Neil Robertson excited by “needed” Crucible refurbishment

Neil Robertson welcomes the Crucible Theatre’s planned refurbishment to make the World Snooker Championship feel like a “massive occasion”.

World Snooker Tour and Sheffield City Council reached a landmark long-term agreement last month to keep the sport’s blue-riband event at the Crucible until at least 2045, with an option to extend to 2050.

There are plans to redevelop the 980-seater Crucible in 2028, with the World Championship set to be temporarily hosted at an alternative venue during the £45 million refurbishment.

The significant proposed changes to be made include the potential to add up to 500 seats in an ‘in the round’ configuration, as well as improving spectator facilities.

Robertson is excited by the potential upgrade of the iconic venue, insisting “it really needed this”.

“I’m really happy with that,” he told Live Snooker. “If we were staying there and there wasn’t going to be any expanding of the venue, then I would think it was a bit of a step back. 980 people is just not enough.

“Behind the scenes is what players struggle with, like two practice tables between four players before going out. It’s the only tournament where we have to share the table time, which is just not right.

“There’s not enough space for if players want their families to come up and watch, people have to miss out. That’s the downside of having only 900-odd seats available.

“This will give us the opportunity to make it feel like it’s a big tournament. All we want is for it to feel like a massive occasion. All around Sheffield is always buzzing. But when you get inside the venue, it’s so cramped with the facilities. It really needed this.”

Robertson is set for his 21st appearance at the Crucible, where he lifted the trophy in 2010 and reached the semi-finals in 2009 and 2014.

The Thunder’s record in Sheffield is generally modest by his standards, with the aforementioned performances representing his only previous ventures to the one-table setup.

Nevertheless, he feels an improved practice structure – which has included playing with the likes of Joe O’Connor, Zak Surety and Polish prodigy Michal Szubarczyk – has enhanced his preparations for this year’s 17-day marathon.

“I’m looking forward to it, you always do,” he said. “I feel very fresh as well. I haven’t overdone it in any kind of way.

“The structure of my practice has been really good. I’ve had a good few weeks of preparation with the Tour Championship in between.

“I’ve been playing different practice partners and challenging myself in different ways. I’m not doing the same easy exercises.

“It’s really good to come out with fresh ideas, especially when you’re approaching the World Championship. I’m very well-prepared this year.”

Robertson arrives in Sheffield having topped the one-year list, aided by his triumph at the lucrative Saudi Arabia Masters back in August.

The bumper £500,000 top prize guaranteed his place in all the Players Series events, and subsequently took the pressure off for the remainder of the campaign – in which he also reached the Riyadh Season Championship final and a further three ranking semi-finals.

“Any player will tell you that if you can get a win on the board early on, it’s nice for the rest of the season,” he explained.

“You don’t really have to worry about anything else. You know what your schedule’s going to be like. You don’t have to play in all the tournaments if you don’t want to.”

After falling out of the world’s top 16 and failing to qualify for the Crucible in 2024, Robertson secured his return to the hallowed turf 12 months ago – though it was ultimately short-lived.

Despite recovering from 7-2 down to level at 8-8, the Australian eventually succumbed 10-8 to an inspired Chris Wakelin in the opening round.

Although Robertson fell at the first hurdle on only the second day of the tournament, he did so with few regrets.

“I felt there wasn’t too much I could do about that result,” he reflects. “I just thought he played amazing.

“It was just one of those things. I didn’t play that badly. I led every stat in the match and I was 7-3 down! Usually, you’re the one who’s 7-3 in front.

“I came back strongly in the second session, but just ran out of gas. It was a long way to come back from.”

Any potential tournament exit will not quite be so sudden this time around for Robertson, who begins his campaign against Pang Junxu on Wednesday.

The world number three will be the last seed out of the gate in round one and, therefore, avoids the scenario he found himself in 12 months ago.

“If you play on the opening Saturday or Sunday and get beat, you keep the TV off for 15 days!” he said.

“I didn’t watch anything last year, I hardly watched a single shot. But hopefully, that won’t be the case this year.”