After his wife Vikki was diagnosed with cancer and a close friend passed away recently, Mark Selby has opened up to his family and friends about a dreadful period away from the snooker table.
Selby has been battling his own mental health issues lately, and in January 2022 he will make his public debut discussing them.
The four-time world champion poignantly thanked Vikki for her invaluable support during a trying time after she bounced back to win the English Open in December of that year. However, it wasn’t long after that high point that Vikki received a breast cancer diagnosis.
Fortunately, Vikki is doing well and her latest test results are all “looking good.” However, the Selby family has experienced additional loss as their close friend Nina Webb passed away at the tragically young age of 44. Although she had previously received the all-clear for cancer, the disease returned and claimed her life.
“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 explanation of the incident.
Our situation worsened a little more than a week ago. Dave, one of my closest friends, lost his wife to cancer at the age of 44. Her little kid is twelve years old.
It’s been really difficult these past two weeks because she’s Vikki’s best friend. Her spouse advised you to continue playing as she wouldn’t have wanted you to withdraw from the Grand Prix, which I was participating in here in Leicester. However, it has been difficult.
As Vikki’s treatments and scans approach, it’s understandable that you’re frequently anxious.
When asked how Vikki was doing, he responded, “She’s good; she had an ultrasound and mammography a few weeks ago, and everything looked good.” She also had an MRI, the results of which we are now awaiting, although the mammography and ultrasound were reported to be normal.
“Hopefully, everything turns out well. After that, we won’t get scanned for another year, but since we’re still waiting, it’s clearly a challenging time.”
She has undoubtedly been stronger than I have been throughout. I was blown away when it was originally announced. That obviously made it worse given how bad my mental health was in the first place. She has been my pillar of strength. Although it should be the other way around, people claim that the one going through it is usually the strongest.
Although the circumstances surrounding Nina’s death are tragic, Vikki’s life may have been spared because of Nina’s diagnosis, which revealed that she too had a horrible illness.
Selby clarified, “It was only because Nina had it a few years ago.” She was given the all-clear after receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatment for her breast cancer, but alas, the disease returned and expanded, taking her life. May God bless her.
“It was in January, right after the English Open, when I played Luca [Brecel], and that’s why Vikki started checking.” When she discovered it, she told me. There was devastation.
Even though I was crying at the end of the game, I was unaware of Vikki’s diagnosis at the time, and we weren’t even aware of Nina’s new diagnosis until I got home. Thus, the past year or two has not been easy.
In these times, snooker rarely seems important, yet Selby’s feat of playing on to the World Championship final last year, where he made a 147 in the championship match and almost lost to Brecel for a fifth Crucible title, is amazing.
“It did take my mind off the competition in a way because Vikki was undergoing radiation therapy while I was competing in the Worlds,” he admitted.
“As I played, I asked myself, “If I lose, so what?” When I told Vikki I wanted to be there for her during her radiation treatments, she said, “Look, it’s only 20 minutes every day.” However, I wanted to be there to help her through it.
I continued to play because she asked me to. Because you’re playing with all of your carelessness on the table and then you find yourself in the final, that relieves some of the pressure.
Although Mark’s mental health has obviously been put to the test, working on it and coming up with improvement methods a year before Vikki’s diagnosis has helped him cope.
“I’m going to make mistakes,” he admitted. “It will never go away; you will have moments when it comes back; you just need to deal with them,” the doctor, who has helped me tremendously, told me when we were working together.
I now know how to handle them more skillfully. I used to shut down, sequester myself, and do nothing. I needed to do the exact opposite, but I believed that was the correct thing to do.
“I needed to get outside, go for a run, and get myself motivated when I was having bad days, but I was locking myself away.” I now handle it much better. I’m attempting.
It’s been difficult for me to try to play; I considered taking a break, but then I would simply stay at home and worry about everything, which is bad for me.
She would admit that she would rather have me leave the house. It’s all you can do; I’ve tried to be as helpful as I can.
Naturally, we’ve helped our friends as well, and now that Nina has regrettably passed away, we’re helping Dave. Although difficult, it helps you realize that pool is just a game.
“I play for Vikki and [my daughter] Sofia, too; I have a drive to keep going for them, so playing does help because it gives me a purpose as well.”
