Mark Selby, a four-time world snooker champion, has opened up about his personal challenges away from the table, including his wife, Vikki, who is battling illness, and a close family member who died recently.
Vikki, who Selby describes as his “rock” during his recent mental health issues, is getting treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer. In addition, the couple recently lost their dear friend Nina Webb to cancer.
“I’ve had a lot going on off the table, a few lapses from what I mentioned before with my mental health,” Selby said in an interview with Metro. “We received horrible news just over a week ago. Dave, one of my greatest friends, and his wife died of cancer when they were 44 years old. She has a 12-year-old girl.
Four-time world snooker champion Mark Selby has shared his personal struggles away from the table with his wife, Vikki, suffering with cancer and a close family friend recently passing away.
Vikki, described by Selby as his “rock” during his mental health troubles in recent years, is undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer. In addition to this, the couple recently lost their close friend Nina Webb to cancer.
“I’ve had a lot going on off the table, a few lapses from what I mentioned before with my mental health,” Selby told Metro. “We had some bad news just over a week ago. One of my best mates, Dave, his wife sadly passed away with cancer at 44. She’s got a little girl who’s 12. She’s best mate to Vikki, so it’s been quite tough the last two weeks.”
Leicester’s Selby made it to the quarter-finals of The Masters last month having been a beaten finalist in the World Championship last year. But the world number five says other things have been been more important in recent months.
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“It didn’t finish how I wanted it to, but with things going on off the table as well, not just with me but with Vikki as well you know, obviously I realise that health is more important,” Selby said afterwards. “This is a game; a game that you want to win but if you don’t it’s not the end of the world.”
Asked about Vikki, he said: “She’s good, she had a mammogram and ultrasound a few weeks ago and that all looked good. They gave her an MRI as well and we’re waiting on the results of that, but they were saying the mammogram and ultrasound were fine. Fingers crossed that comes back ok and then that’s another year until we get a scan again, but we’re still waiting so obviously it’s still a tricky time.
“She’s been stronger than me throughout it, for sure. When it was first announced I was completely blown apart. Obviously with how my mental health was before anyway, that multiplied it. She’s been the one supporting me! It should be the other way round, but people say that, it always seems to be the person going through it that’s the strongest.”
Selby first met ex-professional pool player Vikki at the World Pool Championships in 2006. They got engaged in Venice in 2010 and married in Mexico in May 2011.
They have a daughter, Sofia, born in 2014. Selby’s relationship with Vikki and her family is very important to him as his mother Shirley left him when he was eight and his father passed away from cancer when he was 16.
