"I Wanted to Be World Champion": Mark Selby on 25 Years at the Top

Snooker star Mark Selby celebrates 25 years at the top this season – and he’s not lost any of his hunger for success.

From Teen Prodigy to Snooker Legend

The Leicester potter burst on to the professional scene as a budding teenager way back in 1999, and it’s taken plenty of hard graft and dedication for the 22-time ranking event winner to firmly establish himself as one of snooker’s all-time great.

Now, as he looks back a quarter of a century as one of the planet’s elite players, Selby, 41, admits his 16-year-old self would scarcely have believed the success he would go on to achieve. 

World Champion, Masters Winner, and More

He is a four-time world champion, three-time Masters winner and two-time UK champion.

Selby also has also had several spells as world number one, most notably an incredible an unbroken four year stretch from 2015 to 2019.

But he grew up in humble surroundings and dreamed big.

“I was the same as every other kid growing up. I wanted to be world champion and world number one,” Selby told SportsBoom.com. 

“I remember setting myself a target of making it as a player by the age of 26. If I wasn’t really earning a decent living by that point, then I was going to knock it on the head and do something else.”

“I didn’t want to be a journeyman where you fall on and off the tour and nick a few quid here and there, putting yourself under pressure to pay bills.”

“Fortunately, enough for me, I ended up doing bigger and better things, more than I expected to do.”

Selby has tasted plenty of deserved success during a distinguished career which has seen him enjoy epic rivalries with fellow top stars including Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Neil Robertson and Mark Williams, but to name a few, down the year.

Image Credits: Tai Chengzhe/VCG via Getty Images

The Impact of Malcolm Thorne and the Loss of Selby’s Father

But Selby’s incredible story is shaded with sadness as his beloved father David passed away in 1999 after a battle with cancer.

Thankfully Malcolm Thorne, brother of the legendary player Willie Thorne, took the young prodigy under his wing.

“Malcolm sponsored me until I was 18,” recalled Selby. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here right now because my father didn’t have much money.

“In my first year as a professional it was a bit of excitement and a bit of nerves. I was 16 years old, playing against Wayne Brown in the British Open at the Plymouth Pavilions, Malcolm and Willie were in the crowd. I won 5-4 and made a 90 odd break in the decider.”

“I played Peter Lines in the next game, winning 5-4 again and then I lost to Gary Wilkinson. It was an exciting time, to join the tour and to find that I could win matches.” 

Beating Hendry and O'Sullivan in China

Selby’s first taste of snooker outside the UK came in 2002. He went on a brilliant run to the semi-finals of the China Open.

That week he defeated snooker’s two greatest ever players, Stephen Hendry and O’Sullivan, although his win over Hendry came in unusual circumstances.

“It was the first time I had been to China, and I was jet-lagged,” he said.

“The evening before I played Hendry, I woke up at 1:15am, thinking it was the afternoon and I was due to play in an hour.”

“I got my snooker uniform on and when down to the hotel lobby with my cue and asked for a car to the venue.”

Image Credits: Tai Chengzhe/VCG via Getty Images

“Eirian Williams, the referee, was coming back in from the pub and wondered what on earth I was doing! He sent me back upstairs. Fortunately, I got back to sleep and went on to beat Hendry.”

Traveling the World Through Snooker

These days, Selby is a veteran of winning trophies around the globe – he has captured ranking titles in China no fewer than seven times.

“We are fortunate to be able to travel the world while playing snooker,” added the avid Leicester City fan.

“There are a lot of people who would love to go to the places that we have been.”

“If I wasn’t a snooker player, I wouldn’t be going to these places, so I feel very fortunate in that aspect. I’ve been to see the Great Wall of China for instance and that blew my mind, I can’t imagine how they built the wall over thousands of miles.”