Neil Robertson

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Neil Robertson

Neil Robertson at the 2010 Paul Hunter Classic
Born	(1982-02-11) 11 February 1982 (age 30) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Sport country	Australia
Nickname	The Thunder from Down Under[1] The Melbourne Machine[2]
Professional	1998–[1]
Highest ranking	1
Current ranking	7
Career winnings	UK£1,068,755[3]
Highest break	147 (2010 China Open)
Century breaks	200
Tournament wins
Ranking	6
Minor-ranking	2
Non-ranking	2
World Champion	2010

Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player from Melbourne, Australia. He won the 2010 World Championship and was the world number one later in the same year. Robertson is the only Australian to have won a ranking event, and was undefeated in his first six televised finals.^[4] He is considered Australia's best ever snooker player.^[1]

Life and career

Early career

Robertson began his snooker career at 14, when he became the youngest player to make a century break in an Australian ranking event.^[5] Then, when he was 17 years old, he reached the third qualifying round of the 1999 World Championship.

In July 2003, Robertson won the World Under-21 Snooker Championship in New Zealand.^[5] This earned him a vital wildcard spot on the subsequent WPBSA Main Tour. In 2003 he won the qualifying tournament for a wildcard place at the 2004 Masters, where he subsequently lost 2–6 to Jimmy White in the first round.

In 2004/2005 season, he moved up to the top 32 in the rankings, reaching the final stages of 6 of the 8 tournaments, despite having to play at least 2 qualifying matches for each one. He qualified for the final stages of the 2005 World Championship, losing 7–10 to Stephen Hendry in the first round.

In the 2005/2006 season, he continued to progress, moving up to the top 16 of the rankings at the end of the season. He reached 4 quarter-finals in the season, including the 2006 World Championships, in which he fought back from 8–12 down to level at 12–12 against eventual champion Graeme Dott, before losing the final frame by inadvertently potting the final pink, which he needed on the table in his attempts to snooker the Scotsman.

Breakthrough: first ranking title

He made his breakthrough in the 2006/2007 season. After finishing top of his group at the 2006 Grand Prix's round robin stage (he lost only one match: his opener against Nigel Bond by 2–3), Robertson then beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–1 in the quarter-finals of the event. So he went on to the semi-finals, being only the fourth Australian ever to do so in a ranking event. He beat Alan McManus 6–2 in the semis, to reach his first major final, where he faced a fellow first-time finalist, the unseeded Jamie Cope, whom he beat comfortably by 9–5 to win his first ever professional ranking tournament. The win earned Robertson £60,000, his highest amount of money earned in one tournament.

Robertson had early exits in both the UK Championship and the Masters, but found his form again en route to the final of the Welsh Open. He defeated Stephen Hendry 5–3, making a break of 141 in the last frame, then recovered from 4–3 down to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–4 in the quarter-finals. He beat Steve Davis 6–3 in the semi-finals, and surprise finalist Andrew Higginson 9–8 in the final to take the title. He led 6–2 after the first session, then dropped six frames in a row to come within one frame of defeat, but took the remaining three frames to win the match.

He reached the second round of the 2007 World Championship, losing 10–13 to Ronnie O'Sullivan despite at one stage winning six frames in a row.

Robertson started 2007/2008 season poorly, making early exits in three of the first four ranking events, plus the 2008 Masters and 2008 Malta Cup. He did reach the quarter-finals of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy after wins over Jamie Cope and Ian McCulloch. He finished the season ranked 10th, but outside the top sixteen on the one-year list.

2008–2010

After a disappointing start to the 2008/2009 season, Robertson reached the final of the 2008 Bahrain Championship, where he played Matthew Stevens. The match lasted almost 6 hours in total, with the Australian edging it 9–7. During the 2009 Masters Robertson and opponent Stephen Maguire set a record of 5 consecutive century breaks. Robertson made 2 centuries, and Maguire made 3, with the 3rd sealing a 6–3 win over the Australian. At the 2009 World Championship Robertson defeated Steve Davis, Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship for the first time, before losing to Shaun Murphy 14–17 (after at one stage recovering from 7–14 behind to level at 14–14).

In October 2009, Robertson clinched the 2009 Grand Prix trophy in Glasgow with a 9–4 win over China's Ding Junhui in the final. His semi-final match with defending champion John Higgins was won on the final black of the deciding frame. Robertson's fourth title made him the most successful player from outside the UK and Ireland in ranking tournaments, although Ding equalled his total at that season's UK Championship.^[6]

On 1 April 2010 Robertson made the first official maximum break of his career in his second round match in the 2010 China Open against Peter Ebdon.

At the 2010 World Championship, Robertson defeated Fergal O'Brien 10–5 in the first round. In his second round match against Martin Gould Robertson trailed 0–6 and 5–11 before recovering to win the match 13–12. In the quarter-finals he defeated Steve Davis 13–5. He faced Ali Carter in the semi-finals, winning 17–12 to reach the final. There he defeated 2006 champion Graeme Dott 18–13 to become only the third player from outside the UK (and only the second from outside the UK and Ireland), and the first Australian, to become world champion in the modern era of the game.^[7] The win takes him to a career-high ranking of #2 in the next season. Although the record books show Australian Horace Lindrum triumphed in 1952, that was the year when the sport's leading players staged a boycott and to this day in many circles Lindrum is not regarded as a credible world champion.^[8]

2010/2011

Robertson started the new season by losing in the first round of the 2010 Shanghai Masters to Peter Ebdon. However, at the World Open Robertson was drawn in the last 64 against Graeme Dott in a repeat of their world final, Robertson won 3–1 and went on to beat David Morris, Andrew Higginson, Ricky Walden and Mark Williams before producing an assured display to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–1 in the final, to confirm his position as the eighth world number 1 in snooker.^[9] Robertson was invited to the Premier League Snooker, where he reached the semi-final. He lost 1–5 against O'Sullivan.^[10] Robertson reached the quarter-final of the UK Championship, where he lost 7–9 against Shaun Murphy.^[11]

Robertson reached the quarter-final of the Masters, but lost 4–6 against Mark Allen.^[12] Robertson lost in the first round of the German Masters 4–5.^[13] At the next two ranking tournaments Robertson lost in the second round, 1–4 against Graeme Dott at the Welsh Open and 1–5 against Peter Ebdon at the China Open.^[14][15] Robertson couldn't defend his World Snooker Championship trophy, as he lost 8–10 in the first round against eventual finalist Judd Trump.^[16]

2011/2012

Robertson's season started in a disappointing fashion as he lost 4-5 to Dominic Dale in the last 16 of his home tournament - the Australian Goldfields Open.^[17] However, his form soon improved and at the next world ranking event, the Shanghai Masters, he dismissed Liang Wenbo, Michael Holt and John Higgins, before losing 5-6 to Mark Williams in a tightly contested semi-final.^[18] His first silverware of the season came in Warsaw at the PTC Event 6, where he beat Ricky Walden 4-1 in the final.^[19] This success was quickly followed up by another PTC title in Event 8 where he again won by a 4-1 scoreline, this time against Judd Trump.^[20] Victory ensured that Robertson maintained his record of never having lost in a ranking event final. He would later finish third in the Order of Merit and therefore qualify for the 2012 PTC Finals.^[21] His fine form continued into the UK Championship in York, where he beat Tom Ford, Graeme Dott and Ding Junhui en route to his first semi-final in the event.^[22] He played Judd Trump and lost in an extremely tight encounter, 7-9, with there never being more than 2 frames between the players throughout the match.^[23]

Robertson won the 2012 Masters by defeating Shaun Murphy 10-6 in the final. He beat Mark Allen and Mark Williams in the opening two rounds, before facing Trump in the semi-finals for the second successive major tournament.^[24] He exacted revenge for his defeat in York a month earlier by winning 6-3 and said after the match that he had been spurred on by fans cheering when Trump fluked shots.^[25]. Such was Robertson's feeling that he lacked support from the local crowd, he offered to buy a pint of beer for anyone attending his matches in an Australian hat or shirt ^[26], but only one person heeded this call in his semi final match against Mark Williams. In his first Masters final he opened up a 5-3 lead over Murphy in the first session and, although he lost the first frame upon the resumption of play, won four frames in a row to stand on the edge of the title. Despite a brief fightback from the Englishman, Robertson secured the frame he needed with a break of 70 to become the fourth man from outside the United Kingdom to win the event.^[27]

Robertson could not advance beyond the second round in any of his next three ranking events and then saw his run of televised finals without defeat finally come to an end with a 4–0 defeat to Stephen Lee in the PTC Finals.^[28][29] He lost in the quarter-finals of the China Open 3–5 to Peter Ebdon, before drawing 1997 champion Ken Doherty in the first round of the World Championship.^[28] Robertson won the match 10–4 and then beat qualifier David Gilbert 13–9 to set up a quarter-final clash with Ronnie O'Sullivan.^[30] Robertson was 5–3 ahead after the first session, but his opponent produced a match defining run of six frames in a row and went on to win 13–10.^[31] Robertson finished the season ranked world number 7.^[32]

Personal life

During the snooker season, Robertson is based in Cambridge, England.^[33] He currently practises at Willie Thorne's Snooker Club.^[34] He previously practised at the Cambridge Snooker Centre.

Robertson has a son, Alexander. His Norwegian girlfriend, Mille, had been due to give birth while Robertson was playing in the World Championship final,^[35] but the child was not born until eight days later on 12 May 2010.^[36]

Performance and rankings timeline

1. ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
2. ^ The event was called the LG Cup (2001/2002-2003/2004) and the Grand Prix (1984/1985-2000/2001 and 2004/2005-2009/2010)
3. ^ The event was called the China International in 1999
4. ^ The event was called the Players Championship in 2003/2004
5. ^ The event was called the European Open (2001/2002-2003/2004) and the Irish Open in 1998/1999

Tournament finals

Ranking finals: 7 (6 titles, 1 runner-up)

Legend World Championship (1–0) UK Championship (0–0) Other (5–1) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Winner 1. 2006 Grand Prix Cope, JamieJamie Cope 09–05 !9–5 Winner 2. 2007 Welsh Open Higginson, AndrewAndrew Higginson 09–08 !9–8 Winner 3. 2008 Bahrain Championship Stevens, MatthewMatthew Stevens 09–07 !9–7 Winner 4. 2009 Grand Prix (2) Ding Junhui 09–04 !9–4 Winner 5. 2010 World Championship Dott, GraemeGraeme Dott 18–13 Winner 6. 2010 Grand Prix (3) !World Open (3) O'Sullivan, RonnieRonnie O'Sullivan 05–01 !5–1 Runner-up 1. 2012 Players Tour Championship – Finals Lee, StephenStephen Lee 00–04 !0–4

Minor-ranking finals: 2 (2 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2011	Warsaw Classic	Walden, RickyRicky Walden	4–1
Winner	2.	2011	Alex Higgins International Trophy	Trump, JuddJudd Trump	4–1

Non-ranking finals: 2 (2 titles)

Legend Masters (1–0) Premier League (0–0) Other (1–0) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Winner 1. 2003 Masters Qualifying Event Dale, DominicDominic Dale 06–05 !6–5 Winner 2. 2012 Masters Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy 10–06 !10–6

Team events

• WLBSA World Mixed Doubles Championship (with Reanne Evans) – 2008^[37]

Amateur

• Oceania Championship – 2002
• IBSF World Under-21 Championship – 2003

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Neil Robertson

• Official website
• "Neil Robertson". WorldSnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 2007–2010 [copyright date]. "Players Alphabetical" section. http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/PlayersAlphabeticalArticle/0,,13165~2234622,00.html. Retrieved 29 March 2010.  Official WPBSA player profile.
• Neil Robertson at CueTracker.net: Snooker Results and Statistic Database
• Profile on Global Snooker
• Profile on Pro Snooker Blog