Northern Ireland Open: ‘I’m not feeling good out there’ – Mark Selby exits NI Open

The Northern Ireland Open is sandwiched between two Chinese tournaments on the schedule, the Xi’an Grand Prix and the International Championship – a scenario that Selby believes should be avoided.

“It’s really very bad,” he said. “We went to China just before that and if you get to the final you only have a day or two before traveling to China again.

“You have to put your health first because it takes a toll. Traveling is tiring.

“When you go to tournaments, you want to go there fresh and give yourself the best chance. Sometimes you can’t always do that with the schedule.”

The first months of the 2025-2026 season have produced different winners in each of the six classification tournaments and a wide variety of different finalists, as well as 13 breaks with a maximum of 147 breaks, including two each for Ronnie O’Sullivan, Thipchaya On Noh of Thailand and Aaron Hill of Ireland.

A record maximum of 15 breaks was achieved throughout the entirety of last season, while the previous two seasons saw them accumulating 13 breaks and never before had the total reached double figures.

Selby attributed the increase to the depth of talent on the professional circuit these days.

“I think the standard is very difficult these days,” he added. “There are no easy matches anymore.

“I don’t think it’s much better at the top, but at the bottom the standard is very difficult.

“Having so many different winners just shows where the tour is at.”