Mark Selby opens up on wife Vikki’s battle with breast cancer and family tragedy
Four-time world champion Mark Selby has spoken about his wife Vikki’s battle against breast cancer and the recent death of a close family friend from the disease
Mark Selby has opened up about his personal struggles away from the snooker table, with cancer affecting his family.
Selby has spoken about his mental health issues before and the 40-year-old is going through a particularly difficult period at the moment. The four-time world champion’s wife Vikki, his “rock” during tough times, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.
Tragically, the couple have been struck by more terrible news, with their close friend Nina Webb recently passing away, aged just 44. “I’ve had a lot going on off the table, a few lapses from what I mentioned before with my mental health,” Selby told Metro.
“We had some bad news just over a week ago. One of my best mates, Dave, his wife sadly passed away with cancer at 44. She’s got a little girl who’s 12. She’s best mate to Vikki, so it’s been quite tough the last two weeks.”
Selby, who reached the quarter-finals of the Masters in January, came up short against Luca Brecel in a classic World Championship final back in May 2023, but while he was disappointed with the 18-15 defeat, the defeat paled in insignificance compared to other things.
“It didn’t finish how I wanted it to, but with things going on off the table as well, not just with me but with Vikki as well you know, obviously I realise that health is more important,” Selby said afterwards. “This is a game; a game that you want to win but if you don’t it’s not the end of the world.”
The match came just months after Vikki had been diagnosed with breast cancer, having checked herself due to Nina’s situation. Thankfully, Selby says that things are currently positive for his family on that front.
Asked about Vikki, he said: “She’s good, she had a mammogram and ultrasound a few weeks ago and that all looked good. They gave her an MRI as well and we’re waiting on the results of that, but they were saying the mammogram and ultrasound were fine. Fingers crossed that comes back ok and then that’s another year until we get a scan again, but we’re still waiting so obviously it’s still a tricky time.
“She’s been stronger than me throughout it, for sure. When it was first announced I was completely blown apart. Obviously with how my mental health was before anyway, that multiplied it. She’s been the one supporting me! It should be the other way round, but people say that, it always seems to be the person going through it that’s the strongest.”
Selby first met ex-professional pool player Vikki at the World Pool Championships in 2006. The couple got engaged in Venice in 2010 before tying the knot in Mexico in May 2011 and share a daughter, Sofia, who was born in 2014. His relationship with Vikki and her family has been particularly important to Selby because his mother Shirley abandoned him at the age of eight and his father died of cancer when he was 16.
