Neil Robertson

 D.O.B. 11 Feb 1982




Lives Cambridge



Last 5 Seasons9-10-7-13-28



Turned Pro 1998



Ranking Tournament Victories 5 - Grand Prix 2006, 2009; Welsh Open 2007; Bahrain Snooker Championship 2008; Betfred.com World Snooker Championship 2010



Last season World Snooker Tour prize money

£391,335



Highest Tournament Break 147 – China Open 2010

Robertson made snooker history in May 2010 by becoming the first Australian to win the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship title, and only the third non-British player, after Cliff Thorburn and Ken Doherty, to lift the famous trophy.

After a routine 10-5 win over Fergal O’Brien to start to the tournament, Robertson had to pull off the best comeback of his career to beat surprise package Martin Gould. Londoner Gould played the snooker of his life to build an 11-5 lead after two sessions, but in the concluding session, Robertson showed immense spirit and skill to win eight of the last nine frames for a 13-12 success.

“In the first session I was scratching my head and wondering what was going on, has he nicked Ronnie’s soul or something?” said Robertson, who admitted he had checked out of his Sheffield apartment at 11-5. “To come back after Martin played so well, with the wall lifted up and the whole Crucible watching, is definitely one of the best wins of my career.”

With John Higgins, who Robertson was seeded to meet in the quarter-finals, ousted by Steve Davis, suddenly the Aussie had his eyes on glory. He easily saw off Davis 13-5, then got the better of Ali Carter 17-12 to reach his first Crucible final.

He had never lost a ranking final in four previous attempts, and was determined to continue that perfect record as he met gritty Scot Graeme Dott, the 2006 champion.

After losing the first session 5-3, Robertson recovered to lead 9-7 overnight, and was able to nurse that lead through the last day. The match finished well after midnight despite the fact that there could have been another four frames, and it was Robertson whose stamina prevailed as he triumphed 18-13.

“It was such a titanic struggle of a match,” said the ecstatic antipodean. “When you watch some finals you think the standard is bad, but when you’re in the same position you realize how much pressure there is. The pressure before the final and during the final, it’s just incredible.

“My Mum came over the day of the final, and I realized the potential of what impact it could have back home in Australia. When I first came over to Cambridge, I would not have thought I could have achieved this. I seriously cannot believe it.

“It’s great to have another champion from down under, England can have the Ashes I’ll have the World Championship,” joked Robertson, whose mood was lifted even higher a few days later when he became a father for the first time, his Norwegian girlfriend Mille giving birth to a boy called Alexander.

It was not the first time Robertson had given a victory speech during the 2009/10 season, as he also won the Grand Prix at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow in October. Wins over Gerard Greene, Ken Doherty and Joe Perry put him into the semi-finals, where he edged an epic match against John Higgins 6-5 after his opponent had over-cut a tricky long range black in the deciding frame by millimetres.

The final pitched Robertson against China’s Ding Junhui; only the second ranking final between two non-British players in snooker history. And it was the Thunder From Down Under who won the battle of the international bright young things, by a 9-4 scoreline.

“I was confident that my cue action would stand up under pressure, and my game plan worked perfectly,” he said. “People might have said I’d never beaten a top player in the final, but Ding is world class."

Overall, his results during the season took him to a career high of second place in the official world rankings. He also topped the season’s century breaks list, compiling 42 tons over the campaign. And for the icing on the cake, he made his first official 147 maximum break during the Sanyuan Foods China Open…though he lost the match 5-1 to Peter Ebdon.

He is the only player to have won a ranking event in each of the last five years. Robertson beat Jamie Cope 9-5 in the 2006 Grand Prix final, Andrew Higginson 9-8 (from 8-6 down) in the 2007 Welsh Open and Matthew Stevens 9-7 in the 2008 Bahrain Championship. He is also the only player from outside Britain and Ireland to have won five ranking events.

The left-hander, considered the best long potter in the world, also got to the semi-finals at the Crucible in 2009, losing 17-14 to Shaun Murphy after coming from 14-7 down to 14-14.

Robertson, who comes from Melbourne but is based in Cambridge during the season, made his first real impact was winning the World Under-21 Championship in 2003, beating China’s Liu Song 11-5 in the final at the Great Lake Centre in Taupo, New Zealand.

Later that year he won the qualifying competition for the Masters, beating Dominic Dale 6-5 in the final, to earn a wild card to the Masters. He was handed a baptism of fire at the London venue against local hero Jimmy White and lost 6-2.

An avid sports fan and a keen follower of rugby, cricket and Aussie Rules football, Robertson has also learned to appreciate English football and decided to support Chelsea after marvelling at the skills of Gianfranco Zola. He enjoys the music of Timbaland, Metallica and Guns & Roses and asserts that if it wasn’t for snooker, he would have made a career as a graphic designer.