Mark Selby accuses fellow snooker star as being ‘tight as cramp’ as he battles to become world No1

MARK SELBY will happily buy his close pals a slap-up meal if he becomes snooker’s world No1 next weekend. Yet he does not expect friend Neil Robertson to open up his wallet if the Australian gets there before the Leicester Jester, claiming: he’s tight as cramp. Mark Selby is part of the race to the top of the snooker rankings Credit: Getty Judd Trump is the current No1 Credit: Getty Five men are vying to finish this month at the official best potter on the planet. Judd Trump, the incumbent, is desperate to cling on to the top spot, which he has held since August 2024. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! Yet newly-crowned China Open champion Selby, world No2 Robertson and Chinese cueists Zhao Xintong and Wu Yize, the world champion, are all fighting it out for supremacy. Trump’s problem is that he cannot defend £500,000 against his name as the cash prize from his 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters win disappears as the event has been axed. The winner of the Wuhan Open will get £175,000 next Saturday and the results this week will determine who is top dog on the baize. World No5 Selby – using a new cue for his six-week stint in China – told SunSport: “Listen, if I become number one at the end of next week, then guarantee I will buy Neil, Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins dinner. “But if Neil comes number one, don’t hold your breath, mate. “Because he is tight as cramp, I’m telling you. He only breathes in that boy.” Most read in Snooker SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS Neil Robertson was accused of being tight when it comes to meals out Credit: Getty Mark Selby was the winner of the Unibet British Open trophy in 2024 Selby – who was world No1 on eight separate occasions, the last time being in April 2022 – added: “It’s a bit unfortunate for Judd because if the Saudi tournament was still on, he’s got a chance to earn some kind of money. “But you know it is what it is. That’s what’s happened. “Now we’re in a position where we’re fighting between five of us. Me and Judd need to win it from what I’ve read. “It’d be nice to get back there. It’s not so much one of my goals as what it used to be because I’d sort of ticked that box off. “But it’s still great – if people ask you where you rank now, it’s a great feeling to be able to say I’m number one at the moment. “It’s hard enough to win one tournament a season nowadays. To try and do it twice in the space of three weeks is going to be even tougher. “I’m going to go there confident. Played some good stuff last week. And we’ll see at the end of next week what the situation is. “If you’re world champion, it’s because you’ve been the best player for those two weeks. “You could play all season, not do anything in any tournament, and then you go to the World Championship, you play well for two weeks, and you win it. “To be world champion, it’s over a consistent basis. Look at Judd, over the last three, four, five years, he’s probably been the most consistent and rightly so. “If anything, I probably feel Zintong probably deserves it. Last year, he won four tournaments.” Mark Selby’s first appearance in the UK this season will be in the first round of the Unibet British Open – the FA Cup of snooker – which runs between August 31 and September 6 in the Centaur Arena at Cheltenham Racecourse. Unibet are the title partner of snooker’s British Open for the third consecutive year. Tickets are available here. Comment now