I wasn’t born with a cue in my hand.” Mark Selby was raised on a council estate but the ‘Jester from Leicester’ has defied the critics by having the last laugh as he became a four-time world snooker champion.
Selby has chiselled his way through life and now back to the snooker summit after defeating Shaun Murphy 18-15 to join John Higgins as a four-time champion, punching the air after sinking the final black under immense pressure.
It truly is a rags to riches story after his mum left when he was eight years old and he then lost his father David to lung cancer when he was just 16.
Mark and his brother were forced out of their council flat with nothing. That moulded his granite persona as just months later aged 16 and 84 days, he became the youngest professional on the world snooker circuit.
In 2014, Selby realised his boyhood dream by becoming world snooker champion for the very first time. He has since followed it up with further victories in 2016, 2017 and he added a fourth title on Monday night at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Six-time former champion Steve Davis had cast Selby as a Dementor from the Harry Potter films, while seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry described him as ‘snooker vampire’, sucking all the life and adrenaline out of players.
Speaking to the press sitting alongside his daughter Sofia Maria, Selby said: “I don’t know what Steve says because I’ve never really watched Harry Potter and the vampire’s probably down to the fangs on my teeth, but other than that I don’t know what they mean by it. I’m sure they mean it in a nice way.
“I’m going to go out there, I’m going to try my hardest no matter what. Blood, sweat and tears. I just try to go out there and win and give it my all, leave nothing out there so if that’s the way I’ve got to do it, that’s the way I’ve got to do it.
“I’m not the most naturally gifted player. You look at Ronnie (O’Sullivan) and you look at (Judd) Trump, they’re very, very talented, basically born with a cue in their hand, whereas me, I’ve had to work hard all the way through my career.
“I was brought up on a council estate and my father had no money at all. He passed away from I was 16 and my mum left me when I was eight years old so I sort of respect the good things in life and obviously try to keep my feet on the ground.”
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