Mark Selby's Era

In a high quality match that saw 6 Century Breaks, 3 from each player, Mark Selby beat Ronnie O`Sullivan 10-7 to double his collection of UK Championship trophies, having won his first in 2012.
I remember when in 2012 winning the UK title was a big step forward for Selby because back then it was a more important title than The Masters and there was doubt if he would ever go on to win the World Championship or the UK Championship. It's funny how now, only 4 years later, the UK Championship title brings Selby into the top 5 best players of all time.

Mark Selby has now joint Ronnie O`Sullivan, John Higgins, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and Mark Williams as the only players to win each of the Triple Crown events in more than one occasion - he's also become the sixth player to win the World Championship and the UK Championship in the same year, being the first to do so since Ronnie O`Sullivan in 2001. And although 4 of the 5 names I listed have numbers far ahed of Mark Selby's, the latter one was surpassed last Sunday - Selby has now the same number of World's and UK titles as Mark Williams, but have won one Masters title more than the Welshman.
I think Mark Williams is such an underachiever because had he kept his determination and will to win longer, he'd have won several more silverware, however I don't think Selby has won his last title yet, in fact with the form he's been on in the past years, and being only 33 years old now, I can see Selby doubling his count of big titles before the end of his career.


Just like Steve Davis overtook Ray Reardon and then was overtaken by Stephen Hendry, who then lost his reign to Ronnie O`Sullivan, it feels like the crown of "best player in the World by far" lies on top of Mark Selby's head now, instead of O`Sullivan's.
The Leicester's man is the man who won most titles in the past 5 years, the UK Championship was his 16th title since 2012 (counting tournaments of all formats acknowledged by World Snooker), putting him 4 ahead the second placed in the list Ronnie O`Sullivan, who still has the same number of World Titles (2) and Triple Crown events won (5) in this period of time though.
Today, Mark Selby owns the three biggest Ranking Titles (World Championship, International Championship and UK Championship), is very near of reaching the £1m bar in Ranking Money (seems inevitable to happen in the forthcoming months) and has virtually doubled the points of the World Number 2, Stuart Bingham. The gap Mark Selby has opened from the rest of the World is massive, and the way he plays it feels like it'll only get bigger and bigger everyday.

Mark Selby has been impeccable this season, scoring heavy and steamrolling his opponents (the 10-1 against Ding Junhui in the Final of the International Championship and the two Century Breaks from 8-7 up versus Ronnie O`Sullivan in the Final of the UK Championship highlights it all), but his dominance is due to his enviable tactical play and his unbelievable success at winning matches and tournaments when not playing his best Snooker.
After winning the 2014 World Championship Mark Selby's form completely disappeared and playing his C - even D - game at times he maintained his number 1 spot in the World Rankings and won titles like the German Masters and of course, the World Championship playing, as he won't deny, probably the worst someone ever played to lift the trophy at the Crucible Theatre. That extra weapon of winning when playing badly is what separates Selby from the other players, makes him an inspiration for youngsters who want to become professionals, and give him a feeling of "unbeatable". Obviously he can be beaten, but the way he plays (outscoring you when he's in full flow and tightening the games up when he's not playing well to win the frames tactically) makes him a favourite for every single tournament he enters and makes we all wonder if someone can bring something special out to dethrone him at the Crucible.


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