Opinion: Mark Selby's brave admission can help others in snooker and beyond, showing it's okay to not be okay

Roger Garrett was never going to be world champion, but he loved snooker and wanted to make a go of it. In 1995, he found himself stationed 85th in the world rankings and due to play Dave Harold in the last 64 of the International Open in Bournemouth. At the allotted time, Garrett was nowhere to be seen.

Ad/> His father had travelled with him but knew nothing of his whereabouts. Hotel staff found his cue and dress suit in his room. A television appeal was launched.

Eventually he phoned his mother to say he was on his way home. He had qualified for the upcoming Thailand Open in Bangkok but withdrew. He never played professionally again.

German Masters'A special player' — Williams says only O'Sullivan is more watchable than ZhaoYESTERDAY AT 20:37 A quarter of a century on, the toll professional snooker can take on mental health has come into focus again following Mark Selby’s revelation that he is struggling. Selby is world champion and world No 1. He has earned millions from snooker, has a big house and nice family life.

Depression, like any illness, makes no allowances for any of this. After defeat in the Masters, Selby tweeted that all was not well. This admission to himself as much to the world was the first step to getting help.

He has since begun sessions with a specialist. Selby opens up on battle with depression Selby admits he may take time away from snooker Selby’s experience is a worrying trend in a sport in which emotions are naturally repressed. Snooker is perhaps the most individual of all individual sports: endless hours in dim rooms practising, often alone.

The forbidding quiet of the match arena. Long hours of solitude in hotels. We frequently see sport in terms of its financial rewards, but it can be a