Neil Robertson made himself a little too comfortable at snooker’s Scottish Open in 2022.
The Australian was cruising in his quarter-final clash with Mark Selby that for a split-second, he thought he had the freedom of the room at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Sports Centre.
Robertson flew out the traps early on, taking the first frame with a huge break of 133.
But after potting the opening ball of the second frame, he returned to his seat whilst Selby composed himself at the table.
Or so he thought. Robertson’s extended time at the table saw him forget his bearings and parked himself down in Selby’s seat.
He quickly saw the error of his ways and and subsequently apologised to Selby, sparking laughter from those in attendance before he scuppered across the table to take his rightful seat.
“He has got some previous for being a bit scatty has Neil and there’s another example,” said Eurosport commentator Neal Foulds.
However, Robertson’s start to the match left Fould purring at the microphone adding: “This is as impressive a start as I’ve seen from anyone, certainly in this event.”
Robertson cantered into a 3-0 lead in the quarter-final before Selby fought back with a 104 to get himself on the board before taking the second frame with another century of 105.
Selby’s revival only sought to take Robertson’s game to the next level and the 2010 world champion took the final two frames to set up a semi-final clash against Joe O’Connor.
But it soon proved to be the end of the road for the Australian in Edinburgh after slipping to a 6-3 defeat to O’Connor.
Gary Wilson went on to claim the title, thrashing O’Connor 9-2 in the final.
Although Robertson didn’t quite get over the line in 2022, his success in the 2017 edition of the tournament was one of many career successes for the 43-year-old.
His recent win over world No.1 Judd Trump at the German Masters last month is proof enough that Robertson is still at the top of his game, something the Aussie could put down to his new state-of-the-art cue.
Speaking during Robertson’s World Grand Prix clash with David Gilbert this week, professional player Dominic Dale spotted some minor changes in his play.
TNT Sport commentator Philip Studd said: “Neil Robertson was talking very excitedly about changes that had been made to his cue. He talked about new technology, in his words, which he feels is enabling him to start playing shots that he hasn’t been able to for many years.
“Quite what those changes would’ve been, I’m not sure. But he was certainly very encouraged by the way he’s been playing in practice and in build-up to this tournament.”
Dale added: “I don’t know what this new technology is, I’ll have to try and find out. Something I did notice in Neil’s opening match is that normally you can see, under the butt of the cue, this shiny brass mini-butt socket.
“I’m sure I caught a glimpse of Neil’s cue at the opening match and it appears to be lacking colour. I don’t know if he’s had something done to the butt of the cue, something with the weight or the balance. A different butt socket put in.
“I’ve no idea, I can think of a couple of cue makers who use a different type of butt socket joint and a weight system. But I don’t know.
“It certainly won’t be anything to do with the shaft of the cue. There are certain technologies in American nine ball pool whereby the top five inches or so at the top of the shaft are drilled out and some expanding foam filler is put in to obviate any mass in the end of the cue which can cause ball deflection.
“It’s all very scientific, but there’s no way a snooker player would risk anything like that. So whatever he has had done to the cue it’s definitely in the butt end.”
