Neil Robertson: ‘From job centre to playing on TV was just amazing’

Crucible favourite reflects on the hard times that preceded his break into snooker – and dogged him even as he hit the heights

Neil Robertson reacts during his match against Ashley Hugill during day four of the Betfred World Snooker Championships at The Crucible, Sheffield. Picture date: Tuesday April 19, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story SNOOKER World. Photo credit should read: Tim Goode/PA Wire.

“These are the things that made me a really strong person and competitor,” Neil Robertson says in a secluded corner of a snooker club in Cambridge.

The amiable Australian is ranked as the third best snooker player in the world, but Robertson has spent a chunk of the afternoon showing me how many empty glasses he could carry when working as a bus-boy in a Melbourne pub, what it felt like to be unemployed and how his career was almost derailed for three years when he struggled to help his wife cope with mental health issues.