World Snooker Championship star turned up to event drunk and was £30k in debt
One World Snooker Championship star has turned his life around and is now aiming for glory at the Crucible.
World Snooker Championship star Robert Milkins will be aiming for glory at the Crucible after turning his life around. The 48-year-old, who is vying to get the better of Pang Junxu in the first round in Sheffield, became the oldest first-time winner of a ranking event when he dispatched Kyren Wilson in the final of the 2022 Gibraltar Open. And the potter had previously been forced to overcome his demons after turning up drunk to an event in Turkey and battling debt of £30,000.
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Milkins turned professional in 1995, with one of his biggest wins coming at the 2013 World Snooker Championship when he saw off 2010 champion Neil Robertson in the first round. And in the aftermath of that victory, the player revealed a dark secret.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” he exclaimed. “I’m ecstatic, chuffed to bits. I’m just happy with life. I’ve got two great kids, a great missus, a great coach and a great manager. I don’t need anything else in life.
“I was £30,000 in debt, going to the pub every day and I was just going down in the gutter a few years ago, so to be here now is amazing. I lost my mum, my dad. And I got divorced. It blew me apart. I didn’t get any help at the time.”
But almost a decade later, Milkins appeared to go off the rails just weeks before winning the Gibraltar Open. The talented ace faced disciplinary action after turning up drunk to the inaugural Turkish Masters following alcohol-fuelled birthday celebrations in March 2022. And he was involved in an altercation with guests, taking a swing at World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association chairman Jason Ferguson. The night ended with him having his stomach pumped in hospital.
At the time, Milkins said: “I can only apologise to any guests I offended. I wouldn’t have known who it was. My behaviour was totally out of order. I will take whatever punishment I receive. It won’t be happening again. I only play to try and support my kids and I have let them down as well, which is the worst bit.”
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His experience in Turkey proved to be a catalyst for change, with the veteran seeking therapy in the aftermath of the incident. And he later explained “What happened in Turkey was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me - in a nasty way. I am not proud of what I did, but looking back at it, it was the best thing. I went and got counselling straight away, she was brilliant.
“World Snooker Tour sorted it out for me after what I done in Turkey. I had a few issues, I told them about them and I wasn’t happy with a few things in life. And they got me on the Tony Adams charity, Sporting Chance. I met up with a lady in Gloucester, had six sessions in total and she said if I had more problems to go back. And after one session I won the Gibraltar Open. I opened up to someone, telling the lady things that nobody else knows, getting everything off my chest.
He added: “It was hard to take, earlier in my career, seeing people that maybe didn’t have the ability I have winning a lot more than me – but this game is about a lot more than ability. Most of it is about your mental state and your head, and how good you are at dealing with setbacks. And I’ve not been good at that, and my self-belief wasn’t great. That improved a lot after Gibraltar.”
Milkins went on to win the Welsh Open last year after he overcame Shaun Murphy in the final. And he is seeded 16th at this year’s World Snooker Championship as he looks to reach the second round for the fifth time of his career.
