pool player. Runner up in the World Snooker Championship 2007,[2] he was the 2006 WEPF World Eight-ball Champion. Selby has won the Masters on two occasions, the Welsh Open and the Shanghai Masters. Known as a tough competitor, Selby is also an accomplished break-builder with over 200 centuries.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early years
Selby showed potential as a teenager, but did not consistently shine until his twenties. He reached his first ranking final aged 19, the Regal Scottish in 2003, where he finished runner-up to David Gray, losing 9–7 in the final. Before that, he had also already reached the semi-finals of the 2002 China Open, despite leaving his hotel room at 2 a.m. instead of 2 p.m. for one match due to jetlag.[3]
Selby reached the final qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship in 2002, 2003 and 2004, losing each time. Early in the 2005/06 season he began to be managed by former snooker professional and fellow Leicester resident Mukesh Parmar and reached the final stages of the World Snooker Championship, at the Crucible Theatre, for the first time. Selby went out in the first round, losing to John Higgins but has qualified for the final stages every year since, including in 2006 despite a 147 from his final qualifying round opponent Robert Milkins.
[edit] 2007–present
In the 2007 World Championships, he beat Stephen Lee 10–7 in the first round, having won 8 successive frames from being 5–0 behind.[4] Selby then defeated former World Champion Peter Ebdon 13–8, with five centuries (including three-in-a-row) to reach the quarter-finals.[5] In the quarter-final, he beat Allister Carter 13–12, from 11–8 up and 11–12 down, in a match that lasted well over nine hours.[6] He went on to reach the final by beating Shaun Murphy 17–16 from 14–16 down, in another deciding frame which he won thanks to a 64 break.[7] Against Higgins in the final, Selby trailed 4–12 after the Sunday sessions, but won all six frames played in the third session on Monday afternoon before the players ran out of time due to the length of the frames. Thus he entered the final session only 10–12 down and closed to within one frame at 13–14, but eventually succumbed 13–18.[2] His performances earned him £110,000 (not far off half of his pre-tournament all-time earnings). It was noted by eventual world champion John Higgins, amongst others, in his victory speech, that Selby was the most improved player on the tour.[8] These performances in the 2006/07 season earned Selby a place in the top 16 for the very first time for the 2007/08 season, where he was ranked 11th.[9]
Selby's wins over Lee, Ebdon, Carter and Murphy at the 2007 World Championships also won him the inaugural 888.com Silver Chip award for outstanding performance, awarded by the Snooker Writers’ Association at the post-championship ball.[10]
[edit] Recent years
After a moderate start to the season, Selby had a strong run in the second most important professional snooker championship, the United Kingdom Championship, reaching the semi-finals of the event. He led eventual winner Ronnie O'Sullivan 7–5, fell 7–8 behind, before levelling the match at 8–8. In the deciding frame, however, O'Sullivan made a 147 break to win 9–8.[11]
On 20 January 2008, Selby won his first major tournament – the Saga Insurance Masters at Wembley. En route to the final, he had edged out Stephen Hendry, Stephen Maguire and Ken Doherty, all on a 6–5 scoreline (and, in the first two cases, having been 5–3 behind). In the final against Stephen Lee, after leading 5–3 at the break Selby took control and reeled off five consecutive frames (eight-in-a-row overall from 2–3 behind) to win convincingly 10–3. Selby's play in the final was of the highest standard, with four century breaks and two consecutive tons to cross the winning line. His final-frame effort, a total clearance of 141, equalled the tournament's highest break and was Selby's best in competitive play.[12]
On 17 February 2008, he won a close-fought Welsh Open final, overcoming Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–8 from 5–8 down.[13] However, he could not reproduce his Crucible success from the previous season. Despite going into the World Championships as one of the bookmakers' favourites for the title, Selby was defeated 10–8 in the first round by Mark King.
The following year in the Welsh Open quarter-final, he was handed a writ by a member of the audience, supposedly his former manager George Barmby.[14] Selby reached the final of the Masters again where he was runner-up to Ronnie O'Sullivan, and also reached the quarter-finals of the 2009 World Championship, losing 12–13 to Higgins, who again went on to win the title.
He opened the 2009/10 season with two first round defeats, before coming from 4–8 down to beat Jamie Cope 9–8 in the first round of the UK Championship, scoring 6 breaks over 40 in those five frames.
On 17 January 2010, Selby won his second Masters title after reaching the final for the third time in as many years in a repeat of the previous year's final, where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan took a commanding lead at 9–6 leaving him just one frame from victory, but Selby played some of his best snooker of the season to overcome the three-frame deficit, taking the championship 10–9 and the £150,000 winner's cheque.[15]
At the 2011 China Open, Selby beat Tian Pengfei, Robert Milkins, Ali Carter, and home favourite Ding Junhui, but was defeated 8–10 by Judd Trump in the final.
At the 2011 World Championship, Selby set the record for the most century breaks compiled in a world championship match when he made six in his second round tie with Stephen Hendry.[16] It was also a record for a best-of-25 match and took Selby's century tally for the season to 54, setting a new record for the most centuries compiled in a season.[17] At the Shanghai Masters Selby won his second major ranking event by defeating Mark Williams 10–9 in the final, having trailed 9–7.[18] The win also meant Selby usurped Williams as the world #1, making him the first player to top the world rankings without previously winning the World Championship.
[edit] Life outside snooker
He is a fan of Leicester City Football Club, who he has supported since childhood.[19]
In July 2006, he won the WEPF World Eight-ball Championship, beating Darren Appleton 11–7 in the final at Blackpool.[20] He is also known to be a fan of darts, beating Eric Bristow in 2007 and taking on Raymond van Barneveld in exhibition matches.[21][22]
Selby's nickname on the snooker circuit is "the Jester from Leicester", a name given to him by snooker compere, Richard Beare.[23]
Mark's wife Vikki Layton, who often attends his major matches, is an Irish international pool player.[24] They announced their engagement in August 2010,[25] and were married in Mexico on May 24, 2011.[26]
[edit] Performance and rankings timeline
| Tournament | 1999/ 00 |
2000/ 01 |
2001/ 02 |
2002/ 03 |
2003/ 04 |
2004/ 05 |
2005/ 06 |
2006/ 07 |
2007/ 08 |
2008/ 09 |
2009/ 10 |
2010/ 11 |
2011/ 12 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | UR[nb 1] | 122 | 95 | 53 | 29 | 36 | 39 | 28 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 3 | |||||||
| Ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Goldfields Open | Tournament Not Held | QF | ||||||||||||||||||
| Shanghai Masters | Not Held | SF | SF | 1R | SF | W | ||||||||||||||
| UK Championship | 3R | 2R | A | 2R | 1R | 2R | A | 2R | SF | 1R | QF | 2R | 2R | |||||||
| German Masters | Not Held | F | ||||||||||||||||||
| Welsh Open | LQ | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | LQ | 3R | 3R | W | QF | QF | SF | ||||||||
| World Open[nb 2] | 3R | A | A | LQ | 1R | QF | 1R | 1R | RR | 2R | 1R | LQ | ||||||||
| China Open | LQ | A | SF | Not Held | LQ | 1R | 2R | SF | 2R | 2R | F | |||||||||
| World Championship | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 2R | F | 1R | QF | SF | QF | ||||||||
| Non-ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Premier League | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | F | A | RR | A | |||||||
| The Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | W | F | W | 1R | QF | |||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Scottish Open[nb 3] | 1R | A | 1R | F | 1R | Not Held | ||||||||||||||
| British Open | 3R | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | Not Held | |||||||||||||
| Irish Masters | Non-Ranking Event | A | A | A | NH | NR | Not Held | |||||||||||||
| Malta Cup[nb 4] | LQ | NH | A | A | A | A | A | A | NR | Not Held | ||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Trophy | Not Held | NR | 3R | 2R | 3R | Not Held | ||||||||||||||
| Thailand Masters | LQ | A | A | NR | Not Held | NR | Not Held | |||||||||||||
| Bahrain Championship | Not Held | A | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||
| Former non-ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Scottish Masters | A | A | A | A | Not Held | |||||||||||||||
| Irish Masters | A | A | A | Ranking Event | NH | A | Not Held | |||||||||||||
| Malta Cup | Ranking Event | RR | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||
| Thailand Masters | Ranking Event | A | Not Held | A | Not Held | |||||||||||||||
| Performance Table Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LQ | lost in qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) |
QF | advanced to but not past the quarterfinals |
| SF | advanced to but not past the semi–finals | F | advanced to the final, tournament runner-up | W | won the tournament |
| A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament | ||
| NH / Not Held | means an event was not held. | |||
| NR / Non-Ranking Event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
