Neil Robertson issues social media message following early Tour Championship exit

It has been a rejuvenating season for career Triple Crown winner Robertson, who is firmly back inside the top 16 of the world rankings.

He ended a near two-and-a-half year wait for a ranking title at the English Open last September, and just a few weeks ago he claimed the World Grand Prix title in Hong Kong after whitewashing Stuart Bingham 10-0 in the final.

The 43-year-old followed up that triumph at the Kai Tak Arena with a semi-final run at the Players Championship in Telford, only being denied back-to-back final appearances on tour by eventual champion Kyren Wilson, who won the final two frames to edge Robertson, 6-5.

With that excellent form - coupled with his previous success at the Tour Championship which he has won twice before in consecutive years in 2021 and 2022 - many would have tipped Robertson for more success at the Manchester Central this week.

However, it pretty much all went wrong in his opening tie with Selby, against whom he had defeated in their two most recent encounters - both this season, with the latest being at the Players Championship just a couple of weeks before.

As one of the top four seeds, Robertson was playing his first match of the week, while Selby had already seen off Si Jiahui in the preliminary round.

Four-time World Champion Selby took an hour-long-plus opening frame, although Robertson responded with a neat break of 61 in frame two which helped him level up.

Incredibly, though, that would be Robertson’s one and only frame of the contest, as Selby took the remaining six frames of their opening session to lead 7-1 overnight.

Returning the following night, Selby reached the winning target of 10 with minimal fuss and in real style, as he crafted breaks of 124 and 123 in the final two frames.

For a match where the players were very hard to split with bookmakers before the start, the one-sided result was very surprising, although there have been several similar scorelines at this year’s Tour Championship.

The day after his elimination from the £500,000 Players Series tournament, Robertson posted on social media platform X to explain that he had been dealing with illness during the match.

Robertson said: "Quick one from me guys, as last night world snooker didn’t ask me for an interview so there were a lot more questions than answers my way this morning.

"On my way up to Manchester had small symptoms of the virus my son had last week (thought I had avoided it) 1st session scoreline could have happened EVEN IF I WAS 100% was a freak session where 4-4 would have been right I played “ok” but that night I never slept, coughed up all sorts and the symptoms got worse.

"I spent all day in bed then chugged some tablets down and finished the match.

"Thought about withdrawing but not sure that would have been fair on Mark who deserved to compete the match. Going to spend a day or 2 in bed and rest up for the worlds. See you in a couple of weeks."

Next up for 25-time ranking event winner Robertson is the Crucible and the 2025 World Snooker Championship.

It is 15 years since ‘The Thunder from Down Under’ conquered the snooker world with an 18-13 victory over former champion Graeme Dott in the final.

Last year - having slipped outside the world’s top 16 - Robertson was forced to go to the qualifying rounds where he went out at the last hurdle to Jamie Jones 10-9 meaning he missed out on playing at the Crucible for the first time since 2004.

Now back in snooker’s elite bracket, Robertson does not need to qualify and is one of the top seeds for the 32-player main draw where he will face a qualifier in round one.