Few nicknames are more unsuitable than that with which Mark Selby has been saddled for reasons of rhyming convenience. It’s not that the “Jester from Leicester” is not funny, but the image of him prancing about in a harlequin hat festooned with bells is little short of ludicrous.
Polite and likeable, he is a difficult read and when it’s put to him that his win in last year’s world snooker championship was rather overshadowed by his local football team winning the Premier League on the same night, he couldn’t agree more.
“Yeah, it was,” he says flatly. “At the same time I wasn’t too disappointed because Leicester winning the league … I mean, how many times is that going to happen? I was OK with them taking the limelight away from me being a two-times world champion at the time.”
A three-times champion since beating John Higgins on Monday night, Selby genuinely sounds ever so slightly miffed at having his thunder stolen by the football team he has supported all his life, but can console himself with the belief that things might be different this year.
“Oh, I hope so,” he says, before adding the caveat that he still thinks he won’t get an open-top bus parade. “Leicester’s been good to me. It’s where I was born and bred, where my father brought me up … I’ve got a soft spot for Leicester and they’ve always treated me well.
“I get invited to a lot of dos, I get free tickets to the football, they really look after me, so I’m sure they’ll put some kind of party on.”
In the unlikely event they don’t, one suspects he’ll cope. Selby has long been fabled for a bottomless reservoir of resolve, one which kept him in this year’s final when humiliation loomed: he was behind 6-2 after the first session and that then became 10-4.
He has a stubborn streak, an iron will perhaps forged during a difficult childhood. His mum walked out on the family when he was nine and his father died when Selby was 16.
Is that kind of inner strength something that can be worked on, or is it something people either have or don’t have? “Yeah, I think you can work on it. I think Ding [Junhui] is a prime example,” he says of the Chinese player who took so much beating in a titanic semi-final that Selby conceded he felt “empty” going into the final he eventually won 18-15 against Higgins.
“I think if you look at Ding a few years ago, when people used to get on top of him he sort of used to wilt a little bit and, not give in as such, but sort of stop fighting,” explains Selby. “If you look at him now, since he’s been with Terry Griffiths, Terry’s worked on his mental state.
“I think Terry’s worked on his mental game and it showed in that semi-final how far he’s come. I think he’s a fantastic player. He was a great player before, but I think he’s improved because he’s worked on his mental state. So yeah, it can be worked on.”
Now a father to toddler Sofia Maria, his daughter with wife Vikki, Selby hopes the £375,000 he pocketed at the world championship ensures his family wants for nothing after edging his winnings for the season towards the £1m mark.
He has big plans. “I’ll probably treat her to a new pedal-bin like I did the last time I won,” he says of his wife, a professional pool player.
And his daughter? “I’ll buy her a packet of sweets and spend the rest on myself,” he deadpans, rather than jests, with only the slightest hint of a twinkle.
