Mark Selby gave a candid interview about his mental health struggles during The Masters (Image: BBC)
Mark Selby opened up about his mental health struggles ahead of his quarter-final showdown with Mark Allen at The Masters. The three-time champion booked his place in the last-eight of the tournament after thrashing Ali Carter 6-1 in his opening match.
Selby, who has been a snooker world champion on four occasions, has spoken out about his battle with depression and anxiety in the past,
And he addressed the subject once again during an interview, which was screened on Thursday.
“I tried to take my life a couple of times when I was younger,” he revealed to the . “Having lost my dad so young, I didn’t know where to turn. I had no one in my life really close enough to bring me back up.
“And I felt like it wasn’t worth living anymore because he was my idol and role model. For years I never spoke about it, I didn’t feel like I could. But having since spoken about it, if anyone asks me questions now I feel as though it’s the easiest thing in the world to speak about it.
“If I was to help just one person out there in the world by speaking out, I feel though I’ve done my job.”
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Selby was then asked if snooker’s player support programme was accessible enough.
And he added: “I just think sometimes you need to have someone on site. It’s alright having that accessibility to do that but it’s always away from tournaments if you go and speak to them.
“If you’re going through what I was going through and what Ronnie was going through, you don’t know how from day to day how you’re going to feel. I could feel okay today but I could wake up tomorrow and feel absolutely rubbish, and then obviously not want to play and feel really low.
“So if that’s happening at tournaments, obviously you either have to pull out the tournament and not play or go and speal to this guy after the tournament has finished.”
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