1998–2007 A winner of the England under-15 championship in 1998, Selby joined the professional tour a year later in 1999, at the age of 16. In early 2002, he reached the semi-finals of the
China Open, despite leaving his hotel room at 2 a.m. instead of 2 p.m. for one of his matches because of
jetlag. In April 2003, aged 19, he reached his first ranking final at the
Scottish Open, where he finished runner-up to
David Gray, earning himself a place in the top 32 for the first time. but there he was whitewashed 5–0 by
Ronnie O'Sullivan, the tournament's eventual champion. Selby got to the final round of qualifying at the World Snooker Championships in
2002,
2003 and
2004, but failed to progress to the knockout stages at the
Crucible Theatre on all three occasions. From late 2005, Selby was managed by former snooker professional and fellow Leicester resident Mukesh Parmar. He then faced Higgins in the first round again at the
2006 World Championship, this time defeating the reigning
Grand Prix and
Masters champion 10–4, before being eliminated in the second round by
Mark Williams. Selby reached the final of the
2007 World Championship, beating
Stephen Lee 10–7 in the first round, after winning eight successive from 0–5 behind to lead 8–5, then defeating former world champion Peter Ebdon 13–8 in the second round, making five centuries, with three of them being consecutive. In the quarter-finals, he beat
Ali Carter 13–12, from 11–8 ahead and 11–12 behind, in a match that lasted well over nine hours. Then after trailing 14–16, he won his semi-final match 17–16 against
Shaun Murphy, in another deciding frame that he took with a 64 break. In the final, John Higgins led 12–4 after the second session, but Selby won all six frames played in the third session on Monday afternoon, before time ran out due to the length of the frames; he was therefore only 10–12 behind entering the final session, and closed to within one frame at 13–14 before eventually losing the match 13–18. Higgins pointed out in his victory speech that Selby was "the most improved player on the tour". Selby's performance in the
2006–07 season earned him a place in the top 16 for the first time for the
2007–08 season, where he was ranked 11th.
2007–08 season: first Masters title Next season, Selby made it to the semi-finals in the
2007 Shanghai Masters, but was defeated by
Dominic Dale, who went on to win the tournament. Selby also had a strong run in the
UK Championship, reaching the semi-finals as well, where he met the eventual winner of the event, Ronnie O'Sullivan. Selby led 7–5, but fell 7–8 behind before levelling the match at 8–8; however, O'Sullivan made a 147 break in the deciding frame to win 9–8. in Moscow On 20 January 2008, Selby won his first major tournament, the
Masters at
Wembley Arena in London. In the final against Stephen Lee, Selby took control and reeled off eight consecutive frames from 2–3 behind to lead 5–3 at the break and to achieve a decisive 10–3 victory. He produced a high standard of play in the final, compiling four century breaks in total; his final-frame effort, a total clearance of 141, equalled the highest break of the tournament. Selby claimed his first
world ranking title at the
Welsh Open on 17 February 2008, winning a close-fought final 9–8 against Ronnie O'Sullivan after recovering from 5–8 behind. He also was a semi-finalist in the
China Open, and a finalist in the inaugural
Championship League event. However, he could not reproduce his Crucible success from the previous season; despite going into the
2008 World Championship as one of the bookmakers' favourites for the title, Selby was defeated 8–10 in the first round by
Mark King.
2008–09 season The following season Selby was defeated at the
2008 Shanghai Masters, once again in the semi-final stage by the event's eventual winner, this time
Ricky Walden. Then at the beginning of the new year, he reached the final of the
Masters again, where he was runner-up to Ronnie O'Sullivan, losing the match 8–10 after leading 7–5. In the
Welsh Open quarter-finals he was handed a writ by a member of the audience, supposedly his former manager George Barmby. Selby commented that all he could think about was the envelope that had been given to him before he was defeated 3–5 by
Anthony Hamilton. Later on in the season, he made it to the final once more in the
2009 Championship League,
2009–10 season: second Masters title Selby recovered from 4–8 behind to beat
Jamie Cope 9–8 in the first round of the
2009 UK Championship, but was beaten in the quarter-finals 3–9, yet again by Ronnie O'Sullivan. On 17 January 2010, having reached the final for the third time in as many years, he won his second
Masters title, in a repeat of the previous year's final where he had lost to O'Sullivan. This time, after falling behind 6–9, with O'Sullivan needing one more frame for another victory, Selby took the next four frames to win the championship 10–9. He came within reach of his second World Championship final in
2010, losing in the semi-finals 14–17 to
Graeme Dott, despite pulling up to 10–11 and 13–14.
2010–11 season In July 2010, Selby won the
Six-red World Championship in Bangkok, with an 8–6 victory over Ricky Walden in the final. At the
2011 China Open, he beat
Tian Pengfei,
Robert Milkins, Ali Carter, and home favourite
Ding Junhui, but was defeated 8–10 by
Judd Trump in the final. At the
2011 World Championship, he set the record for the most
century breaks compiled in a world championship match when he made six in his second-round tie with Stephen Hendry. This was also a record for a best-of-25-frames match, and took Selby's century tally for the season to 54, setting a new record for the most centuries compiled by one player in a single season.
2011–12 season Selby started the
season by winning the non-ranking
Wuxi Classic with a 9–7 victory over Ali Carter. He won his second ranking event at the
Shanghai Masters, where he defeated Mark Williams 10–9 in the final, winning the last three frames from 7–9 behind. With this victory, Selby replaced Williams as world number one, moving to the top of the world rankings for the first time in his career. Selby eventually finished fifth on the
PTC Order of Merit and therefore qualified to the last 16 of the
PTC Grand Final. He beat Ding Junhui 4–1, before losing 0–4 to eventual winner Stephen Lee in the quarter-finals. Selby progressed to the quarter-finals of the
Masters in January, where he lost 2–6 to Shaun Murphy. He was defeated by Murphy again the following month, in the quarter-finals of the
German Masters, losing the match 3–5. After reaching the final of the
Welsh Open, where he lost 6–9 to Ding, he met Murphy for the third time in less than six weeks, in the quarter-finals of the
World Open, this time achieving a 5–0 whitewash. Selby withdrew from the second round of the
China Open because of a neck injury. His decision to withdraw was also a precautionary measure to make sure he was ready for the upcoming
World Championship. Despite this disappointment, he finished the season still as world number one.
2012–13 season: first UK Championship; third Masters title trophy Selby announced he felt "90 per cent fit" just before the start of the
season, as he continued his recovery from the disc bulge in his neck. His first event was the
Wuxi Classic where he played Barry Hawkins in the last 32; having been eliminated from the World Championship by Hawkins two months earlier, Selby this time won 5–2, and then whitewashed Jamie Cope 5–0 to set up a quarter-final match with in-form
Stuart Bingham, but lost in the deciding frame 4–5. He won seven matches in a row to reach the quarter-finals of the
Six-red World Championship, where he was defeated 5–7 by Judd Trump. Selby lost his world number one ranking on 2 November 2012, when Trump claimed the top spot by reaching the final of the
inaugural International Championship in China. However, just five weeks later, Selby regained the top ranking position by winning the
UK Championship, for his third ranking title and most significant of his career to that date. He defeated
Michael White 6–3,
Ryan Day 6–4 after trailing 0–3, and
Neil Robertson 6–4 from 0–4 behind, to reach the semi-finals. He then defeated Mark Davis 9–4 to progress to the final, where he beat Shaun Murphy 10–6 to win the tournament. Selby also participated at the
Players Tour Championship. He successfully defended his
Paul Hunter Classic title with a 4–1 win over
Joe Swail in the final. He then lost in the final of the
Antwerp Open 1–4 against Mark Allen, and won the
Munich Open by defeating Graeme Dott 3–4 in the final. He then finished number one on the
Order of Merit, and qualified for the
Finals, where he lost 3–4 against
Jack Lisowski. Selby then won his third
Masters title, beating Stuart Bingham 6–5 from 1–5 behind in the first round, Mark Williams 6–1 in the quarter-finals, and Graeme Dott 6–5 from 1–4 behind in the semi-finals. He then defeated defending champion Neil Robertson 10–6 in the final. He reached the quarter-finals of the
German Masters, but lost 1–5 against Barry Hawkins. He lost in the last 32 of the
Welsh Open 0–4 against
Joe Perry, and lost his number one position to Judd Trump. Selby then reached the quarter-finals of the
World Open, but lost 3–5 against Neil Robertson. At the
China Open, Selby became the fourth player in history to miss the final black on a 147 attempt, and only the second – after Ken Doherty – to do so in a televised match, in a 5–1 defeat of Mark King. He then reached the final by defeating Ricky Walden 5–2, Mark Williams 5–1 and Shaun Murphy 6–2, but lost 6–10 against Neil Robertson. After the event he regained the number one spot from Judd Trump. He finished off the season at the
World Championship, where he beat
Matthew Selt 10–4 in the first round, before losing 10–13 to Barry Hawkins in the second round.
2013–14 season: first World Championship In the first ranking event of the
season, Selby suffered a 3–5 defeat to
Andrew Pagett in the qualifying rounds of the
Wuxi Classic in China. The tournament was the first to use a new format requiring the top 16 players to compete in the qualifying rounds at most ranking events. In minor-ranking tournaments, he was runner-up at the
Yixing Open, losing 1–4 to Joe Perry, and at the
Rotterdam Open, where he lost 3–4 to Mark Williams. He won the
Antwerp Open in November, defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan 4–3 in the final. Having won the UK Championship and Masters in the previous season, Selby qualified to take part in the
first edition of the revived
Champion of Champions competition, where he lost to Stuart Bingham in the semi-finals 4–6. Defending his title at the
UK Championship in December, Selby compiled snooker's 100th officially recognised
maximum break in professional competition, in the seventh frame of his semi-final against Ricky Walden. He received £55,000 for the achievement, in addition to the tournament's highest break prize of £4,000. The next day, he lost 7–10 to world number one Neil Robertson in the final, having been ahead 5–1 and 6–3, missing his chance to regain the top position in the world rankings. He began the defence of his title at the
Masters by defeating Mark Davis in the first round and John Higgins in the quarter-finals, winning both matches 6–5 and extending his unbeaten record in deciding frames at the Masters to 11. He then beat Shaun Murphy 6–1 in the semi-finals to reach the final against Ronnie O'Sullivan. After falling behind 1–7 in the first session, Selby lost the final 4–10, receiving the runner-up prize of £90,000. At the
German Masters two weeks later, he was eliminated in the second round by
Kurt Maflin 5–3. He defeated
Alan McManus 5–1 in the quarter-finals of the
World Open, and
Marco Fu 6–4 in the semi-finals, but lost 6–10 in the final to Shaun Murphy. At the
World Championship, Selby defeated Michael White 10–9, Ali Carter 13–9, and Alan McManus 13–5 to reach his first semi-final at the Crucible since 2010, where he met Neil Robertson in a repeat of the UK Championship final five months earlier. This time Selby achieved a 17–15 victory to reach his second World Championship final and first for seven years. His opponent in the final was defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, who had held the world title for the past two years and had won all five of his previous world finals. He dedicated the win to his late father who had died when Selby was 16. With his World Championship victory, Selby became the ninth player to win snooker's
Triple Crown of World, UK and Masters titles; he also returned to the world number one position.
2014–15 season trophy At the first ranking event of the
season, the
Wuxi Classic, Selby lost 3–5 to
Liang Wenbo in the last 32. He won the minor-ranking
Riga Open in August, defeating Mark Allen 4–3 in the final, but was defeated by Allen the following month in a final-frame in the semi-finals of the ranking
Shanghai Masters tournament. He made an unexpected early exit from the ranking
International Championship, when he was eliminated in the last 128 by 19-year-old tour rookie
Oliver Lines, who had recovered from 0–4 behind to defeat him 6–4. Selby reached the quarter-finals of the invitational
Champion of Champions tournament in November, but lost 1–6 against Judd Trump. He had a disappointing run at the
UK Championship, losing 4–6 to
David Morris in the last 64. In his first-round encounter with Shaun Murphy at the
Masters in January, Selby fell 1–5 behind before recovering to draw level at 5–5, but then lost the match in the deciding frame. This was the first time he had ever lost a deciding frame at the Masters, having won the match 6–5 on all 11 previous occasions. The following month, Selby won his fifth ranking title at the
German Masters. He defeated Judd Trump 5–4 in the quarter-finals, despite Trump making his second career 147 in the fifth frame of the match; this was the fifth time that Selby had witnessed an opponent completing a maximum against him (including both of Trump's), the most witnessed by any player. In the final, he came from 2–5 down against Shaun Murphy to win 9–7 and claim the title. At the
China Open in April, Selby became the first player to win a second ranking title in the 2014–15 season; after advancing to the final without meeting any player inside the world's top 16, he outplayed world number 56
Gary Wilson to win 10–2. He then began his title defence at the
World Championship, with no first-time world champion having successfully defended the title the following year, and no winner of the China Open having won the World Championship in the same season. He led Kurt Maflin 8–4 in the first round, before Maflin won the next five frames to lead 9–8, but Selby took the 18th frame and the decider to win the match 10–9. His reign as World Champion ended in the second round, however, with a 9–13 defeat to
Anthony McGill. Despite this setback, he finished the season as world number one for the fourth year running. He did not drop a frame in reaching the third round of the
UK Championship where he defeated
Jamie Jones 6–5, later acknowledging that his opponent had deserved to win the match. He then eliminated
Dechawat Poomjaeng and Matthew Selt both 6–1, before being whitewashed 6–0 by Neil Robertson in the semi-finals. In early 2016, Selby lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals of both the
Masters and
Welsh Open, but won the
Gdynia Open with a 4–1 victory over
Martin Gould. In March, he withdrew from the
PTC Finals and
China Open for personal reasons. Returning to the tour at the
World Championship in April, he beat Robert Milkins 10–6,
Sam Baird 13–11, and
Kyren Wilson 13–8, to face Marco Fu in the semi-finals. Selby drew level at 12–12 after winning a 76-minute frame, the longest in Crucible history, and won the match 17–15 with a successful on the in the final frame. He took an early 6–0 lead over Ding Junhui in the final, eventually winning the match 18–14 to claim his second world title. With his World Championship victory, Selby finished at number one in the world rankings for the fifth consecutive year.
2016–17 season: second UK Championship; third World Championship in
Bucharest, Romania Selby won his first ranking title of the
season at the
Paul Hunter Classic, beating
Tom Ford 4–2 in the final. His semi-final against Stuart Bingham at the
Shanghai Masters in September, was a meeting between the top-two ranked players in the world, Selby winning 6–5, having trailed 3–5. After taking an early 3–1 advantage over Ding Junhui in the final, he eventually lost the match 6–10. The following month, he was defeated 2–6 by Judd Trump in the semi-finals of the
European Masters. He then won 9–3 in another semi-final encounter with Bingham, to reach the final of the
International Championship in Daqing, China, winning the event for the first time by overcoming Ding 10–1; Selby dominated their encounter, winning all of the last seven frames, in the most one-sided ranking event final since the 2012 World Open when Mark Allen had defeated Stephen Lee by the same scoreline. Selby made seven 50+ breaks, while Ding's highest was just 47. At the
UK Championship, he defeated John Higgins 6–5 in a high-quality quarter-final match that lasted five hours; Selby won on the colours in the deciding frame. After despatching Shaun Murphy 6–2 in the semi-finals, he developed a 7–2 advantage over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the event, which decreased to 7–4, followed by four breaks of 130 or more over the next five frames—two by each player—bringing the score to 9–7 in Selby's favour. He finished the match with a 107 break to claim his second UK title, completing the second Triple Crown of his career. After failing to progress to the semi-final stage of any of the next seven tournaments, he made it through to the final of the
China Open in April, where he took the final three frames against Mark Williams to win 10–8 and claim his fourth ranking title of the season. In the quarter-finals of the
World Championship, he defeated Marco Fu 13–3 with a . He faced Ding Junhui in the semi-finals, taking a 16–13 lead before Ding closed the gap to 15–16 behind; Selby then won the 32nd frame to reach his third world final in four years. In a repeat of the 2007 final against John Higgins, which Selby had lost 13–18, Selby earned £932,000 during the 2016–17 season, a record amount of prize money for any one season. His first ranking tournament of the season was the
China Championship where he was defeated 4–5 by
Zhou Yuelong in the second round. He failed to progress past the fourth round of the
Paul Hunter Classic in defence of his title, losing 1–4 to eventual champion Michael White. He was defeated 2–5 by
Lee Walker in the first round of the
World Open, followed by a 2–4 defeat to Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals of the
European Masters, and a third round exit at the
English Open where he lost 1–4 to
Xiao Guodong. Selby successfully defended his
International Championship title in November, to claim his first ranking title of the season. After surviving a fightback from Mark Allen, who trailed 3–8 and 7–9 in the final, Selby prevailed 10–7. As reigning World Snooker Champion, he qualified automatically for the
2017 Champion of Champions, but was defeated 4–6 in the quarter-finals by
Luca Brecel. Defending his title at the
UK Championship, he was eliminated 3–6 by
Scott Donaldson in the last 64. In January, he played Mark Williams in the first round of the
Masters, in a repeat of the
previous year's event, where Selby had won their first-round encounter 6–5. However, this time the finishing score line was reversed as Selby lost the deciding frame 5–6. He retained his
China Open championship in April, defeating Barry Hawkins 11–3 in the final. This was Selby's third China Open title in four years. Later that month, his two-year reign as World Champion ended in the first round of the
World Championship, where he fell to Joe Perry 4–10, unable to recover from a 2–7 deficit in the first session. In winning the match, Perry became the first player to beat Selby at the World Championship since Anthony McGill had defeated him in the second round in 2015. Despite this disappointment, Selby still finished the season as world number one.
2018–19 season At the
World Open in August, Selby lost 4–5 to world number 53
Noppon Saengkham in the last 16, losing the deciding frame by just three points. He won his 15th ranking title at the
China Championship in September, defeating John Higgins 10–9 in a very close-fought final. He reached the semi-finals of the
Northern Ireland Open in November, losing 5–6 to Ronnie O'Sullivan on the final black. He faced disappointments in other tournaments too, including an unexpected 3–6 loss to amateur
James Cahill in the first round of the
UK Championship. At the
2019 Masters, he lost 2–6 to Judd Trump in a "nervy" quarter-final, despite making a 110 break in the seventh frame of the match. Selby lost the top ranking position to Ronnie O'Sullivan on 24 March 2019, having been world number one since February 2015. O'Sullivan reclaimed the top spot by winning his 36th ranking title at the
Tour Championship; He had an opportunity to regain the top spot at the
China Open less than two weeks later, but lost 3–6 to
Craig Steadman in the qualifying round which had been held over from the original qualification stage in February. At the
World Championship, Selby beat
Zhao Xintong 10–7 in the first round before being defeated 10–13 by Gary Wilson in the second round. As a result of this mediocre performance, he ended the season as world number six, having also been outranked by John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and Judd Trump.
2019–20 season In the
2019–20 season, Selby reached the semi-finals of the
International Championship, losing 4–9 to Judd Trump, and in defending his title at the
China Championship, he lost 3–6 to Shaun Murphy, again in the semi-finals. He defeated
David Gilbert 9–1 in the final to win the
English Open. The following week, he lost 2–5 to Stuart Bingham in the last 16 of the
World Open. In the
Champion of Champions, he fell short 2–6 to Mark Allen in the group final. Despite recovering from 1–4 behind to tie at 4–4, he was defeated in the quarter-finals of the
Northern Ireland Open by John Higgins. He took more than six minutes to play one of his shots in the seventh frame of this match, leading to criticism from the Eurosport commentator
Neal Foulds. He won the
Scottish Open in December, beating Jack Lisowski 9–6 in the final. Having also won the English Open earlier in the season, he became the first player to win more than one tournament in the Home Nations Series in a single season. At the beginning of 2020, he lost in the first round of the
Masters against Ali Carter in January, and failed to qualify at the
German Masters later the same month. At the
European Masters, he lost in the second round to Barry Hawkins; after losing the first four frames, he staged a comeback to level at 4–4 but then lost the deciding frame. He qualified for the
World Grand Prix, where he lost 3–4 to Xiao Guodong in the first round despite making two centuries. In February, Selby reached the quarter-final stage of the last Home Nations event, the
Welsh Open, where he was defeated 1–5 by Ronnie O'Sullivan. He also qualified for the
Players Championship, based on the one-year ranking list; in the first round, he whitewashed Mark Williams 6–0, but was then knocked out in the quarter-finals by Stephen Maguire in a deciding frame 5–6. In March, he also participated at the
Gibraltar Open, but was eliminated in the third round by
Lyu Haotian 1–4. After the prolonged break caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic, Selby participated in the
2020 Championship League, going out of the tournament after the first group stage. He qualified for the
2020 Tour Championship ranked third on the one-year ranking list. He beat
Yan Bingtao 9–6 in the quarter-finals before being defeated 2–9 by Mark Allen in the semi-finals. At the
World Championship, Selby defeated debutant
Jordan Brown 10–6 in the first round, Noppon Saengkham 13–12 in the last 16, and Neil Robertson 13–7 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-final, he met Ronnie O'Sullivan, who took a 5–3 lead after the first session, but Selby won the second session to take a 9–7 lead. During the third session, he established a 13–9 advantage before O'Sullivan won the last two frames of the session. Selby then took a 16–14 lead, leaving himself one frame away from his fifth World Championship final, but he lost the final three frames of the match. After the game, Selby accused his opponent of being "disrespectful" after O'Sullivan had played several hit-and-hope shots while being snookered. Selby finished the season as world number four.
2020–21 season: fourth World Championship After the delayed start to the
new season, Selby won his 18th ranking title at the
2020 European Masters in September, defeating Martin Gould 9–8 in the final. The score was level at 4–4 by the end of the afternoon session, despite Selby taking an early 4–0 lead. After defeating
Fan Zhengyi,
Chang Bingyu, Liang Wenbo,
Hossein Vafaei and Zhou Yuelong, he lost 5–6 to Neil Robertson in the semi-finals. Despite losing the title, Selby retained the number one spot in the
one-year ranking list. He also progressed through the first two group stages of the ranking
Championship League tournament, but in the third group stage, although he beat Judd Trump 3–0, he lost 1–3 to Zhou Yuelong and 0–3 to Zhao Xintong, finishing at the bottom of the group. At the
2020 Champion of Champions tournament in November, Selby recovered from 0–4 and 3–5 behind, winning the last three frames of his quarter-final match against Kyren Wilson to progress 6–5, only to be defeated by Neil Robertson in another final-frame decider at the semi-final stage of the competition. In December, after yet another loss to Robertson at the quarter-finals of the
2020 UK Championship, Selby successfully defended his
Scottish Open title, beating
Yuan Sijun,
Nigel Bond,
Mark Joyce, Lyu Haotian, Ricky Walden and Jamie Jones to reach the final, then defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–3 to claim his 19th ranking tournament win, and his third
Home Nations Series trophy, becoming the second player, after Judd Trump, to win three Home Nations events. The following week, he reached the semi-finals of the
2020 World Grand Prix, where he was defeated 4–6 by Jack Lisowski, despite compiling the highest break of the tournament, a 143 in the seventh frame of the match. Selby reached the final of the
2021 Snooker Shoot Out in February, but his early 24-point lead was eclipsed by Ryan Day's 67-point winning break in the last four minutes of the match. Though he was aiming to secure a record 12th successive ranking final win at the event, Selby expressed doubts whether the Shoot Out should be classed as a ranking event. and the
Players Championship at the quarter-final stage, then the
2021 Tour Championship with one more semi-final defeat by Neil Robertson, repeating his last year results for all three events. Selby won his fourth world title in May 2021, defeating Shaun Murphy 18–15 in the final of the
2021 World Championship in front of a capacity crowd at the Crucible Theatre. He became one of only five players to have won the championship four or more times at the Crucible, and said in his post-match interview: "to win it four times is something I could only have dreamed of."
2021–22 season In contrast with his last two snooker years, this was a poor season for Selby. His first tournament was the
2021 British Open. He was defeated in the second round, but returned to the top of the rankings for the first time since March 2019. After that, he suffered many early round exits, failed to qualify for tournaments or has withdrawn from them. Selby said that snooker seemed "irrelevant right now" to him, as he spoke about his struggles with depression that was affecting his life and snooker form. He reached the semi-finals of the
2021 World Grand Prix in December though, but after levelling the match at 2–2, he was defeated 3–6 by Neil Robertson. The only other highlights of the season were his quarter-final appearances at the
2021 Champion of Champions, where he made his 700th century break in his opening match against David Gilbert, becoming the sixth player to reach that milestone, and the
2022 Masters, where Selby avenged his 6–3 loss to Stephen Maguire from last year's tournament by beating the Scotsman by the exact same scoreline, but then he suffered a 6–1 defeat by Barry Hawkins.
2022–23 season Compared to his last season performance, Selby's form had improved, as he was in the final of the
2022 World Mixed Doubles, teamed up with
Rebecca Kenna, though they ended up losing 2–4 to Neil Robertson and
Mink Nutcharut; then he reached the quarter-finals of the
British, the
Northern Ireland and the
Scottish Open, and the semi-finals of the
2022 Champion of Champions. After that, he went on and became the first player to win the
English Open for the second time, claiming his first ranking trophy since his World Championship win in 2021, and becoming the second player, after Judd Trump, to win four
Home Nations tournaments. In the semi-final of the tournament, he also recorded his first win over Neil Robertson in two years, after seven consecutive losses to him, including this year's Northern Ireland and Scottish Open defeats. Towards the end of the season, Selby also won the inaugural
2023 WST Classic tournament, beating
Pang Junxu 6–2 in the final. In the next event, the
2023 Tour Championship, he made it to the semi-final, losing 9–10 to Shaun Murphy, forcing a decider after being 6–9 down. At the
2023 World Snooker Championship, Selby defeated Mark Allen 17–15 in a semi-final that lasted for over hours in total, with the final session ending at 12:48 a.m. In frame 16 of the final against Luca Brecel, Selby scored a
maximum break, his first maximum at the Crucible, and the first ever compiled in a World Championship final. Trailing 16–10 at one point, Selby managed to close the gap to 16–15; however Brecel won the following two frames to win 18–15.
2023–24 season At the start of the season, Selby was a semi-finalist in the
2023 European Masters and the
2023 Shanghai Masters, losing 4–6 to Barry Hawkins in the former, and 7–10 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the latter tournament. Then he reached the final of the
2023 British Open, facing Mark Williams and eventually losing to him 10–7, despite coming back from 5–1 down to 8–7 throughout the match. Going that far in the tournament took its toll, as in the next event, the
2023 English Open, Selby won his held-over qualifying match, but then he lost 4–2 to world number 104
Martin O'Donnell in the last 64, having played nine matches in nine days altogether. He also exited in the last 64 round at the following
2023 Wuhan Open, losing 4–5 to
Xu Si. His last notable result for the calendar year was reaching the quarter-finals of the
2023 UK Championship, where he lost 3–6 to Judd Trump. During the first half of the season, Selby has missed out on the
2023 Northern Ireland Open, as he—along with Ali Carter, John Higgins,
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and reigning world champion Luca Brecel—opted not to enter, so he could play at an exhibition event in Macau, China instead, originally scheduled to take place from 27 to 29 October. The World Snooker Tour threatened the five players with disciplinary action, claiming that playing at an unsanctioned event in Macau rather than at an official tour event in Belfast would breach their players' contract. Following negotiations, the Macau exhibition was rescheduled to be played from 22 to 24 December, and the WST granted the concerned players permission to participate; however, they remained absent from the Belfast tournament, as they had not entered it. Selby won the Macau event, defeating Carter 6–3 in the final, and he also made a maximum break in his semi-final match against Higgins. In January, Selby exited both the
2024 Masters and the
2024 World Grand Prix at the quarter-finals stage, losing 5–6 to Mark Allen in the former, and 1–5 to Judd Trump in the latter tournament. Then, in his qualifying match for the
2024 World Open against
Xing Zihao, he compiled the 800th century of his professional career. At the end of February, he made it to the semi-final of the
2024 Players Championship with a 6–0 whitewash over Ronnie O'Sullivan, but there he got edged out 5–6 by
Zhang Anda. In the next event, the
2024 World Masters of Snooker, he was a quarter-finalist, but suffered a 3–4 loss to Mark Allen after leading 3–1, but spoiling his match-winning chances by missing the black off its spot twice in the next two frames. The following week, Selby won the
2024 Championship League by defeating
Joe O'Connor 3–1, lifting his first trophy of the season, almost a year after his last tour event success. Later on, he participated in the
2024 World Mixed Doubles, replacing Mark Allen, who withdrew. Selby was once again paired with Rebecca Kenna, and as in 2022, they were the runner-ups, losing 2–4 again to Luca Brecel and
Reanne Evans in the final. Selby's season ended in the first round of the
2024 World Snooker Championship as he faced Joe O'Connor again and was defeated 6–10 by him. After the loss, Selby considered that he might retire from snooker.
2024–25 season In September, Selby reached the quarter-finals at the
English Open, where he suffered a shock 4–5 loss to world number 77
Ishpreet Singh Chadha. The following week, he won the
British Open, defeating
John Higgins 10–5 in the final to claim his first ranking tournament title since March 2023. Selby defeated
Stephen Maguire 9–6 to win the
Welsh Open in February. It was the second time he had taken the title, having previously been champion in
2008. It was also his 24th ranking event title. Selby reached the final of the
2025 Tour Championship, where despite holding an 85 lead against
John Higgins, he eventually lost 8–10. Selby suffered a first round exit at the
2025 World Championship, after he was defeated 8–10 by
Ben Woollaston.
2025–26 season: third UK Championship In November, Selby won the
Champion of Champions for the first time. Held in his hometown of Leicester, he overcame Judd Trump 10–5 in the final. A month later, Selby won the
UK Championship for the third time, defeating Trump 10–8 in the final. His tenth triple crown title moved him ahead of John Higgins into fourth place for career victories in triple crown events. The following month, at the
2026 Masters, Selby exited in the first round after a defeat to
Xiao Guodong. In February, he was triumphant at the invitational
Championship League after defeating
Wu Yize 3–1 in the final. It was his third consecutive overall victory in the event. At the
Tour Championship in April, he suffered a quarter-finals defeat to Higgins. Selby was beaten 11–13 by
Wu Yize in the second round of the
2026 World Championship. ==Personal life==