‘Hit by a truck’ – Australian snooker star Neil Robertson admits Shane Warne’s death affected his performance

Neil Robertson says he felt like he had been ‘hit by a truck’ when he found out about compatriot Shane Warne’s death and says the Australian cricket legend’s passing impacted his performance in his loss to Judd Trump.

On Friday afternoon, it was announced that Warne had been found dead after a suspected heart attack in Thailand at the age of just 52.

Robertson heard the news shortly before taking on Trump in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, losing 5-3 in an out-of-sorts performance, and the Aussie says he could not concentrate on the match no matter how hard he tried.

‘Obviously hit by a truck with the news just leaving my hotel about Shane Warne,’ Robertson told Eurosport after the defeat. ‘A national hero, an idol of mine growing up as a kid and was fortunate enough to meet him.

‘Just the worst – well not the worst news, obviously if it was a family member – but probably as close to that. As much as I tried today I just couldn’t do anything. My arm felt really heavy, my head felt heavy on my shoulders sitting in the chair.

‘The more I tried to sort of delete what happened overnight from my brain, the more it was sort of in there. I just couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t think properly, couldn’t do anything.

‘An awful situation for myself to be in because waking up this morning I felt really good, I was really looking forward to the match, and then just completely deflated and I couldn’t get anything going.

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‘As hard as I tried, it just made it worse. I fought well, I tried hard, I even had a chance to