Bee that time he said it was the best night of his life. It was May 2, 2016 and Mark Selby had just won his second world title, just 13 minutes after his beloved Leicester City were crowned Premier League champions.
The Leicester-based Jester was all smiles as he posed for cameras with a Foxes flag and the Crucible trophy before hugging his wife Vikki and year-old daughter Sofia.
But beneath the surface, the world champion’s world was collapsing.
“Vikki said she came to the table to greet me and instead of being excited, I stared through her like she wasn’t there,” Selby recalls. “She said I hadn’t really celebrated. She noticed that I was going through it then.
“I spoke to the doctor and we reviewed the images. He said, “Judging by your body language and how you acted, you definitely went through it without knowing it.”
Coming into the Crucible this year, second seed Mark Selby is in a much better place
Selby celebrates with a Leicester City flag after winning his second world title
A few months later, Selby was prescribed antidepressants. However, it was another five years before he came out about his battle with depression. That came last January after losing in the quarter-finals of the Masters, when he posted on social media that he had suffered a ‘relapse’ with his mental health.
“Out of nowhere it hit me like a brick and I didn’t enjoy anything,” he explains. ‘I didn’t really have a life. I locked myself in the house.
‘I’m not even doing anything with Sofia. Not really being a father figure. Not being a good husband. I basically just lived and did nothing.
“Vikki kept saying, ‘You need to speak up and try and let people know,’ but I didn’t feel brave enough at first. I think I probably would have broken down.
“That’s why I did it on social media. Once I did that and people said, ‘Brilliant that you are speaking out, it helps so many people’, then I felt like I could talk about it.”
Selby took six weeks off snooker for last year’s World Championship when he went in as the defending champion. Although he lost to Yan Bingtao in the second round, it was remarkable that he showed up anyway.
“I felt like I won the tournament just because I could play,” he admits. “I still came out the other side of what I opened up about. I played better than I expected. But I was mentally fragile.’
Entering the Crucible this year, Selby is in much better headroom. The second seed is still taking medicine. But he has won two ranking tournaments this season and showed all his old fighting skills to pass Matthew Selt 10-8 in the first round on Thursday.
“Mentally I’m in a better position to compete – and it shows on the table,” said Selby, who faces 15th seed Gary Wilson in the second round today. “When I spoke to the doctor, he said you never get over it. You learn to live better with it and deal with it better. That is the position I am in at the moment.
“Every day when I wake up, I write down something I want to finish that day. It can be anything. For example, take Sofia to the park after school. It gives me purpose.
‘I’m still on medication. If it means using them for the rest of my life and I’m where I am now, I’ll accept that.’
Given his recent struggles, Selby knows a fifth title would be extra special. “If I won it again, I think that would probably mean the most of all,” he admits. ‘But the most important thing for me now is to enjoy it. As long as I’m mentally where I am now, I’m happy.’
The 39-year-old no longer sees silverware in Sheffield as the most important thing
It’s a mindset Ronnie O’Sullivan adopted that led to him tying the record for most world titles. That stands at seven, but Selby, 39, is only three off. Would the outright record of eight be at stake for him?
“Maybe I have another ten years,” he says. “If that’s the case, then winning four more in 10 years – is that possible? Naturally. But if I didn’t win one more I wouldn’t be broke, because winning four times is incredible.’
Before the interview ends, Selby is presented with another scenario. Would he win a fifth title this year if it meant Leicester were relegated?
“You can’t put me in that position,” he laughs. “From a selfish point of view, I should say yes. But it would be nice for me to win it and for Leicester to stay up too – that would be something else to celebrate.”