Neil Robertson endured a rotten season during 2023/24 which ended in him failing to qualify for the World Championship.
The Aussie lost to Jamie Jones in the final qualifying round and had to make do with punditry duties at The Crucible instead
For such a talented player that simply won’t do and Robertson has already started practising ahead of the new campaign.
Last season, the 2010 World Champion missed a lot of events and that saw him slide down the rankings.
Now, he’s been discussing his plans for next season but there is one tournament that he simply won’t compete in.
Neil Robertson names one tournament in won’t play in next season
It would appear that Robertson has learned his lesson when it comes to missing tournaments.
He’s confessed now that he will be playing in every tournament that he can – with the exception of one that he looks unlikely to entertain.
Robertson told Metro: “I’m not missing anything this season. Don’t pencil me in for the shootout just yet, but I don’t plan on missing any more tournaments because of yard cricket injuries or cues being lost.
“I’ll be playing everything this year. I worked it out, including the ITV series because I’m usually in that, in the last two seasons I’ve missed 13 tournaments and you just can’t do that.”
Snooker Shootout off the agenda for Robertson
The 42-year-old certainly won’t be the only elite player to take a break and miss the Snooker Shootout.
It’s traditionally been a tournament that some of the top players miss – unless they’re absolutely desperate for ranking points.
The Shootout isn’t snooker as it should be played.
Each match is played over one frame that lasts 10 minutes. The first five minutes see players have a 15-second shot clock and the second five is just 10 seconds.
Robertson isn’t notoriously a slow player but he’s not keen to get his name put down for the competition just yet.
The challenge for the serial title winner next year is to get among the top 16 and avoid qualifying for the 2025 World Championship.
He will just be glad to win some matches and if he’s going to be entering every single tournament, he could be seriously dangerous next year.