Neil Robertson has new response to ‘clueless opinions’ and being misunderstood

Neil Robertson is past caring about sporting debates and online hot takes, feeling ‘immune’ to opinions on him that come from a place of ignorance.

The Thunder from Down Under is closing in on veteran status, if he has not already taken hold of it, having first turned professional in 1998 and his next birthday being his 45th.

The former world champion has seen and heard it all over his brilliant career, which has seen him win 26 ranking titles. Just six players in snooker history have claimed more.

That success has not made left him free from criticism, though, and his name has cropped up lately as being undeserving to be in the battle for the world number one spot.

Australia’s greatest ever player is currently fourth in the world rankings and good results could see him return to the pinnacle for the first time since 2015.

However, Judd Trump claimed that Robertson’s Saudi Arabia Masters win last season – and the £500,000 that came with it – was doing too much heavy lifting for him.

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‘I think Neil, for example, I don’t really know what he’s done to be so close, apart from win Saudi, he hasn’t really done anything else,’ Trump told Metro last month.

‘It’s hard to pick individual players out, nothing against Neil but he’s not been consistent enough to be the number one, in my eyes.

Trump wasn’t quite on the money with that assessment, with Robertson winning the World Grand Prix last year and the English Open in 2024, while semi-finals of big events like the UK Championship and Tour Championship have boosted his ranking.

The Aussie had a word with the Ace about his comments, telling Metro: ‘I spoke to Judd and said, “What are you doing?” He was just like, “Oh God, that just came out all wrong.”

‘Before winning Saudi I was still ranked eight. It’s not like I just won Saudi. You only have to look at the actual points, take Saudi off and I’m still really high up anyway.

‘When I won Saudi, that was my third ranking event win in the space of 10-11 months and since Saudi, it’s been littered with quarters and semi-finals.’

Robertson was happy to take up the matter with Trump, but has lost interest in online chatter about him, his game, or anything sports-related for that matter.

‘I don’t really take too much notice,’ he said. ‘I used to a few years ago, but I see certain topics being discussed…I don’t know, say Hendry or Ronnie or Messi or Ronaldo, the Jordan-Lebron debate or Tom Brady and all that.

‘You see some of the comments and people have got no idea. It’s actually a big relief to see that because it’s other sports where this exists too, where you just get completely clueless opinions from people that have absolutely no idea.

‘I’m completely immune to it all now. People are going to have their opinions. That’s just sort of how it goes, you know?’

It’s not just online that the two-time Masters champion is surprised by opinions he encounters, but realises he has been misjudged when he chats to people face-to-face.

‘It happens a lot around golf,’ he said. ‘I’ll be at the driving range and I could be talking to a complete stranger for 10 minutes and they’re like, “Wow, you’re actually really nice person. Whenever I’ve seen you on TV, I thought you were arrogant!”

‘People are judging a personality based on when you’re in a really competitive environment. We’re just normal people. I think you get judged too much on how you are in the arena. If you were to judge every heavyweight boxer on how they are in the ring, you probably wouldn’t like too many of them.’

Sport in general has become more professional and Robertson thinks some fans are still expecting a slightly more jovial approach from snooker players that has not existed for some time.

‘I think that a lot of people still hang on to that love of how things were in the 80s where, let’s be real, things weren’t anywhere near as professional as they are now,’ he said.

‘I think Dennis [Taylor] and Terry [Griffiths] said that that was their way of getting work. They were advertising themselves on TV to get exhibitions. So they kind of had to do that, so I totally respect it and understand it from that point of view.’

An opinion Robertson certainly does have a lot of time for is that of Mark Selby, a rival on the table but friend off it for many years.

The Thunder has experimented with a change to his equipment over the last 18 months, playing with a titanium ferrule and winning two big tournaments with it.

He is switching back to brass, though, after becoming frustrated with his range of shots and thanks to Selby weighing in with some advice on the situation.

‘With the titanium ferrule, it makes you have to play a bit more simplified version of the game, I suppose,’ said Robertson. ‘A lot less creative in terms of using side spin and throwing the cue ball around. Especially controlling the cue ball in the balls as well.

‘Selby left me a really long voice note, actually. He thought I didn’t look half the player with titanium that I did with brass. He said: “You’re good enough to win Saudi or any tournament with anything, but that shouldn’t really be your deciding factor.”

‘I leaned on Saudi a little bit too much, because I was having issues in the second half of last season, things just weren’t quite right. I was speaking to Mark about going back [to brass] and he was like, “Mate, that’s an absolute no-brainer.”

‘I think he tried it for a tournament and thought there’s no way. Whereas I was probably a little bit more stubborn because I’d won Hong Kong and the Saudi. It’s like a football club having an interim manager, they go on a winning run and it’s hard to sack them. That’s how I felt after Saudi, but I had my doubts going into this season.’

Robertson was back to brass at the recent Shenzhen Open and looked good in wins over Liu Hongyu and Lei Peifan before defeat to an impressive Chris Wakelin.

‘I’m really happy with it. It’s like riding a bike again or putting on an old pair of slippers,’ he said. ‘There were a couple of things against Chris on a couple of shots, errors I probably wouldn’t make again next week, That’s just the readjustment process. But I thought Chris played ever so well.

‘The signs are looking good. I’m excited for the season to start now. It’s disappointing I felt as though I didn’t really have much of a chance in the first four or five events with the ferrule I was using. But I’m excited for the rest of the season ahead now, for sure.’

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